These revelations are coming hot and heavy, aren’t they?

Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

IRS officials at the agency’s Washington headquarters sent queries to conservative groups asking about their donors and other aspects of their operations, while officials in the El Monte and Laguna Niguel offices in California sent similar questionnaires to tea party-affiliated groups.

Pretty soon we’ll hear that, oh, by the way, this was all pursuant to a signed directive by Obama.

Every time I read about this scandal there is a new “what on God’s green Earth?!” moment, and today does not disappoint. The IRS leaked confidential files on conservative organizations to a liberal news outlet, ProPublica:

In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved-meaning they were not supposed to be made public. (We made six of those public, after redacting their financial information, deeming that they were newsworthy.

Also, the current IRS commissioner knew as of at least May 2012 that the IRS had targeted conservative groups.

But Obama just now found out about it by reading the news, just like you and me!

Yuh-huh.

Heads should ROLL over this.

The answer is: it depends, doesn’t it?

When a Republican targets Democrats, the story is how the Republicans took advantage and the Democrats have been victimized. When a Democrat targets Republicans or conservatives, the story is how the Republicans will take advantage politically and how the Democrats will thereby be victimized.

And that is how we get I.R.S. Focus on Conservatives Gives G.O.P. an Issue to Seize On:

House Republicans have vowed to begin their own hearings and investigations. And Republicans fanned out on the political talk shows on Sunday to express outrage that is only likely to grow. Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and a prominent moderate, said on CNN that the singling out of conservative groups was “absolutely chilling.”

Since last year’s elections, Republicans in Congress have struggled for traction on their legislative efforts, torn between conservatives who drove the agenda after their 2010 landslide and new voices counseling a shift in course to reflect President Obama’s re-election and the loss of Republican seats in the House and the Senate.

But the accusations of I.R.S. abuse are sure to fuel an effort that appears to be uniting dispirited Republicans and their conservative political base: investigating Mr. Obama and his administration. Republicans are pushing a portrayal of an administration overreaching its authority and punishing its enemies.

It is as predictable as day following night.

BY THE WAY: This was all going on as early as 2010.