It’s amazing to me how quickly bipartisan outrage turns into a partisan contest over who should be angrier over some allegedly scandalous act.

The Internal Revenue Service brouhaha is the latest example.

President Obama has declared that the IRS’s admitted targeting of conservative interest groups is “outrageous.” He has vowed to pursue this matter quickly and get to the bottom of what happened when IRS officials hassled “tea party patriot”-type organizations over their tax-exempt status. I heard him call those actions what they are and I believe he means what he says when he pledges a rapid and thorough investigation.

Heads should roll over this.

But those on the right now are suggesting the president should be – get this – impeached over it. Why? Well, because he’s the president and he is in charge of every single act that every single bureaucrat who works in the executive branch of government commits.

Did then-President George W. Bush deserve to be impeached because some functionaries in his administration hassled left-wing protest groups because they opposed our war effort in Iraq? Of course not. President Bush was no more personally responsible for those rogue bureaucrats than President Obama is today over those who might be running amok within his administration.

We need to settle down here.

The IRS may have committed a serious mistake in targeting right-wing groups in the manner that’s being alleged. We don’t yet have all the facts.

I’ll take the president at his word that he deems these alleged activities to be unacceptable. I do hope he’s able to hold those responsible accountable for their actions and if they went beyond acceptable federal procedures used to investigate whether these groups qualify for tax-exempt status, they they need to lose their jobs.

For now, let’s quit hyperventilating.