Washington Post Column: In defense of Lois Lerner

Washington Post ^ | Published: May 24, 2013 at 1:45 pm | Joel Achenbach

[SeekAndFind]

Reading the commentary on the IRS hearings, it

[dirtboy]

Reading the commentary on the IRS hearings, it’s clear that the overriding rule in Washington opinion circles is that the moment someone says they have done nothing wrong is when the presumption of guilt hardens into an incontrovertible fact of guilt, with only the punishment left to be decided.

Yes, there is nothing the least bit suspicious about Lerner reading a statement professing her innocence and then taking the Fifth to avoid answering any questions about such. /s

[llevrok]

Oh, so she’s a saint and a martyr now?

Taking the fifth to protect all future civil servants who might face the wrath of Congress?? Give me a Fn break!

The EPA, IRS etc would slit your throat as soon as look at you.

[Gay State Conservative]

The Compost defending the American Stasi? I don’t believe it for a minute.

[MHGinTN]

proving once again that the media is the fifth column enemy of the Republic. The pretend outrage over the scandals was just that, pretend. They are now back to following strict WH issued guidlines in protection fo the liar-in-chief.

[pepsionice]

It took a while, but basically....what you can gain from all the various comments that Lois has made over the last decade....is that she is a habitual lair. She’ll make one comment, and six months later, alter the entire comment to a totally different direction. How she moved up and continually operated as an executive of the US government is a curious question. I don’t think anyone ever monitored her or understood her lack of competency.

Defending her? It’s hard to defend a natural lair. You just don’t know if this version (1, 2, 3, or 4) is the actual real truth. I think when they drag her into the courtroom....the judge is going to twist and turn in their chair....trying to grasp how this statement is different from the statement given thirty minutes prior.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Gay State Conservative~:” The Compost defending the American Stasi? “

The WaPo is as much fifth cloumn as anything that I have seen.
Almost as bad as MSNBC for disinformation
I prefer to get my information from foreign sources

[fish hawk]

when a murderer pleads not guilty and swears he didn’t do it has nothing to do with facts. More facts on this IRS case are coming out every day now.

[NonValueAdded]

tagline

[Reo]

".....proving once again that the media is the fifth column enemy of the Republic.

Proving my tagline...

[Mr. Jeeves]

Watching Lerner and Shulman this week reminded me of this passage:

"[Rearden] felt as if, after a journey of years through a landscape of devastation, past the ruins of great factories, the wrecks of powerful engines, the bodies of invincible men, he had come upon the despoiler, expecting to find a giant - and had found a rat eager to scurry for cover at the first sound of a human step. If this is what has beaten us, he thought, the guilt is ours." -- Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

[Rocky]

Good ole WaPo, sticking up for the little guy. Poor little innocent powerless unobtrusive Washington bureaucrat can’t defend herself from those all-powerful conservative commentators.

[Christie at the beach]

This woman ( now, we know as a crooked political hack) works for us, we the people. Not, we the government hierarchy. It’s a shame ( though a corrupt way to report the facts) this paper is making excuses for her.

[InterceptPoint]

The New Acting IRS Commissioner gets some Obama Advice and swings into action.

Since I can read lips I can tell you what Obama is saying: "I want her out, is that clear?".

From Senator Grassley:

For Immediate Release
May 23, 2013

IRS Official in Targeting Mess Put on Administrative Leave

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a senior member of the Finance Committee with Senate jurisdiction over the IRS, today made the following comment on the employment status of Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS tax-exempt division in the middle of a debacle over the targeting of certain tax-exempt groups.

“My understanding is the new acting IRS commissioner asked for Ms. Lerner’s resignation, and she refused to resign. She was then put on administrative leave instead. From all accounts so far, the IRS acting commissioner was on solid ground to ask for her resignation. She was the head of the division that the inspector general found inappropriately targeted groups over their political associations. She had an opportunity to disclose the targeting to Congress days before her disclosure at a legal conference and didn’t do it. Then she gave the impression that the issue came up independently at the conference, when it really was a plant that she arranged. The IRS owes it to taxpayers to resolve her situation quickly. The agency needs to move on to fix the conditions that led to the targeting debacle. She shouldn’t be in limbo indefinitely on the taxpayers’ dime.”

[GeronL]

If this was a GOP administration doing this to leftist groups, I am so sure they’d react the same way. lol.

/sarc

[hoosiermama]

Lois is out for Lois. She will do anything to get ahead including dissing on any colleague She’s not about to take the rap for the upper echelon. She will sing if she is given the right carrot.

[C210N]

Wasn't one of the recent facts to come out, were the IRS letters to conservative/Tea-party groups, signed by either Lerner or . Whether she signed these personally or it was a stamp, this is smoking gun stuff that puts her in the slammer.

[suthener]

Since I can read lips I can tell you what Obama is saying: “I want her out, is that clear?”.

I don’t think that’s what he is saying. I think what he is saying is “How can we ease her out and make sure she’s well taken care of?”. Look at her history. She didn’t just happen to do what she did, she was put there specifically to do it. That will never be proven, but I totally believe it.

[InterceptPoint]

I think what he is saying is “How can we ease her out and make sure she’s well taken care of?”."

Well, I'm a little out of practice when it comes to reading lips. So I had another go at it and I actually think you are right. Sorry about that. I'll try to be more careful next time.

[NTHockey]

I’m sure that the WaPo felt the same way about Scooter Libby./s