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Politico: 15 things you didn’t know about the brownie-baking Lois Lerner
Politipage ^ | 09/22/14 | Jon Fitzpatrick

Posted on 09/22/2014 2:13:36 PM PDT by nhwingut

Employers won’t hire her. She’s been berated with epithets like “dirty Jew.” Federal agents have guarded her house because of death threats. And she’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending herself against accusations she orchestrated a coverup in a scandal that has come to represent everything Americans hate about the IRS.

Lois Lerner is toxic — and she knows it. But she refuses to recede into anonymity or beg for forgiveness for her role in the IRS tea party-targeting scandal. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” Lerner said in her first press interview since the scandal broke 16 months ago. “I’m proud of my career and the job I did for this country.”



And this is just the start of one of most embarrassing attempts at political spin in the history of the corrupt media. Politico's Rachel Blade sat down with the loathsome Lois Lerner "in an exclusive two-hour session" and tries the unthinkable - a political makeover of the IRS enforcer, best known for destroying hard drives and pleading the fifth.

It is a must read for those who study media bias.

Here are Blade's most laughable Top 15 Spins of Ms. Lerner.

1. Lerner is "apolitical," who bakes brownies, rescues animals, and hands out free lotto tix. All while putting her babysitter's son through college. (All in one paragraph, no less.)

Yet Lerner is also described as “apolitical” and fair. Some say she was a generous boss who inspired loyalty, baking brownies and handing out lottery tickets to managers to raise morale. She’s putting her babysitter’s son through college and in 2005 flew to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to rescue animals.


2. Lerner is really, really not a Democrat. You know.

Lerner said she is “not a political person,” has voted for candidates of both parties and that the only campaign contribution she ever made was $25 to a fellow law school student running for judge.

She’s a registered Democrat, but her lawyer, Bill Taylor of Zuckerman Spaeder, said people should “consider whether being a registered member of one political party should disqualify people for government service, and if so, who would we get to run the government?”

Friends and colleagues say Lerner didn’t talk much about politics and note that while Democrats have defended the IRS and the White House, they’ve steered clear of backing Lerner — suggesting she and her husband don’t have many heavyweight Democratic connections.


3. She's nonpartisan, and above the fray. Her only bias is, you know, against unfairness.

“Lois’ ideology is against money in politics, is ‘anti-contribution’; that’s her bias,” said Engle, an Arent Fox partner. “Her ideology inhibited fair administration of the law.”

But any action Lerner brought had to be approved by the bipartisan commission.

Larry Noble, Lerner’s friend and former FEC boss, says she was never partisan. He nominated her for a government service award she won in 2008 by arguing she stayed above the fray.


4. And let me tell you, again, how she rescued animals during Katrina, while taking an "unpaid leave for her job." Even "crying" on video and stuff.

A decade ago, Lerner’s name incited roaring applause at Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace, where a stage of celebrities including Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg honored her for rescuing animals abandoned during Hurricane Katrina. It was part of the 2006 Comic Relief fundraiser that aired on TBS and HBO.

Lerner had taken unpaid leave to fly to New Orleans after the storm, going door to door to save some of the 50,000 stranded animals. She fostered one collie that had been without food and water for a month, watching him for a year before finding his owners.

Before she took the stage with her foster pet, HBO showed a video depicting an emotional Lerner crying because “we were too late” to save thousands of animals who had drowned or starved while waiting for their owners to return.


5. I know we mentioned it. But don't forget, she even paid for the college tuition of her babysitter's son, and once offered her couch to a down and out friend.

It’s not the only charitable act defenders eagerly recounted: Lerner and Miles are funding college tuition for their former babysitter’s son, and they let an unemployed friend live at their house for two years while he got back on his feet.


6. I mean, how evil can someone be if they started their career as a dental hygienist? Come on now!

Lerner started her career far away from tax policy, as a dental hygienist. She quickly switched gears and went to law school, graduating cum laude. After a stint at the Justice Department, she spent 20 years at the FEC before heading to the IRS in 2001.


7. Lerner was chatty joke teller, who doled out free lotto tix, all while footing the bill for lunch or dinner. Does this sound like evil?

Eventually, Lerner won over employees with her chatty personality and smart jokes — and by showing them her gratitude with little things, like doling out lottery tickets and treating them to lunch or dinner.


8. Plus. She would bend over backwards to help out staff and subordinates, even handing out her personal phone number.

She loved to talk fashion, and she’d ask how people were doing, not just at work, but in their personal lives.

Practitioners said she would sometimes give out her personal phone number at conferences so lawyers could call her as needed. She’d spend a few minutes each day phoning one of her 900 subordinates to ask how things were going.


9. Again, she does not work for the White House. You know. It's all the GOP's fault and stuff.

Still, none of her former IRS colleagues thought Lerner was working for the White House or biased.

Rather, in general, they say she lost control of her division — and that the GOP is taking advantage of it.


9. The dog rescuer slash brownie baker is, now herself, a victim of an overzealous government.

Lerner and Miles, a partner with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, said they’ve spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” on legal bills as she has been investigated by Congress and the FBI and sued by multiple conservative groups.

The couple, who live in a $2.5 million house in Bethesda, Maryland, where BMWs sit in neighboring driveways surrounded by lush yards and security cameras, are clearly well off. But now they’re more conscious of money, postponing Miles’ retirement, for example.


