Are Tea Party Groups Targeted by the IRS?

Yes, Yes, Yes, Renee, you are so right !!!

The federal government {IS} out to get the Teapublicans, everyone knows that the Republican majority run Congress members are standing by twittling their thumbs and doing nothing while the IRS is doing everything that their agents possibly can to search out and identify each and every Teapublican and make their lives a living Hell of Taxation without Representation.

I can see that there is no such word as "Conspiracy" in your vocabulary. I can also see that your journalism is poorly lacking in information, substance and factual material, you know, that thing called "Journalistic" professionalism. But heck, who really cares as long as it's a conglomerate of unsubstantuated facts that are what the far right extremist want to hear and pass on to other conspiracy nuts as being truth.

No problem, keep up your non factual based reporting, who knows, some day Faux News may call upon you to do a one-off standin for either Maukin, Coulter or Carlson.

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm? Mock away, Scott. I am bringing something to the table because nobody else is really reporting it, I would ask the same question if Occupy thought they were being targeted.

Scarcasm, you betcha.

I am finding it increasingly harder and harder to ignore the paranoia and conspiracy nonsense which has become the basis for so many factually unsupported articles. Stories written by far right political journalist and/or reported by many rightwing political commentators/pundits on various Faux News and radio talk shows. Such evidentiary unsupported articles only serve to create conspriacy paranoia and wrongly brings into question the trustworthiness of our government.

All I'm saying is, investigate first, then report the "facts" as you have found them to be and cease using supposition, paranoia and conspiracy theories as a basis for articles you write.

You are jumping to conclusions about me, but that is ok, I am used to it. I just find it sad that an intelligent person such as yourself cannot engage in civil debate. I probably have alot to learn from you and you from me.

The Huffington Post and the AP both say in very recent stories that "Last month, seven Democratic senators asked the IRS to investigate whether some groups were improperly using tax-exempt status", something that I did not know when I wrote this, but does say that perhaps the conservative groups are getting a bit more scrutiny than the others.

So Occupy gets a rent free ride and the respectful Tea Party now must pay the tax. So is that the price of free speech? When the government fears the people it is called Freedom, when the people fear the government it is called tyranny!

You know, I think this is what made me write the story.

It stuck with me that the Tea Party had to go and get permits to be in public squares, etc, but Occupy had no accountability really, as they popped up in tents overnight all over the world in public squares.

So, instead of letting them be, the Tea Party is being hounded to justify their tax status? I dunno, seems dodgy to me.

Excellent comment, Clark.

BTW, OWS uses a tax-free affiliate to collect and dispense their money so OWS is, in effect, tax free.

RF, who is or has run as a member of the Tea Party?

Lets hope the IRS gives Media Matters a similar colonoscopy. This doesn't surprise me one bit being that we are in an election cycle.

Eamon, I'd like to see that colonoscopy as well.

Great post. The left will never complain if government abuses it'sower as long as they are going after the left. Eamon made an excellent point.

Thanks, Eamon and Jeff, we need to stand by all people, left and right, so that they can have the chance to freely speak their beliefs. Mockery, fear and intimidation tactics should be confronted by all Americans.

RF, I am not able to list a bunch of links in the stories, especially if they are random, like bloggers, etc. I agree with that policy, as we should be scrutinizing our sources. There are a gazillion sites out there that I cannot (will not) quote, as they may not be objective. However, there are legitimate sources that are acknowledging that conservative groups have become a target, in particular, for the IRS. Rightly or wrongly (although, I suspect the latter, unfortunately.)

One such source is the AP, that says, "Conservatives say dozens of groups around the country have recently had similar experiences with the IRS and say its information demands are intrusive and politically motivated. They complain that the sheer size and detail of material the agency wants is designed to prevent them from achieving the tax designations they seek."

Now, I am NOT saying that the IRS has a political agenda. As a matter of fact, it may not be the IRS, but the political pressure they themselves are receiving from Washington. This same story goes on to say, "Last month, seven Democratic senators asked the IRS to investigate whether some groups were improperly using tax-exempt status."

The Tea Party, as fractured as it is, has focused (at least in the beginning) on NOT endorsing a particular candidate. However, I acknowledge that some have. However, the ones that have may or may not have not-for-profit status. They are all different.

My only question here is whether the Tea Party or other conservative groups are getting scrutiny where others are not. I think it is a fair question.

Sorry, you lost me. What do you mean? What other questions am I raising in the article?

Good article Renee!

Thanks, Fren! ;-)

I will believe this is NOT a partisan attack when it is shown that MediaMatters has received equivalent IRS attention as has the Tea Party groups. Good questions, Renee.

The big difference between Media Matters, admittedly a left wing organization, and many Tea Party groups is that Media Matters isn't involved in political campaigns. There are plenty of right wing non-profits that manage to follow the rules.

The government is NOT trying to root out corruption. If they were then Solyndra execs and others in the Energy department that approved and manipulated that loan process would be in jail. Just the tip of the iceberg there.

What they are trying to do is apply good-ole Chicago-style political pressure.
Neither FoxNews nor the Tea Party organizations are using the coercive power of the federal government (namely the IRS) to intimidate opponents.

RF,

I totally agree about Rush, that is not a way to have good dialogue, it is not that girl's fault that we raised her in an entitlement society. She should certainly not be a target, WE should be the target for allowing it to get to this point.

It is also nice about what they said about Breitbart (waaay too young to go, how shocking!), it would be pretty low for them to express glee at a time like this (I am surprised that they say they "pray", though).

