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Who wrote the Questionnaire*?
(*that the IRS reserved for Tea Party groups)?

Posted by B. Daniel Blatt at 2:08 am - May 16, 2013.
Filed under: Chicago Politics,Democratic Scandals,IRS/Tea Party Scandal

Looking at the “IRS letters to Tea Party groups“, J. Christian Adams found that they “read like an opposition researcher’s fantasy:  demands for the names of volunteers, money, content of speeches, donors, offices, on and on and on.”

An opposition researcher’s fantasy. . . . Wonder if any allies/associates of the president have an expertise in that kind of work.

According to Politico,

The Internal Revenue Service asked tea party groups to see donor rolls.

It asked for printouts of Facebook posts.

And it asked what books people were reading.

A POLITICO review of documents from 11 tea party and conservative groups that the IRS scrutinized in 2012 shows the agency wanted to know everything — in some cases, it even seemed curious what members were thinking. The review included interviews with groups or their representatives from Hawaii, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas and elsewhere.

Asking what books they were reading?  Now why would they ask that?  For what purpose?  And why would they need to see their donor rolls?  (Well, the Obama campaign did slime some pretty prominent Romney donors, a number of who were subject to IRS audits.)
An investigation into this matter will not be complete unless it identifies the author or authors of these questionnaires and deposes them under oath to ask why they crafted the requests they did — and at whose behest.
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21 Comments

  1. Question for Obama’s fanboys (who’ve been a bit quiet the last couple of days), when an administration is using Government agencies to harass and stifle opposition voices, how is it not tyranny?

    Comment by V the K — May 16, 2013 @ 6:24 am - May 16, 2013

  2. I listened to a bit of Sean Hannity’s show yesterday. Several liberals called in to say they were happy Obama was using the IRS against his “enemies.”

    Comment by V the K — May 16, 2013 @ 6:39 am - May 16, 2013

  3. V the K, I love that some liberals are actually doing that. Good to see them showing their true colors. To be sure, I don’t think most liberals are jerks who don’t care about the rights of their conservative friends, but there are obviously many liberals who have the free-speech-for-me-but-not-for-thee attitude toward the 1st Amendment. It’s good that they are taking off the masks.

    Comment by Chad — May 16, 2013 @ 7:44 am - May 16, 2013

  4. Question for Obama’s fanboys (who’ve been a bit quiet the last couple of days),

    I know that I have to “tiptoe” around this this because of “Godwin’s Law” —

    The IRS is being jacked up with tons of agents who will administer Obamacare. Here is a caller comment to Rush from yesterday:

    CALLER: My comment today is that Americans should be scared to death over this administration implementing our health care. All it would take is one overly aggressive employee to move you up or down the list for a transplant or treatment, and to have everything based on your political affiliation or donations. We need a new effort for full repeal.

    I take the caller’s point. If the IRS will compile a list of political enemies for the purpose of harassing them with bureaucratic delays, audits or scaring them off, how big a stretch is it to worry that your health concerns are being audited and addressed according to your politics?

    For a number of years, politicians have toyed with the idea of a national identity card. They always extol its virtues. But the IRS has now demonstrated that the government is just as capable of using its power for compiling research against its political opponents.

    How big a leap does it take to worry about the sinister Big Brother messing with your medical care because you are not loyal to the party?

    Comment by heliotrope — May 16, 2013 @ 9:08 am - May 16, 2013

  5. The liberal “Intelligentsia” agrees: Tea Party groups had it coming to them.

    Comment by V the K — May 16, 2013 @ 9:20 am - May 16, 2013

  6. “To be sure, I don’t think most liberals are jerks who don’t care about the rights of their conservative friends”

    That’s because most “liberals” don’t have conservative friends.

    Comment by Rob Crawford — May 16, 2013 @ 9:30 am - May 16, 2013

  7. [...] Gay Patriot asks, “Who wrote the [IRS] questionnaire?” Great question. They really do read like an opposition researcher’s [...]

