You just knew this was bound to happen. Some on the left are trying to blame George W. Bush for Obama's IRS fiasco. Take for example Mediaite's resident Obama apologist Tommy Christopher, who wrote a much ado about nothing post on May 16 insinuating that this egregious abuse of government power stems from former Bush appointed IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman – and that credit for clearing this whole thing up will go to Obama.
Christopher penned this piece using Martin Bashir’s May 16 broadcast, which featured Joy Reid of the Grio and Republican strategist Ron Christie. During the exchange, Christie was forced to admit the Shulman was a Bush appointee, but so what? This scandal happened under Obama. The IRS executed this plan in 2010, and Shulman –and his successor Steve Miller– knew about it since the spring of 2012. There is no doubt the agency lied about their knowledge of their employees’ malfeasance, and it happened under the Obama administration. Nevertheless, Christopher dutifully wove his spin, concluding:
Christie continued to argue that the IRS is not independent, because the President was able to fire Miller (or to demand his resignation), but that’s the key difficulty that the President’s opponents will have with this scandal, going forward. In order to argue that the misconduct was the result of an administration culture, they have to pin this on George W. Bush, but the credit for fixing it will all go to President Obama.
Earth to Christopher: this isn’t a partisan issue. In fact, Democrats and Republican alike are furious over this bureaucratic nightmare. It reeks of Nixon, which has left a sour taste in the mouth of liberals. So, when Christopher says the President’s opponents, he really means the American people. This simply cannot be spun with a straight face.
What's more, Christopher seems to forget that the administration possibly could’ve held onto Shulman to give the shamelessly false veneer that the president is concerned with bipartisanship and competent administration of the tax code. It's impossible to imagine Christopher spinning the same nonsense if this happened under George W. Bush and a Clinton IRS holdover.
