IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, told Congress the agency was never accused of targeting tea party organizations and other conservative groups from 2010 through 2012.

Instead, Koskinen claimed, before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on March 25, the IRS was “only” found to have used “inappropriate criteria” in its denial of tax-exempt status applications from Tea Party and other conservative groups.

House Republicans who have investigated the IRS handling of applications from conservative groups have consistently referred to the practice as “targeting.” So have news organizations, including The Washington Post.

Still, Koskinen stuck to his guns:

“The Inspector General found inappropriate criteria were used to select organizations for further review – he did not refer to it as targeting.





Yes, inappropriate criteria were used. I don’t think I used the word ‘target,’ but I do acknowledge that applications were delayed unnecessarily and for too long.”

So what did the Inspector General’s report actually conclude?

“The IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax‑exempt status based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign intervention.”

Okay, I don’t want to get picky, here, but suppose I ran a business and I used “inappropriate criteria” to identify Muslims or atheists, for example, and I then chose not to hire them based on that criteria. Would I not be “targeting” Muslims and atheists for non-hire? Of course I would.

Memo to the commissioner: You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

Incidentally, WaPo awarded Koskinen 3 Pinocchios for his obvious lies misleading comments.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/04/126696-i...riate-criteria/

Yet another farcical rhetorical tap dance from the Obama admin. The "inappropriate criteria" used were whether or not the group supported Obama for reelection or might impact it negatively. Simple as that.