For the record, if anyone out there thinks this was a clever or winning argument for this guy to make, I’d be curious to hear your explanation.
During today’s IRS hearings, Democrat Jim McDermott scolded representatives of groups who were victims of the IRS targeting scheme in the most condescending way possible, basically telling them: “Hey, if you guys hadn’t applied for tax exemption, the IRS wouldn’t have had to target you“.
Representative Jim “Patronizing Creep” McDermott
Which, to be fair, is a bit like telling a rape victim that “…if you’d just stayed home that day, or if you hadn’t insisted on walking through the park, nothing would have happened, now would it??…”
—-
Thankfully, Paul Ryan stepped in immediately and broadsided McDermott, reminding him of one rather important fact:
“We had acting Commissioner Miller here a couple of weeks ago, and we asked him: Did groups with the word ‘Organizing‘ or ‘Progressive‘ in their name; were THEY targeted?
The answer was NO…”
This is a Public Relations disaster for the Democrats, especially as they’ve been actively trying to portray the GOP as overreaching as recently as yesterday, with their continued hyperventilating over Issa’s “Paid Liar” comment about Jay Carney.
What Democrat McDermott has been able to accomplish with his “Blame the Victim” diatribe is to:
- Bring to life every last suspicion and accusation that Conservatives have had of Liberals in general and this Administration specifically,
- Transformed the Dems from callous blowhards into callous bullies,
- Made the victims even more “relatable” to the majority of the country (most of which is not a big fan of the IRS in the first place…),
Put an even more smug and smirking face on this scandal than the combined efforts of the IRS’ Steven Miller, J. Russell George, Douglas Shulman, and Lois Lerner (no small feat, that),
AND…
- Infuriated anew Red-staters, and sent a chill down the spine of more than a few fair-minded Blue-staters,
…. all in under 5 minutes!!
In the words of Pepper Brooks (from one my favorite guilty pleasures, Dodge Ball):
Two Heads are Better Than One 
While watching this today, I wanted to reach through the TV and smack him senseless. I guess he forgot the government is supposed to treat everyone the same, even those dissenting against what you believe. To somehow suggest it was their fault for being a target from the tyrannical IRS is extremely stupid but it is DC I guess.
So when opposing your government makes you open for attacks from it, tyranny as government isn’t around the corner, Obama, because it’s on your front lawn. I guess when he called the tea party his enemies it was true because he unleashed his goons upon them.
Questioning, protesting and dissenting isn’t just your right as an American, it’s your duty. I dislike many organizations in this country, they may be wrong but they have the right to be wrong. They shouldn’t be targets of the government either; so tired of a government not doing its job. The people in government are forgetting who they are supposed to be serving, using their power to destroy and not help.
People had better wake up, it seems the bigger this government gets the worse it becomes. This isn’t about ideology, its about liberty and freedom for all.
Well stated, Blaine.
The ideology in question is ours, but I’d be just as worried if it were the wacko Libs. Because, I know we’re likely next.
Any Liberals who are reveling in all this are being extremely short-sighted.
I made this comment on another blog post. The over reaching Obama Care and over spending of the federal govt brought Democrats and Republicans together in 2010 and the Tea Party was formed. We took the House with Tea Party voters and placed real conservatives in Congress.
I understand Republicans and Democrats are coming together again against this tyranny of the IRS. Hope it’s a sustained union! Who knows what we can do with that!
Agreed, tannngl!!
It is to all of our detriment if we look at this in a partisan way: this is the Federal Government basically deciding that we are no longer constituents, but rather serfs or subjects.
This isn’t a partisan issue: it’s a Freedom issue.
First of all, JTR (my dear brother) don’t EVER get me this worked up and THEN show me one of my favorite lines from “Dodgeball”!!!!
Now…to the point: Mr. McDermott: You m*&*%#$@!!! dirtbag. Who the &%^$#@ do YOU think you are? You are an INSULT to all that built and made this Country great. The fact that you likely WON’T be voted out of office is due only to the ignorance and “lemming” status of the dolts you represent.
(breath in…..breath out…..right circle….left circle…..focus…..) Okay….I’m back.
I find it so ironic that McDermott alludes to some made up scenario of it just being a whole bunch of applications being received, etc. Yet, is ANYONE talking about Barry’s brother? His application (submitted in the same time frame) was not only approved inside of a month, but our old friend, Lois “I’ll take the fifth” Lerner, BACKDATED it THREE YEARS!!
Congratulations to all of you on the Left, particularly those of you who grew up in the 60’s as young, college-age protesters….YOU have become the VERY people you protested against.
%$#&!!! Hypocrites.
Amen Pgh!
All that time the liberals feared what they would do if they had power. Isn’t that “projection”?
Or self-fulfilling prophecy, perhaps?
You know, that whole: “You can’t trust anyone in power”? Then they get into power, and are completely untrustworthy?
Maybe?
Or perhaps it’s waaay simpler than that: they were always jerks, and now they’re simply jerks, with power.
Yeah….I think that’s it.
Sorry about the delayed response, Pgh – but just as I was ready to type one to you, McDermott struck again.
Seriously, you may wish to turn the volume down and just watch the captions on my most recent post: this video is even worse than his performance above.
But it’s like tannngl said above: this is a chance to form some extra alliances. I am grateful right now for the level of “tonedeafness” (is that a word?) possessed by the Left here: they seriously seem to be oblivious to how horrible they’re coming across here.
Let ’em go, I say.
As aggravating as he is (and he is, no question), the more McDermott speaks, the better we are.
He’s doing our job for us.
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