The IRS Scandal, Day 1121

U.S. News & World Report:  The IRS Impeachment Farce: Republicans Are Just Scoring Political Points, Not Actually Trying to Improve the Tax Collecting Agency, by Pat Garofalo (Assistant Managing Editor, U.S. News & World Report):

For years now, House Republicans have been waging a seemingly endless crusade to bring the IRS to heel for, well, something or other.

Once upon a time, the foundation of the case against America's tax collecting agency was that it had allegedly singled out for undue scrutiny conservative groups that were applying for tax-exempt status. Any actual principles at stake, though, have long since been lost among a haze of accusations, subpoenas, faux hearings, contempt votes and, currently, an attempt to impeach IRS chief John Koskinen, who was not even an IRS employee at the time of the misdeeds Republicans are apparently so irate about.

There were assuredly some bad decisions made by the IRS back before the "targeting" issue broke, though the context at the time – a flood of applications from tea party-type organizations supposedly incensed at Obama-era policy, alongside more and more money pouring into the political system following the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling – lends credence to the theory that the "targeting" was more about clunky attempts at efficiency than partisan politicking. If that episode had ended in something productive, though, then fair enough. The whole brouhaha might have done a bit of good.

But the GOP's current actions leave little doubt that, if there was ever an actual issue worth highlighting here, it has long since been eclipsed by electoral point-scoring at the expense of an arm of the government that's very easy to turn into a political punching bag.

• The IRS Scandal, Day 1020 (June 2, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1119 (June 1, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1118 (May 31, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1117 (May 30, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1116 (May 29, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1115 (May 28, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1114 (May 27, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1113 (May 26, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1112 (May 25, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1111 (May 24, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1110 (May 23, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1109 (May 22, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1108 (May 21, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1107 (May 20, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1106 (May 19, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1105 (May 18, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1104 (May 17, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1103 (May 16, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1102 (May 15, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1101 (May 14, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1001-1100 (Feb. 4, 2016 - May 13, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 901-1000 (Oct. 27, 2015 - Feb. 3, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 801-900 (July 19, 2015 - Oct. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 701-800 (April 10, 2015 - July 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 201