So the White House counsel's office knew generally that the IRS was targeting conservative groups in April, but apparently didn't know the "details."

Suppose you're some innocent little president, sitting in your Oval Office playing with your ship in the bottle, watching the news and all of a sudden you learn that the government that you are in charge of has been targeting your political enemies with harassment and bullying. What would be your first reaction — if you were an innocent little president?

WHY THE BLAZES DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME!

Suppose then you learn that your personal counsel kept the bad news from you. Even though he didn't have "specific details," he was aware of the program targeting the president's enemies and, presuming he isn't brain dead, knew the political ramifications of such targeting and the very real possibility that it could destroy the administration. If you were indeed just some innocent little president, minding your own business, what would be the first words out of your mouth when the White House counsel came to see you after the story broke?

YOU'RE FIRED!

I do not believe that Barack Obama first learned of the IRS's targeting of conservatives from "news reports" on Friday. That doesn't pass the smell test, especially since a close aide was told of the program three weeks ago. Are we to believe that the president's own counsel didn't immediately go to the Oval Office after learning of this and tell Obama "We've got a big problem, sir"? And the fact that the White House is now in full-blown circle-the wagons damage-control mode would suggest that their primary goal is to keep the president a thousand miles away from anything having to do with this scandal.

The Associated Press, via the Washington Post, runs this breaking story about the exploding IRS scandal. It turns out that while outgoing IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman told Congress twice in March 2012 that the agency wasn't targeting conservative groups, just two months later his acting replacement Steve Miller knew all about it:

IRS says current acting commissioner learned in May 2012 that tea party groups were targeted.

The current commissioner knew for a full year that the agency was targeting Tea Party groups and other opposition organization for aggressive auditing? And in the middle of an election year, no less? And yet, today Barack Obama insists that he knew nothing of this practice until last Friday.