Poor Steven Miller … all the pressure of this morning’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on IRS misconduct is making it really tough to keep track of his lies.

Earlier, he suddenly recalled that it had been his idea to plant the question prompting Lois Lerner to admit that the IRS targeted conservatives, after initially not taking responsibility when questioned last week. He also insisted that the IRS’ actions were not politically motivated:

Miller: IRS behavior, "while intolerable, was a mistake, not an act of partisanship." — Ali Weinberg (@AliABCNews) May 21, 2013

IRS jerk Steve Miller: "I do not believe partisanship" played a role. IRS "trying to be more efficient." "Mistake, not act of partisanship." — Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) May 21, 2013

Miller calls targeting of conservative groups "foolish mistake" not motivated by partisanship. Clearly. — Kaylin Bugos (@KaylinBugos) May 21, 2013

Transcript:

I do not believe that partisanship motivated the people who engaged in the practices described in the Treasury Inspector General’s report. I’ve reviewed the Treasury Inspector General’s report and I believe its conclusions are consistent with that. I think that what happened here was that foolish mistakes were made by people trying to be more efficient in their workload selection. The listing described in the report, while intolerable, was a mistake, and not an act of partisanship.

Later, he admitted that that the IRS’ actions were … politically motivated:

IRS' Miller admits that Tea Party search terms were "absolutely" partisan. — Jon Ward (@jonward11) May 21, 2013

Come again?

WOAH…Miller just admitted under oath that IRS targeting WAS Partisan! — Susan Reaney (@SSReaney) May 21, 2013

DING DING -Miller finally admitted 1st phase of #IRS targeting was "partisan" in trying to defend 2nd phase as less bad. @SenateFinance — Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) May 21, 2013

But… they said it wasn't before?? RT @jonward11 IRS' Miller admits that Tea Party search terms were "absolutely" partisan. — RB (@RBPundit) May 21, 2013

Transcript:

Miller: The second listing … in the Treasury Inspector General’s report is still problematic because it talks about policy positions, but it actually is not particularly partisan in how it talks about policy positions.

Sen. Richard Burr: So it was partisan before, though.

Miller: Yes, it absolutely was.

Hey — it’s an IRS commissioner’s prerogative to change his mind!

That's extra hilarious. RT @sdwinkler No, they admit partisan, but claim it was an accident, not motivated by bias. @RBPundit @jonward11 — RB (@RBPundit) May 21, 2013

There's no such thing as "accidental" partisanship. No such thing as unbiased partisanship. But that's the #IRS's excuse right now. — RB (@RBPundit) May 21, 2013

So the question is who's idea it was to start it. RT @jonward11: IRS' Miller admits that Tea Party search terms were "absolutely" partisan. — Rschrim (@Rschrim) May 21, 2013

Oh, what a tangled web.