The Other McCain

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Doug Shulman: IRS Fall Guy?

Posted on | May 22, 2013 | 15 Comments

Just a few thoughts while watching today’s House Oversight Committee hearings about the IRS scandal:

Schulman was caught in lie after lie after lie, saying he didn’t remember this or that, and then being reminded of his own previous testimony demonstrating either (a) he did know about what he denied remembering, or (b) his earlier denials were false.

And I think I wasn’t the only viewer whose head exploded when Shulman was asked why he made more than 100 visits to the White House in a single year and began his answer, “Easter Egg Rolls with my kids . . .”

This guy has refused to apologize for the IRS scandal. Exactly why the hell George W. Bush would appoint Shulman — a donor to the Democratic National Committee — to a five-year term as IRS Commissioner is one of the great mysteries of our age. Lois Lerner has pleaded the Fifth, and it’s basically impossible to fire anybody at the IRS, so if Democrats are looking for a scapegoat to throw under the bus, the “bipartisan” Shulman seems to be a likely fall guy.

On the other hand, Ezra Klein’s Juice Box Mafia seems prepared to throw Lois Lerner under the Obama bus, too.

 


Category: Barack Obama, Scandal, Taxes, Tea Party

Comments

15 Responses to “Doug Shulman: IRS Fall Guy?”

  1. richard mcenroe
    May 22nd, 2013 @ 2:59 pm

    See, this is why we need a fast-tracked path to citizenship, so these poor misunderstood seekers after the American dream won’t get so stressed out when dealing with the authorities…

    …Gah, I was a Democrat too long, that came out way too easily…

  2. tomaig
    May 22nd, 2013 @ 3:05 pm

    Watching this guy testify makes me think that he’s at the center of another AP scandal…the Arrogant Poofter scandal.
    Seriously, this guy is married? With children?

  3. Adjoran
    May 22nd, 2013 @ 3:11 pm

    No federal employee should draw another penny after refusing to testify before Congress about their performance of official duties.

    If unions say otherwise, kill the unions.

  4. Finrod Felagund
    May 22nd, 2013 @ 3:52 pm

    Course, we have CNN trying to cover for him:

    Spending by such groups has increased, and Shulman testified that the increased workload on IRS officials tasked with assessing tens of thousands of new requests for tax-exempt status contributed to the targeting problem.

    Can you spot the misleading spin?

  5. ThomasD
    May 22nd, 2013 @ 7:07 pm

    Well, get it all out and maybe it will stop.

  6. richard mcenroe
    May 22nd, 2013 @ 8:26 pm

    Can’t wait til True the Vote suboenas him and Lerner for the civil suit. Can you plead the Fifth in a civil case?

  7. Quartermaster
    May 22nd, 2013 @ 8:32 pm

    No. The 5th applies only where you can incriminate yourself. The only way to do so in a civil proceeding is to commit perjury.

  8. Bob Belvedere
    May 22nd, 2013 @ 9:06 pm

    First, we kill all the unions.

  9. Adjoran
    May 23rd, 2013 @ 1:32 am

    Fortunately for Shulman, he has already been surpassed on the food chain and the White House Counsel seems to ready to fall on her sword as the scapegoat for both IRS and Benghazi – conveniently. I doubt the gambit will work, but in any event we are already above Shulman’s pay grade.

    But Shulman will have to make a deal and offer testimony to avoid jail time (assuming we can force a special prosecutor – if it’s left up to Holder he might get a demerit on his Lifetime Bureaucratic Achievement Award, if that).

  10. Adjoran
    May 23rd, 2013 @ 1:33 am

    Quite so, it would be much more efficient that way, thanks.

  11. Adjoran
    May 23rd, 2013 @ 1:35 am

    Requests for tax-exempt status were DOWN from 2009 to 2010, AND there were more requests from left-of-center groups than conservatives, but none of the liberals were delayed with all the intrusive requests for information.

  12. Adjoran
    May 23rd, 2013 @ 3:57 pm

    Wrong as usual.

  13. Quartermaster
    May 23rd, 2013 @ 9:49 pm

    Hardly. You can hallucinate as usual, but I’d suggest you get off the drugs you’re on and return to reality. There is a reason there is a division between criminal and civil courts.

  14. TexasGal
    May 24th, 2013 @ 3:21 pm

    Shulman is a Democrat….despite who first appointed him. In fact, that same year, he donated $500 to Democrats.

  15. I Am So Tired of the George W. Bush Hagiographers |
    May 24th, 2013 @ 6:30 pm

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