This morning, Congressman Paul Ryan had a chance to address IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. The results were brutally explosive, with a visibly outraged Ryan taking Koskinen to the woodshed over Lois Lerner's "lost" emails.
For his part, the Commissioner remained defiant, maintaining a self-satisfied smile through Ryan's blistering barrage, before eventually firing back with some arrogant gobbledygook about how no one has ever questioned his honesty.
“You are the Internal Revenue Service," Ryan said. "You can reach into the lives of hard-working taxpayers and - with a phone call, an email, or a letter - you can turn their lives upside down. You ask taxpayers to hand us seven years of their personal tax information in case they’re ever audited. ...And you can’ keep six months’ worth of employee emails!?”
...This is not being forthcoming. This is being misleading again. This is a pattern of abuse - a pattern of behavior - that is not giving us any confidence that this agency is being impartial. ...I don't believe you. This is incredible."
"I have a long career," an obviously angry Koskinen replied. "That is the first time anybody has said they do not believe me."
Ryan fired back. "I don't believe you."
"That's fine," Koskinen said. "We can have a disagreement. I'm willing to stand on our record."
While it's nice to see that someone is fired up over this scandal, Koskinen's hubris is deeply troubling. If we're watching another "all talk no action" response from the GOP - if Koskinen does not face the repercussions of his failed oversight - then this is all just smoke and mirrors.
It's great to see a little fire behind their eyes, but it's time for the Republicans to back up their bluster.
