WSJ: GOP Should Ditch Calls for IRS Special Prosecutor

Republicans should stop seeking a special prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service scandal and let congressional committees handle it instead, The Wall Street Journal editorialized.

"Like dumber follows dumb, the scandal of politicized IRS tax enforcement has been followed by calls for a 'special prosecutor,'" the Journal said Wednesday. "Republicans are predictably leading this call against a Democratic administration, but this is one case in which the GOP should hope it doesn't get its way."

Those calling for a special prosecutor worry that Attorney General Eric Holder will be unwilling to fully investigate his own administration. "We don't trust Mr. Holder either, but letting him pass the buck to a special prosecutor is doing him a favor," the editorial states.

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"This scandal is best handled in Congressional hearings that educate the public in the next year rather than wait two or three years for potential indictments."

Three congressional committees are looking into the scandal. They can issue subpoenas, force depositions and demand e-mails and documents, the Journal noted.

"If the White House chooses not to turn over relevant information, it will have to assert executive privilege. Such resistance carries its own political price," the editorial continued. "With a special prosecutor, the probe would immediately move to the shadows, and the administration and the IRS would use it as an excuse to limit its cooperation with Congress."