IRS Emails Disclose Lerner's 'Secret Research Project'

by JASmius

This isn't news, ladies and gentleman.  It is, though, a confirmation of all our preconceived notions:

The Internal Revenue Service obtained donor lists from nonprofit political groups for a "secret research project" conducted by the agency's former head, Lois Lerner, and other officials involved in the targeting scandal.

Newly obtained documents also reveal that 75% of the groups from which the lists were solicited were conservative, while just 5% were liberal. The watchdog group, Judicial Watch, obtained the emails and documents as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.  

We knew this.  Oh, yes.  Because the truth of this scandal could have been nothing else.

Still, this "secret research project" does have a noteworthy distinction or two:

Another email indicates that the agency was aware the donor lists were not needed for decisions about groups' tax-exempt status.

"TEGE [Tax Exempt and Government Entities] has reviewed those files and determined that such information was not needed across-the-board and not used in making the agency's determination on exempt status," wrote Deputy Associate Chief Counsel Margo Stevens to Lerner in response to a question about whether the agency could return the lists it improperly solicited. [emphasis added]

Thus is another question raised: It's clear that the Obama IRS was never going to approve Tea Party 501(c)(4) applications because "[BLEEP] you!"  They didn't need such organizations' donor lists to issue blanket denials.  So why did they go out of their way to, in essence, steal the donor lists?  The answer comes instantly to mind: to pour through each and every name in order to find the slightest loose end, the tiniest hook, to justify mass criminal investigations against each and every last one of them.  Or just make them up.  The prosecutions alone would bankrupt most such conservative donors, and who knows, the "right" judge might railroad a few into actual convictions and jail time.  Regardless, there would be nothing left of the Tea Party but a great, big grease spot on the proverbial floor.  And, of course, Barack Obama would clinch his lifetime presidency.

And it worked, at least on the core objectives.  Barack Obama is president-for-life, which covers all his accomplices, such as Double-L, on the back side.  And if all else fails, O can always issue blanket pardons of all involved.  Which means that this "bombshell" is a dud, as it was always going to be.

But it is, at least, another "See, We Told You So!" to add to our consolatory mound of solace, for whatever it's worth.