    Pingback by The PJ Tatler » Report: ‘Rogue’ IRS Workers Were Following Orders — May 16, 2013 @ 10:06 am - May 16, 2013

  8. Maybe they just don’t get-it inside the Beltway, but Middle America’s distrust of the Guv’mnt stems in-part from the fear that America doesn’t need a Secret Police—it has the IRS. And just with US Census, doesn’t really trust that their honest answers will be held back from other organs of state despite the explicit legal-promise of confidentiality.

    Comment by Ted B. (Charging Rhino) — May 16, 2013 @ 10:26 am - May 16, 2013

  9. At least the ‘gun control’ agenda isn’t moving forward. (Because of these scandals.)

    Comment by ILoveCapitalism — May 16, 2013 @ 10:47 am - May 16, 2013

  10. “We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” – Obama, 2008

    Comment by V the K — May 16, 2013 @ 10:47 am - May 16, 2013

  11. @V the K…. It IS tyranny except to liberals/progressives .

    Comment by Linda Strickland — May 16, 2013 @ 10:51 am - May 16, 2013

  12. Liberals don’t oppose tyranny; they oppose not being in charge of it.

    Comment by V the K — May 16, 2013 @ 11:04 am - May 16, 2013

  13. [...] AP snooping scandal speaks for itself. Now from the GP comments, V the K reminds us of something Obama said in 2008: We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to [...]

    Pingback by GayPatriot » When will liberals see? — May 16, 2013 @ 11:56 am - May 16, 2013

  14. Wow, the ‘fanboys’ are still quiet, aren’t they?

    Comment by The_Livewire — May 16, 2013 @ 12:07 pm - May 16, 2013

  15. According to a recent IRS retiree who has been calling Mark Levin’s show frequently since retiring, form questionnaires like those sent to Tea Parties, are approved only by fairly high
    level executives at the IRS, meaning they were political appointees who would have approve the questionnaires.

    Comment by JerseyDevil1 — May 16, 2013 @ 1:08 pm - May 16, 2013

  16. [...] Who wrote the Questionnaire*?(*that the IRS reserved for Tea Party groups)? [...]

    Pingback by GayPatriot » Before Obama, did IRS ever ask for names of teenage* interns? — May 16, 2013 @ 6:01 pm - May 16, 2013

  17. It’s worth pointing out that the Obama campaign is noted for its skill at data-mining and connecting databases in order to infer a person’s political leanings. (Particularly evident in the 2012 campaign, with the ability to do things like target a specific message to a voter based on the intersection of Facebook activity, zip code, gender, etc.) This questionnaire sounds very much like an attempt to do further data-mining based on activities, connections, who’s related to whom, who does business with whom, etc.

    Comment by jaed — May 17, 2013 @ 1:57 am - May 17, 2013

  18. I would not be a bit surprised if all that data went directly to the DNC.

    Comment by crosspatch — May 17, 2013 @ 3:53 am - May 17, 2013

  19. ‘We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us’

    Comment by crosspatch — May 17, 2013 @ 3:55 am - May 17, 2013

  20. Watergate: breaking into political rival’s headquarters to obtain oppo research and stymie political organization and strategy.

    IRS scandal: give political rivals choice to shut down operations or to hand over extensive, documented oppo research on self under threat of federal felony conviction.

    Comment by notacrook — May 17, 2013 @ 1:01 pm - May 17, 2013

  21. [...] Who wrote the Questionnaire*? (*that the IRS reserved for Tea Party groups)? Looking at the “IRS letters to Tea Party groups“, J. Christian Adams found that they “read like an opposition researcher’s fantasy: demands for the names of volunteers, money, content of speeches, donors, offices, on and on and on.” [...]

    Pingback by News of the Week for May 19th, 2013 | The Political Hat — May 19, 2013 @ 6:09 pm - May 19, 2013

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