Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:04 pm
Paul Ryan ignored the evidence, and wove a web of lies in an attempt to insinuate that President Obama was involved in the IRS scandal.
Paul Ryan started off his Fox News Sunday interview by admitting that he had no proof that President Obama was involved in the IRS scandal. This did not stop Rep. Ryan from insinuating that Obama was involved in the IRS scandal.
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Ryan said,
What we also know from just this one hearing is that groups with the word progressive, or organizing, groups with a liberal persuasion did not have this targeting. They went through. They were approved. So we know that they specifically targeted people based on their political beliefs. Based on people who have a suspicion of the size and direction of government. Based on tea party, and 9/12, and the word patriots. So we know for sure they targeted people based on their political beliefs.
We’ve got allegations based on, you know, religious beliefs that were contrary to the president’s positions. We have credible allegations that donors to these groups were targeted. We know that the IRS leaked private confidential information to the public, for political, which served political purposes, so there’s so much more that we’ve just uncovered that we do not know the root causes of.
And so to suggest that this is some bureaucratic snafu, it it, that’s already been disproven, Chris. The other point I’d say this is. The person in charge of this bureaucratic snafu is has now been put in charge of implementing Obamacare. The IRS is now going to be granted huge amounts of unprecedented power over our health care in the implementation of Obamacare, and so this is just rotten to the core. This is arrogance. This is big government cronyism, and this is not what hardworking taxpayers deserve. People deserve a government that they can trust. That’s honest, that’s impartial, equality before the law, and that’s not what we are getting here, so to try and suggest bureaucratic snafus. We already know that this is not true.
Paul Ryan was lying. His lie was one of omission. Rep. Ryan made those claims based on only the year 2010. The problem is that the IRS also targeted liberals 2011 and 2012. In 2012, the IRS revoked the tax exempt status that they had given a liberal group in 2011.
The report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that the IRS was targeting groups on both the left and the right who were interested in expanding or limiting government. The IRS wasn’t targeting for partisan reasons. They were trying to figure out if these political groups violated the tax exempt status limitations on partisan political activity.
Ryan also lied about the IRS having power over health care. The IRS will be involved in making sure that everyone is participating in Obamacare or paying the penalty. The IRS will not be involved in health care, or health care decisions.
Republicans are trying to use this IRS scandal to attack Obama, and stop Obamacare. Notice that near the end of his remarks Ryan mentioned people deserve a government that they can trust. This statement was the first sign that the goal of these scandals is to use them against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Republicans are laying the groundwork for the argument the Obama administration can’t be trusted, and Clinton would represent a third term for Obama.
It is all a lie. There is no evidence that the president was involved, but that is not going to stop Republicans from drawing connections where none exist in order to trump up another Obama scandal.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
