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1.)Ever wonder what 3 audits cost? — If so, you’re in luck. Billionaire businessman and Mitt Romney donor Frank VanderSloot knows because he was subjected to not one, not two, but three audits in four months after he was slimed on an Obama campaign website for backing Romney. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:
“VanderSloot says that he passed all the audits with flying colors. ‘Everything is done. No penalties. No fines,’ he said. The only thing he was required to do was move one of his deductions to the next year, which will actually save him money because of the expiration of the Bush tax rates for high-income individuals in 2013. ‘Actually, I’ll pay less taxes because of the audits,’ he said. But, he added, the audits themselves cost him over $80,000, after taking into account the attorneys, accountants and other professionals he needed to handle them.”
Read the full interview and be alarmed.
2.) Will Obama have to treat Holder like Bush treated Rumsfeld? — After the 2006 midterm election, President Bush ditched Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to mollify the masses angry over how the Iraq war was going. Will President Obama have to do the same with Holder to mollify the masses angry over the recent spate of executive branch scandals? TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:
“President Barack Obama may need to accept the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder as part of a plan to ‘get control’ of the three scandals hounding the administration, historian Douglas Brinkley advised Tuesday. Action is more important than rhetoric in times like these, Brinkley told ‘Hardball’ host Chris Matthews on MSNBC. ‘I think immediately he’s got to get control over these three issues,’ Brinkley said. ‘I think he might have to look at accepting a resignation from Eric Holder possibly.”
As old people might say, only the shadow knows.
3.) The IRS inspector general report revealed! — Protip: It’s really boring and you know what’s in it if you can read and haven’t been living in a refrigerator for the last few days. But because she’s a good person, TheDC’s Caroline May sums it up for you:
“The IG initiated the audit based on the concerns expressed by members of Congress. The report reveals that the ‘IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign intervention,’ the report ‘Highlights’ explains, further pointing out that ‘Ineffective management’: 1) allowed inappropriate criteria to be developed and stay in place for more than 18 months, 2) resulted in substantial delays in processing certain applications, and 3) allowed unnecessary information requests to be issued.’ Tuesday Attorney General Eric Holder announced an investigation of the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups.”
By the way, if you have been living in a refrigerator for a few days, may TheDC ask you kindly, David Blaine, please stop it. Your stunts are no longer that interesting.
4.) President Obama fails to channel his inner Robespierre — President Obama says he is not happy about what the IRS did. TheDC’s Caroline May reports:
“President Obama issued a harsh rebuke of the Internal Revenue Service late Tuesday in reaction to the recently released inspector general report, calling the agency’s targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status ‘intolerable and inexcusable.’ ‘I have now had the opportunity to review the Treasury Department watchdog’s report on its investigation of IRS personnel who improperly targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status,’ Obama said in a statement released by the White House. ‘And the report’s findings are intolerable and inexcusable.’”
But note: While President Obama said the results of the report are “intolerable and inexcusable,” he failed to say as a result the offending IRS officials are “decapitatable.” Ergo, he is obviously not serious. And, yes, TheDC Morning just made up the word decapitatable. Why? Because we can.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Jon Ward: BREAKING: Carney says Obama is not Nixon
6.) Today in North Korean News –BREAKING: “Fascist Action to Stamp out Pro-reunification Organizations under Fire”