Omfanget av IRS-skandalen har ikke gått opp for offentligheten. Selv den liberale pressen er idag beklemt over Obama-administrasjonen.

Alle presidenter slår an en tone, legger an en stil. Obamas har kommunisert på en måte som gjør at selv skatteetaten følte den ville bidra til at han vant, selv om det betød å benytte trakassering som middel overfor politiske motstandere.

The IRS scandal has two parts. The first is the obviously deliberate and targeted abuse, harassment and attempted suppression of conservative groups. The second is the auditing of the taxes of political activists.

In order to suppress conservative groups—at first those with words like «Tea Party» and «Patriot» in their names, then including those that opposed ObamaCare or advanced the second amendment—the IRS demanded donor rolls, membership lists, data on all contributions, names of volunteers, the contents of all speeches made by members, Facebookposts, minutes of all meetings, and copies of all materials handed out at gatherings. Among its questions: What are you thinking about? Did you ever think of running for office? Do you ever contact political figures? What are you reading? One group sent what it was reading: the U.S. Constitution.

Hvis skatteetaten vil vite hva du poster på Facebook og hva du leser er noe galt.

Den siden av skandalen er at skatteetaten gikk etter likningen til bestemte skatteytere, da de ble kjent som Romney-tilhengere.

The second part of the scandal is the auditing of political activists who have opposed the administration. The Journal’s Kim Strassel reported an Idaho businessman named Frank VanderSloot, who’d donated more than a million dollars to groups supporting Mitt Romney. He found himself last June, for the first time in 30 years, the target of IRS auditors. His wife and his business were also soon audited. Hal Scherz, a Georgia physician, also came to the government’s attention. He told ABC News: «It is odd that nothing changed on my tax return and I was never audited until I publicly criticized ObamaCare.» Franklin Graham, son of Billy, told Politico he believes his father was targeted. A conservative Catholic academic who has written for these pages faced questions about her meager freelance writing income. Many of these stories will come out, but not as many as there are. People are not only afraid of being audited, they’re afraid of saying they were audited.

Det er nesten for utrolig til å være sant. Hvordan reagerer Obama? Han virker støtt over at det stilles spørsmålstegn ved hans person, over at han i det hele tatt må svare.
Det kan bli langt verre. Pressens romanse med Obama synes å være over, skriver Noonan.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578487460479247792.html