Who's to Blame for the IRS Singling out Conservative Groups Seeking Tax-Exempt Status?

President Obama this week said efforts by IRS employees to target new conservative groups for extra scrutiny were "outrageous," echoing many administration critics who charged that the measures were politically motivated.

"I have got no patience with it, I will not tolerate it, and we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this," Obama said in a news conference Monday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that an Inspector General's report concludes there was widespread targeting of conservative-linked groups for aggressive questioning, but that no one outside the IRS was involved in establishing the practice. (The report was released Tuesday.)

Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, an appointee of President George W. Bush, had denied the practice to Congress in 2012. Lois Lerner, who runs the IRS tax-exempt organizations division, apologized last week for what she called a non-political attempt to create shortcuts in handling a flood of new organizations seeking tax-exempt status.

But for many conservatives, the rat smell hasn't dissipated.

“How dare the administration imply that they’re going to get to the bottom of it,” Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa was quoted telling "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday. “This was targeting of the president’s political enemies, effectively, and lies about it during the election year so that it wasn’t discovered until afterwards. … This process was deliberate, and it was repeated.”

Another Congressional hearing on the issue is scheduled for Friday.

What do you think about the IRS actions and administration response? What should be done to prevent it from happening again? Share your thoughts in the comments below.