How Dumb Is Marco Rubio

Josh Marshall points out how dumb Sen. Marco Rubio is.

First, the IRS Commissioner in place during this entire drama was a Bush administration holdover. That’s a fairly big strike against the credibility of any high level conspiracy to crackdown on Republican leaning groups. Marco Rubio demanded that the Commissioner resign this morning. But that guy already resigned last November. The position is currently vacant, with an acting Commissioner currently in place. More pointedly, the main takeaway from the as-yet-unreleased but widely leaked IRS IG report is that the woman in charge of the division overseeing nonprofits told the people in Cincinnati to stop when she was first informed of it in 2011. That seems pretty telling on the question of whether the people in Cincinnati were doing this at the direction of people in Washington.

Here is the Rubio statement.

"I strongly urge that you and President Obama demand the IRS Commissioner’s resignation, effectively immediately. No government agency that has behaved in such a manner can possibly instill any faith and respect from the American public."

Rubio spokesman Alex Conant had to do some spinning and say that Rubio was referring to acting IRS commissioner Steven T. Miller. Miller is only serving in the role because a permanent commissioner hasn't been confirmed. The targeting of Tea Party groups occurred when Bush appointee Douglas H. Shulman was IRS commissioner. Rubio's statement makes no sense. Rubio just wanted to play to partisan politics without bothering to get his facts straight. This is the sign of a lightweight politician.