Tea party groups are all about political activity, so how can they be tax exempt?

..................................................................................................................................
Blogmore: Sure, the IRS blew it; but aren't tea party groups political?
By Kevin Woster, May 26, 2013

It's a good political issue, this IRS scandal.

And that's good for the tea party, which is all about politics. Isn't it? Or, aren't they?

Singular or plural, it-they seem so to me.

At the risk of revealing a wild, left-wing-liberal tendency, a notion most of my Democratic friends will laugh at, I gotta says [sic] that I've been puzzled from the start of the whole IRS-tea-party fuss about the notion that tea party and tax exempt could be considered one in the same.

Maybe that's because I don't really understand tax exempt. And maybe one of the bright Mount Blogmorite can explain it to me.

But if your primary purpose is not supposed to be political activity, how can any tea party group seriously be considered tax exempt?

They're all about political activity.

This is not to say I'm not concerned about the IRS and its behavior in this. What some officials did seems, at best, stupid. And maybe it represents the kind of government overreach that should worry us all.

But if you have a bunch of groups that seem pretty clearly to be political in nature applying for tax-exempt status, doesn't it make sense to give them a hard look?

Or am I missing something?

Yet again. 
..................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................
MORE:
..................................................................................................................................
Groups Targeted by I.R.S. Tested Rules on Politics
Some groups legitimately flagged by IRS, experts say
..................................................................................................................................