The hypocrisy of Democrat Senators who opposed conservative groups' tax exempt status

Karl Rove:

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Mr. Wallace asked Mr. Durbin why he singled out Crossroads GPS for an IRS investigation and pointed out that his letter "did not mention one single liberal group." Mr. Durbin offered this ludicrous defense: If the IRS investigated GPS, "every other group would be put on notice." Correction: An IRS investigation of a conservative 501(c)(4) would leave liberal 501(c)(4) groups gleeful—especially since liberal groups have operated for decades in the same way GPS does without Democrats complaining.

Democrats were content to have 501(c)(4) groups active as long as they were operating on behalf of liberals and their causes. For example, no Democratic leader demanded the IRS investigate the 501(c)(4) arms of the League of Conservation Voters, National Abortion Rights Act League, VoteVets, NAACP, Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club and other liberal organizations that have spent millions excoriating Republicans, pushing liberal issues and registering voters.

When Americans United for Change ran ads in 2007 slamming Republican senators up for re-election for supporting the surge of additional U.S. troops in Iraq, no Democratic lawmaker complained. Nor did Mr. Durbin gripe in 2011 when Bill Burton, his former staffer and an Obama White House official, organized Priorities USA, a 501(c)(4) to help the president's cause.

In addition, no Democratic leaders decried big money's influence when groups registered under section 501(c)(5) of the federal code—the tax exemption for labor, agricultural or horticultural organizations—spent hundreds of millions from corporate treasuries on advocacy and political activity. That's because Democrats believe unions are more deserving of tax-exempt status than other organizations, and that corporate contributions are bad unless they come from unions' corporate treasuries.

Apparently my volunteering for Crossroads GPS didn't sit well with Mr. Durbin, who grumbled on Fox News that I was "boasting about the money they were raising."

Not so. A LexisNexis search and a look at my Fox News appearances and columns turned up only one "boast" by me about GPS's fundraising. That occurred when I wrote in these pages on Oct. 13, 2010 that "[American] Crossroads and GPS have raised more than $14 million" in the two weeks after President Barack Obama smeared these groups by claiming they were funded with foreign contributions—a slander for which Team Obama never offered evidence. The problem for Mr. Durbin is that my comment appeared two days after he sent his letter to the IRS.
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Durbin and other Democrat senators have some explaining to do about their push for IRS disparate treatment of conservative groups.   The explanations seen so far don't add up.   This scandal is spreading to some of the leaders of the Democrats in teh Senate.  It will be interesting to see if discovery in the cases being brought by the Tea Party groups finds their letters in the files of IRS supervisors pushing what appears to be an illegal agenda against conservatives.