**Written by Doug Powers
And now, a message from the congressional Democrats:

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday, and the “optic of the year” had to be committee Democrats apologizing to Koskinen and defending the agency. Here’s just one:

Democrats on the committee were much more accommodating to Koskinen.
“I want to apologize to you for the way you’re being treated this morning,” said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. “I thought this was a hearing and not a trial.”

California Rep. Xavier Becerra told Koskinen “you deserve better,” and other Dems mustered a chivalrous defense of the IRS chief as well.
Those Dems — always sticking up for the “little people.” Members of Congress apologizing to a bloated government agency on behalf of the private sector victims of its abuse of power is exactly how the Founders envisioned the system working.
Sharyl Attkisson documented one of the more pathetic moments from the hearing:

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) was among the Democrats accusing Republicans of pursuing unfounded conspiracy theories. He said that every element is present “except Oliver Stone.”
Koskinen told Neal there was no cover up.
“There was not a conspiracy?” asked Neal.
“That’s my understanding,” said Koskinen.
“There is no smoking gun linking the administration to Lois Lerner?”
“That is also my understanding,” answered Koskinen.

Well, aside from the suspicious couple years worth of missing emails, let’s have a show of hands from people who think there’s no smoking gun:

Ok, I’m satisfied.
Democrats really owe Nixon an apology.
After John Lewis apologized to Koskinen and the IRS, Paul Ryan was incredulous:

Koskinen, who was often as smug and arrogant as a “public servant” can get, also claimed that missing email isn’t a big deal because it isn’t part of the “official” record, even though it is. Either the guy in charge of the IRS was knowingly lying or he doesn’t know the record-keeping regs of his own agency. Either option is bad.
Also, on several occasions, Koskinen used this qualifier: “We haven’t lost any emails since the start of this investigation.” Try using that one on the IRS as a taxpayer: “I haven’t ‘lost’ any of the receipts proving my deductions since the start of this audit.” Good luck with that.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe