PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH: Lame Excuses for the IRS Scandal Get Lamer and Bite More Dust. “Recall that from the outset, after it was revealed that the IRS was targeting conservatives and conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, IRS-apologists came out with the claim that the unwarranted scrutiny was the result of staffers in Ohio offices who went rogue. As such, according to the apologists, we were not supposed to think that the agency as a whole was rotten to the core; just that there were a few isolated bad apples who in no way, shape, or form were representative of the IRS as a whole. That theory never held much water to begin with. It holds even less water now.”