You know when the President sends out an official announcement at 8:30pm that a general sense of the pending sh!tstorm is looming far closer than the horizon.
So close in fact it is quite possible the nucleus of the scandal will be tracked to the West Wing of 1600.
Earlier yesterday, prior to the official Inspector General report release, ABC Newser Trey Hardin directly asked White House Spokesman Jay Carney:
Trey Hardin: “I will tell you this on the IRS front. I’ve worked in this town for over 20 years in the White House and on Capitol Hill and I can say with a very strong sense of certainty that there are people very close to this president that not only knew what the IRS were doing but authorized it. It simply just does not happen at an agency level like that without political advisers likely in the West Wing certainly connected to the president’s ongoing campaign organization.” (link)
Notably, Jay Carney never disputed this assertion. Bad sign.
Then we find out embedded in the report is an admission that 100% of all conservative groups were targeted by the IRS over a period of more than 2 years (27 months).
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Then to make matters worse, it is discovered by USA Today:
[…] In that time, the IRS approved perhaps dozens of applications from similar liberal and progressive groups, a USA TODAY review of IRS data shows.
As applications from conservative groups sat in limbo, groups with liberal-sounding names had their applications approved in as little as nine months. With names including words like “Progress” or “Progressive,” the liberal groups applied for the same tax status and were engaged in the same kinds of activities as the conservative groups. (link)
That irrefutable fact –disparate IRS treatment based on political affiliation– totally FUBAR’s any deflection by the liberal water-carrying media. Quite simply it becomes indefensible from even the most prolific and ideological administration defenders.
NBC, yes even NBC, compares President Obama to Nixon on the nightly news two hours before the “official 8:30pm statement release”:
From The Office Of The President – I have now had the opportunity to review the Treasury Department watchdog’s report on its investigation of IRS personnel who improperly targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. And the report’s findings are intolerable and inexcusable. The federal government must conduct itself in a way that’s worthy of the public’s trust, and that’s especially true for the IRS. The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test.
I’ve directed Secretary Lew to hold those responsible for these failures accountable, and to make sure that each of the Inspector General’s recommendations are implemented quickly, so that such conduct never happens again. But regardless of how this conduct was allowed to take place, the bottom line is, it was wrong. Public service is a solemn privilege. I expect everyone who serves in the federal government to hold themselves to the highest ethical and moral standards. So do the American people. And as President, I intend to make sure our public servants live up to those standards every day.
And yet, the storyline on this has only just begun…..