Defectors.

The White House would have you believe that the IRS scandal is not a scandal at all, but a bunch of partisan nonsense being perpetrated by Republicans. The media has tried its best to give this narrative credibility by claiming that the scandal "fizzled"nearly a year ago.

How do you know this is nonsense? Well, the facts alone should tell you. Scores of conservative groups having their nonprofit statuses denied or delayed. IRS demands for donor lists. IRS demands to know about speakers at their events (including yours truly in one case). Lois Lerner taking the Fifth in her congressional testimony, so much so that she was ultimately found in contempt of Congress. A paper trail that shows Democrat senators demanding the IRS do the very thing that gave rise to the scandal.

These facts should be all you need to know. But if that’s not enough to convince you (in other words, if you’re a totally partisan Democrat who can’t see the facts for the trees), maybe this will:

Twenty-six House Democrats last week joined with House Republicans in voting to urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special counsel to investigate the scandal.

And as the Wall Street Journal points out, these are not just Red State Democrats facing tough re-election fights. The group includes House Democrats from New York, Hawaii, California, Connecticut and Massachusetts. One represents the district just north of Chicago, home of Barack Obama.

So why would Democrats vote against a Democrat president on a matter like this?

Here’s a thought: There’s such a thing as integrity in public office, and there was a time when it was understood that as a member of Congress, it was your job to get to the truth – especially if corruption appeared to be at work – regardless of whether the guy in the White House was from your party or not.

That type of thinking is not much in evidence among Democrats these days, as the likes of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi run interference for Obama on everything, regardless of what the truth is or how egregiously government malfeasance has run roughshod over the rights of ordinary Americans. But maybe there are still some politicians – yes, even some Democrats – who still believe that getting to the truth is indeed their primary responsibility.

If I were a Democrat, I would want to get to the truth. Here’s why: Democrats will not always control the executive branch. Some day the IRS will be under the authority of a Republican president. Some day all executive branch agencies will. If a Democrat president can use the IRS, the FEC, the NRLB and the BLM to harass citizens for political reasons, then so can a Republican president. I’m not saying I think a Republican president would. I’m saying that one could. And if I was a Democrat, that would concern me. If the Obama Administration has established a precedent that this sort of thing is fair game, what will happen to left-wing groups when the shoe is on the other foot?

The misuse of an agency like the IRS should be something members of Congress from both parties would want to bring to the light. It should not be part of American governance, regardless of whether your party is the one benefiting from it at the moment.

Most of the Democrat Party these days thinks it is their job to protect Obama no matter what. It’s nice to see there are still a few who know their responsibility is first and foremost to the American people – and to the truth.