To some, it’s just another breadcrumb, but to a leading House Republican it is key evidence of motive in the IRS Tea Party targeting scandal: a Lois Lerner email venting about right wing "crazies."
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) sent a letter to the Department of Justice on Wednesday, detailing what he calls “additional evidence” of anti-conservative bias by Lois Lerner. Referring to an email Lerner sent on November 9, 2012, Camp argues, “Ms. Lerner’s mistreatment of conservative groups was driven by her personal hostility toward conservatives.
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Although Lerner used her official IRS email account, Republicans acknowledge that the email exchange is of a more personal nature, one that largely discusses her vacation in the United Kingdom. Although the person on the other end of the email chain is blacked out, one of the emails to Lerner says: “Well, you should hear the whacko wing of the GOP. The US is through; too many foreigners sucking the teat; time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end. The right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”
Lerner responded to the email, writing, “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many ---holes.”
When person X added, “And I'm talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid,” Lerner responded, “So we don't need to worry about alien teRrorists. (sic) It's our own crazies that will take us down.”
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Recounting a conversation she overheard about how America has bankrupt itself, will never be able to pay off its debt, and is going down the tubes, she wrote, “They don't seem to see that they can't afford to keep up their welfare state either. Strange.”
Conservative groups around the country have a laser focus on specific wording in specific emails.
Conceding that she has not seen all of the Lerner emails, Tea Party Patriots Cofounder Jenny Beth Martin says she’s not surprised by the latest reports. “It demonstrates malice aforethought and underlies her deliberate abuse of power,” she said in an email to The Fiscal Times. “This orchestrated campaign of intimidation against conservatives should be investigated by a special counsel so Americans can learn the truth about the Obama administration's abuse of power."
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While it may serve as the committee’s latest piece of ammunition, Lerner isn't the sole target of the latest disclosure. In releasing the letter, the GOP committee chairman argued that DOJ is not taking the matter seriously, and further called upon the department to give way to a special counsel so the “full truth can be revealed and justice is served.”
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