"Fox News regularly tries to deflect blame for the recession that began in 2007 from former President George W. Bush", I don't watch Fox, so I don't know, but I do not agree with finger pointing, instead, let's fix it, no matter how it started, we are all in this together.

And perhaps the last point is correct, "This comparison is flawed because these countries' economies are fundamentally different", I did not see the chart. However, we have a tendency to distance ourselves from Europe, as we see what they are going through (as far as being in major debt and having to resort to tough austerity measures), but we do not learn from their mistakes and continue to spend, spend, spend. Will we really be able to pay back the debt we have incurred without some pain?

RF,
Please don't try to claim as you did that:
"..Media Matters isn't involved in political campaigns."
This is completely false as evidenced by a recent Daily Caller series of articles.

That Daily Caller series was very enlightening, Ken. Also, you may be interested in this article, where I mention Solyndra and others. I would be interested in your thoughts.

Renee, Yes, now if we could only get our friends on the left to examine such truths and sources. I'll check out your article.

The link is in my story, above ;-)

The Tea Party have some of the most unpleasant people involved with it that I have ever met. I was at a protest, prior Occupy Wall St., and we had the permits (they did not) and they set up an illegal sound system. When confronted that they didn't have a permit they acting like the hopeless frauds they are. The IRS SHOULD EXAMINE all of these organizations including the Occupy Wall Street movement - that also includes religious organizations that are taking political stances. BTW, Fox News...really? No real news is ever reported on that network unless it was first vomited up by the leaders of the Republican Party.

Thanks for your insights. Yes, if people are getting government breaks, perhaps they should all be examined. My whole point. I think we should be careful to generalize a whole group of people (tea party, republicans, fox news, etc) as it is why we have become so polarized in the first place. Too much anger and not enough understanding and genuine civil debate.

Nenee Nal, Fox News has made it more that clear that it has no use for people like me since many of my views fall in the liberal camp. For myself, I find their sloppy reporting and whiney attitudes preclude them from being a serious news organizations. Republicans have no use for me because I pro women having access to both abortions and birth control thus I don’t fit into their anti-woman (actually, it is more about controlling female bodies and set western civilization back a few centuries) agenda. BTW, for a political party that argues a whole bunch about not having government intervene in the lives of citizens they do a bang up job of introducing legislation that does just that. The Tea Party proved themselves to me (at least the ones in Kansas City) when they were willing to break the rules and leach off a protest permit that wasn’t their own. Talk about your welfare queens!

We have become polarized as a nation since the 1980s because the right-winged conservative movement has people like Karl Rove who use fear mongering and prejudice as a way to score political points. If you check out comments under internet political articles time and time again people who tend to be liberal are more likely to write using logic as well as concern for all U.S. citizens (not just those that make five million or more). While those on the right tend to use name calling probably because they don’t understand the issues as well and the only weapon in their arsenal though they claim to be Christians for the most part.

Lisa, I am not going to defend Fox, as I don't watch it, (or any TV, which probably makes me a weirdo). You could be right or wrong, I don't know.

However, the blanket statements that you make, "Republicans have no use for me because I pro women having access to both abortions and birth control thus I don’t fit into their anti-woman (actually, it is more about controlling female bodies and set western civilization back a few centuries) agenda." and "right-winged conservative movement has people like Karl Rove who use fear mongering and prejudice as a way to score political points" and "those on the right tend to use name calling probably because they don’t understand the issues as well and the only weapon in their arsenal though they claim to be Christians for the most part." are hurting the dialogue.

You accuse the right of doing exactly what you are doing, name calling (Nenee Nal? or was that a typo?) I think we have dodgy characters on both sides of the aisle and to make blanket statements about one group or another is generalizing, which is akin to racism and it is not helpful. If you want me to come to your way of thinking, I am open to it and you may even change my mind on a thing or two. A good argument, based in fact is very compelling. ;-)

Renee Nal, it was a typo, which should be obvious because Nenee Nal doesn’t mean anything (unless you had some childhood trauma involving children on a playground chanting “Nenee Nal, Nenee Nal, Nenee Nal” while wanting to sacrifice you to a Harvest God; if that is the case I’m truly sorry for the unattended offense).

I don't deny there aren't dodgy characters arguing issues from the left, however they aren't as many as there are from the right. I have witnessed abusive ways of several members professing right-winged leanings on Gather. My generalizations are based on my observations and to equate them with racism is insulting and to even make that analogy is hyperbole at best and plain ignorance at worst. Racism is a system which covertly or overtly deems a segment of society is deserving of discrimination. I don’t advocate discrimination of anyone from the right. I’m fine with people living conservative lives; I’m just not down with their presumption that their conservative views should define how I live my life. Never have I characterized any disagreement with anyone as “You People….blah, blah, blah.” You know why? Because it isn’t applicable; someone’s conservative values might be as varied as my own political views. In terms of Fox News they know they are biased and for them to pretend otherwise is a sham. The current crop of Republican Party presidential candidates are all tripping over themselves promising to introduce legislation that would limit an individual’s rights to do what they want with their bodies or who they want to marry. As for my experience with the Tea Party one man was willing to discuss the issues with some of us but then his wife came around and literally dragged him away. I mean literally d-r-a-g-g-e-d him.

“If you want me to come to your way of thinking, I am open to it and you may even change my mind on a thing or two. A good argument, based in fact is very compelling.” To be honest I don’t know if I really want to practice cognitive dissonance with you or anyone during a presidential campaign year. I’ve looked at your articles and I think you are probably pretty set in your ways as I am in mine. Good luck in New Zealand.




BTW, this is going to be the last I’m going to comment. I can’t afford to waste any more time on this. Thanks.

No worries, Lisa, you already said it all.