Remember the video of the guy in the \u201cpimp costume\u201d who got advice from ACORN employees on how to run his prostitution ring? Turns out the whole story was just a lie, a doctored-video smear job on an important organization. The guy never wore a \u201cpimp costume\u201d and the real, undoctored videos showed that ACORN employees did nothing wrong. But a lie travels around the world before the corporate media bothers to check the facts. The \u201cnews\u201d media blasted the story everywhere, and Congress was so outraged they forced ACORN to close its doors. And here we are again.<\/p>\n
The corporate media is blasting out the story that the IRS \u201ctargeted conservative groups.\u201d Some in the media say there was \u201cIRS harassment of conservative groups.\u201d Some of the media are going so far as claiming that conservative groups were \u201caudited.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story that is being repeated and treated as \u201ctrue\u201d is just not what happened at all. It is one more right-wing victimization fable, repeated endlessly until the public has no choice except t believe it.<\/p>\n
Conservative Groups Were Not \u201cTargeted,\u201d \u201cSingled Out\u201d Or Anything Else<\/p>\n
You are hearing that conservative groups were \u201ctargeted.\u201d What you are not hearing is that progressive groups were also \u201ctargeted.\u201d So were groups that are not progressive or conservative.<\/p>\n
All that happened here is that groups applying to the IRS for special tax status were checked to see if they were engaged in political activity. They were checked, not targeted. Only 1\/3 of the groups checked were conservative groups.<\/p>\n
Once again: Only 1\/3 of the groups checked were conservative groups.<\/p>\n
Conservative groups were not \u201csingled out,\u201d were not \u201ctargeted\u201d and in the end none were denied special tax status \u2014 even though many obviously should have been.<\/p>\n
From last week\u2019s House hearings on this:<\/p>\n
Rep. Peter Roskam, R-IL: \u201cHow come only conservative groups got snagged?\u201d<\/p>\n
Outgoing acting IRS commissioner Steve Miller: \u201cThey didn\u2019t sir. Organizations of all walks and all persuasions were pulled in. That\u2019s shown by the fact that only 70 of the 300 organizations were tea party organizations, of the ones that were looked at by TIGTA [Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration].\u201d<\/p>\n
Bet you didn\u2019t see that blasted all over your TV news that night.<\/p>\n