Networks Ignore New GOP Claim That IRS Did Target Tea Party Groups

Monday's network evening news casts ignored a new GOP claim [1] that Tea Party groups were indeed singled out for "systematic scrutiny" by the IRS.

House Republicans released a report that said the IRS began special investigations in 2010 by targeting only Tea Party groups. Of the first three groups investigated, two of them eventually dropped their applications for non-profit status. The networks were silent about the report on Monday evening, however.

Fox News reported the story on Monday, however. On the Record host Greta van Susteren stated, "Now to news in the IRS targeting scandal. Today, the House Oversight Committee releasing a new report that accuses the IRS and Congressional Democrats of misleading America, by falsely claiming that liberal groups were also targeted."

The Weekly Standard's John McCormack went into detail on the story:

"[House Republicans] also brought back independent analysis from the Inspector General who said, listen, you know, 100 percent of groups with words like 'Tea Party,' 'patriots,' '9/12,' which was a group associated with Glenn Beck. They were targeted specifically because of their names. They were signaled out in this 'BOLO' – 'be on the lookout for them.' 30 percent of liberal groups, or groups with the word 'progress' were targeted, but not because their name was 'progressive' in the title."

McCormack added that "100 percent of the groups that were audited, which is worse than simply being scrutinized for an extra layer of approval before that process, they were conservative. 100 percent of the groups audited at that time."