The “Be On the Lookout” list wasn’t created out of thin air by the pencil pushers at the IRS. Why did they target Americans for Prosperity? For the answer, all you need to do is follow the bouncing ball. As Kimberly Strassel writes:
Perhaps the only useful part of the inspector general’s audit of the IRS was its timeline. We know that it was August 2010 when the IRS issued its first “Be On the Lookout” list, flagging applications containing key conservative words and issues. The criteria would expand in the months to come.
What else was happening in the summer and fall of 2010? The Obama administration and its allies continue to suggest the IRS was working in some political vacuum. What they’d rather everyone forget is that the IRS’s first BOLO list coincided with their own attack against “shadowy” or “front” conservative groups that they claimed were rigging the electoral system.
You can get the timeline here.