As you are probably aware IRS tax code refers to 501(c)4 entities as “Social Welfare Agencies” which are “primarily engaged in promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the community.”

Those applying for certification, let’s use Karl Rove as an example, must meet the preceding standard with the difficult to objectively define concept of “primarily” serving as an obvious sticking point. It’s a sort of mostly moment.

To qualify, Mr. Rove, probably with the assistance of high-powered attorneys, goes about completing a myriad of forms which establish his intent to be “mostly” a do-gooder. His application is stamped “approved” and guess what -- his magnificently funded organization is granted tax exempt status. He’s like a church.

Now any reasonable person viewing this transaction would say “Hold on a minute. Karl Rove is a Republican operative of the highest order. He has duped the IRS into believing he is some kind of a philanthropist. He’s gaming the system.”

Sure he is. He knows it, you know it, I know it, everyone knows it including IRS agents, yet it’s perfectly legal. Common sense has no standing. And so, frustrated employees at the IRS, faced with high staff turnover rates and poor management practices, screw up in their bumbling attempts to try and police the meaning of “primarily.”

On Capitol Hill Congress huffs and puffs while certain conspiratorial members search through the forest of testimony in an attempt to locate a path leading to the White House. Meanwhile Mr. Rove and his counterparts in both parties do what they do best: the art of partisan politics.

Some evening I’ll be watching Jay Leno and a guest comedian will whisper into the microphone, “501(c)4” and the audience will hilariously laugh at this enormously funny joke.