Tag: IRS Scandal

Pew Study Confirms That Fox Is Dominant Source of ‘News’ on the Right – Liberals Rely on Many Sources

Jon Ponder

graph-pew-differences-in-liberal-conservative-news-sourcesThe PewResearch Journalism Project has released a study that confirms what is already clear: The American right gets most of its information about politics from Fox News, while the left relies on multiple sources, including CNN, NPR, MSNBC and the New York Times.

According to the study, consistent conservatives:

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The Testimony Issa Suppressed: Self-Described Conservative Republican IRS Official Said He Initiated Extra Scrutiny on Tea Party

Jon Ponder
Chairman Issa

Reuters:

A U.S. Internal Revenue Service manager, who described himself as a conservative Republican, told congressional investigators that he and a local colleague decided to give conservative groups the extra scrutiny that has prompted weeks of political controversy.

In an official interview transcript released on Sunday by Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, the manager said he and an underling set aside “Tea Party” and “patriot” groups that had applied for tax-exempt status because the organizations appeared to pose a new precedent that could affect future IRS filings.

Cummings, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee conducting the probe, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that the manager’s comments provided evidence that politics was not behind IRS actions that have fueled a month-long furor in Washington.

“He is a conservative Republican working for the IRS. I think this interview and these statements go a long way toward showing that the White House was not involved in this,” Cummings told CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

“Based upon everything I’ve seen, the case is solved. And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on,” he added.

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Issa Conjures Shades of McCarthyism

Buck Banks

In a reminder of how the GOP overreached during the Clinton-era sex scandal, [Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-CA)] doesn’t seem capable of letting damning facts speak for themselves. … Note what Issa is doing. He does it all the time–start an unsubstantiated allegation with an absolute declaration (‘when in fact’) and follow it with weasel words (‘the indication is’). This smear-and-caveat technique allows him to ruin reputations without being called a liar. Issa is a demagogue with plausible deniability.

— Ron Fournier, writing in National Journal.

Plurality See IRS Probe as Most Important of Three Scandals

Buck Banks

44%

Of voters see the IRS probe as the most important of the three controversies surrounding the White House — Benghazi, IRS targeting and seizing reporter phone records — with 24% citing Benghazi and 15% picking the AP records seizure, a new Quinnipiac poll finds. But voters say 73% to22% that dealing with the economy and unemployment is a higher priority than investigating these three issues.

IRS Official Takes the Fifth

Buck Banks

Because I’m asserting my right not to testify I know people will assume I’ve done something wrong. I have not. One of the basic rights of the Fifth Amendment is to protect innocent individuals and that’s the protection I’m invoking today, thank you.

— IRS official Lois Lerner, quoted by the Washington Post, in a prepared statement before the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee.