Rove flagrantly lied on television yesterday when he said that only conservative groups had been scrutinized by the IRS:
Plouffe is right, there were absolutely liberal groups who were rightfully examined to be sure they weren’t violating 501(c)4 status. Bloomberg from several weeks ago:
The Internal Revenue Service, under pressure after admitting it targeted anti-tax Tea Party groups for scrutiny in recent years, also had its eye on at least three Democratic-leaning organizations seeking nonprofit status.
One of those groups, Emerge America, saw its tax-exempt status denied, forcing it to disclose its donors and pay some taxes. None of the Republican groups have said their applications were rejected.
Progress Texas, another of the organizations, faced the same lines of questioning as the Tea Party groups from the same IRS office that issued letters to the Republican-friendly applicants. A third group, Clean Elections Texas, which supports public funding of campaigns, also received IRS inquiries.
Don’t hold your breath for Rove’s correction. He doesn’t do corrections.