IRS: Hey, We Targeted Lefty Groups, Too

The IRS is defending itself against the Inspector General's report on its targeting of Tea Party groups, saying they made up only a "minority" of the 471 political nonprofit groups scrutinized. And, hey, three—three!—of those 471 were Democrat-leaning groups, including one, Emerge America, that was actually denied tax-exempt status, Bloomberg reports. "[It is] important to understand that the group of centralized cases included organizations of all political views," the IRS said in a statement. It also said that although "Inappropriate shortcuts" were used to identify some of the groups, most of them would have still been singled out for extra scrutiny had the agency gone about it correctly, reports ABC.

The other two more liberal groups on the list that received the extra examination seem largely positive about the experience. "I'm not saying it was fun but it was important," said a spokesperson from Progress Texas. But in a letter to the IRS, Republican lawmakers Darrell Issa and Jim Jordan claim the extra scrutiny put the Tea Party groups and others "in a state of purgatory where they often languished without action for periods as long as two years," Fox News reports. "The actions of the IRS are unconscionable and appalling," they wrote. (More IRS stories.)