10. Poor Lois Lerner can't find a job now, even though she's taking in a six figure government pension.

Lerner wants to work to help pay for her defense bills, though a source working on the congressional investigation said she’s receiving a $100,000 annual pension. But while even Miller, fired by Obama in the wake of the scandal, has landed on his feet at a Washington-based consulting group, Lerner is still untouchable.

Her closest friends can’t help her land a job, and she’s been snubbed by at least one international organization that works on elections in Third World countries and a voluntary position in a county outside Washington.


11. She passes the time gardening and stuff.

So she passes the time gardening, walking her dogs and volunteering occasionally with a local arts nonprofit where she edits grant applications. She won’t specify where, exactly, because “I feel like having my name attached does nothing but cause issues for people.”


12. Her husband is forced to clip out stories from the newspaper, so poor Ms Lerner can read without becoming upset and stuff.

Instead, her husband — who looks more tired than Lerner herself — sifts through the scandal headlines, sometimes tearing out stories about her in the paper so she won’t see them.


13. Politico really asks how she's "coping." And of course, Lerner tears up.

When POLITICO asks about coping, Miles jests: “Oh, the tattoo?”

But Lerner tears up describing how her legal team has become friends, willing to listen to her vent.


14. We should really feel bad for her, you know. Lerner can't escape "public humiliation" and is "berated" by strangers.

Of course, that also means she can’t escape public humiliation when she is recognized. She’s been berated by strangers and told she is “going to be put away in the deepest, darkest dungeon, and they were going to lock me up and throw away the key.”


15. But Lerner wants you to know she is holding her head high and "doing just fine." As we close out this puff piece, with some drama.

Asked what she’d say if she could tell the world anything, she reiterated her innocence. Then, as she starts to get up to walk away from the interview, she added: “And, oh, one more thing: I’m doing just fine.”


Who says Politico is corrupt?


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: irs; loislerner; mediabias
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1 posted on 09/22/2014 2:13:36 PM PDT by nhwingut
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To: nhwingut

Lerner should be doing jail interviews.


2 posted on 09/22/2014 2:15:45 PM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: nhwingut
She fostered one collie that had been without food and water for a month,

I call BS on this. No way the dog lived in LA without water for a month.

3 posted on 09/22/2014 2:17:54 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: nhwingut

20 years in a Fed lockup sounds about right. She can bake brownies there.


4 posted on 09/22/2014 2:18:01 PM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" means something different to 0bama.)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: nhwingut

“All while putting her babysitter’s son through college.”

Did she pay babysitter minimum wage? Did she deduct FICA? Is babysitter legal?
Keep digging, “investigative” reporter.


6 posted on 09/22/2014 2:19:25 PM PDT by Zuse (I am disrupted! I am offended! I am insulted! I am outraged!)
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To: nhwingut

She remains a loyal Obama commissar to the end. Or until she is indicted by a real prosecutor, faces prison and the prospect of sharing a cell with her new best friend Bubbette.


7 posted on 09/22/2014 2:20:28 PM PDT by allendale
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To: 1Old Pro

BTTT!


8 posted on 09/22/2014 2:20:32 PM PDT by Jane Long ("And when thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek")
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To: nhwingut

I bet she does not clean her own toilets, or cook their meals.

And what do you want to bet that, while she was taking her “staff” out for lunch all those time, we were paying for it; she just let the staff think that she was.


9 posted on 09/22/2014 2:20:33 PM PDT by NEMDF
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To: nhwingut

Is this a pity party defense?

Here’s what I know - she used the power of the IRS to target conservatives. That makes her a thug... at best.


10 posted on 09/22/2014 2:21:15 PM PDT by GOPJ ("The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants" - Albert Camus)
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To: nhwingut

She remains a loyal Obama commissar to the end. Or until she is indicted by a real prosecutor, faces prison and the prospect of sharing a cell with her new best friend Bubbette.


11 posted on 09/22/2014 2:21:31 PM PDT by allendale
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To: nhwingut
“I’m proud of my career and the job I did for this country.”

Jawohl!

12 posted on 09/22/2014 2:21:43 PM PDT by windsorknot
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To: nhwingut

Good grief. What is this rehabilitation campaign laying groundwork for? Because it’s something, unless the b*tch really can’t get a job.


13 posted on 09/22/2014 2:21:47 PM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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To: nhwingut

Fry, b*tch.


14 posted on 09/22/2014 2:23:39 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Clinton / Bush 2016?)
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To: 1Old Pro

Yeah, but how does she feel about motherhood.


15 posted on 09/22/2014 2:30:09 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: nhwingut

If a grand jury would indict, I would like a jury to decide if she is innocent or otherwise.


16 posted on 09/22/2014 2:31:40 PM PDT by Lion Den Dan
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To: nhwingut
bullshit photo: bullshit l_5a20c2cd9af5cbf5e04646d08e9ee3e2.gif
17 posted on 09/22/2014 2:35:44 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: nhwingut

If this bitch’s husband is a partner at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan in Washington DC, they have plenty of money with or without her $100K pension.


18 posted on 09/22/2014 2:37:43 PM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: nhwingut
So, the only people that will listen to her are liberal 'journalist' who won't ask about the IRS scandal, her husband that is sick & tired of being sick & tired and of course her lawyers whom she pays to listen to her!

Oh, my heart aches!! ... -NOT-

19 posted on 09/22/2014 2:43:32 PM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: nhwingut

she’s ‘apolitical’??? Not according to emails released by someone who received them from her


20 posted on 09/22/2014 2:45:09 PM PDT by Mr. K (Palin/Cruz 2016)
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