[WS:] In reality, using 501c3 tax exempt status for political purposes is illegal, and the IRS simply did its job to find out whether organizations appearing to serve political purposes broke the law. It is legitimate law enforcement, plain and simple. If I drive erratically, the cops have a probable cause to pull me over and check my blood alcohol content. Ditto for apparently political organizations that are trying to obtain a 501c3 tax exempt status.
What I find more interesting, and far more disturbing, is a big victory of the Repug propaganda machine in framing this issue as "targeting" rather than legitimate law enforcement. Of course, the same propaganda machine effectively frames police "profiling" as a legitimate law enforcement strategy regardless of probable cause.
As this piece suggests, the majority of the American public swallow this propaganda raw. This is a part of knee-jerk anti-statism and anti-collectivism that most Americans - including the lefties - subscribe to in one form or another. Thanks to this collective idiocy, Republicans keep scoring political victories even if they do not formally control the government. It is really hopeless.
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."