darrell issa

With news of the IRS targeting Tea Party groups evolving everyday, one constant has remained - politics. We have Republicans out there going as far as saying impeachment of President Obama could be a possibility and everyone else trying to make this an anchor on the Oval Office. For example, yesterday Rand Paul said this:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) claimed Sunday that the Internal Revenue Service had a "written policy" that said agency officials were "targeting people who were opposed to the president."

"And when that comes forward, we need to know who wrote the policy and who approved the policy," Paul told CNN.

This is typical Rand Paul. He always makes claims like this to get his base in an uproar, but never produces anything. It really puts that extra sleaze level in politics.

But there is something that exists. Evidence that Republicans knew that the IRS was targeting Tea Party groups as far back as last June has surfaced:

Already, a string of detailed IRS questionnaires to largely conservative groups has stirred complaints among tea party activists and caught the attention of election lawyers. The agency’s “scrutiny is likely a prelude to future IRS investigations into the tax-exempt status of current 501(c)(4) organizations, potentially including major groups supporting President Obama and Republican candidates,” stated a recent memo circulated to clients by the law firm Clark Hill.

That article appeared on Roll Call on June 7, 2012. Of course that doesn't mean that Republicans noticed, or did they?

Forget the good part of the 90's. It appears the Republicans are wanting to relive the bad part of them with bogus investigations into the President:

Now comes complainant Republican National Committee, snark firing on all cylinders, formally requesting that a government auditor look into whether President Barack Obama has been bilking taxpayers by billing them for what amount to campaign trips to battleground states. The White House immediately dismissed the suggestion of any impropriety.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus's letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, caps an escalating campaign of complaints by Republicans about Obama's election-year travel.

"On behalf of American taxpayers, I am writing to call your attention to a case of misuse of government funds," Priebus says in the letter's opening sentence.

Ahh yes - the never ending wave of investigations in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. We've already seen tons of these go on through Darrell Issa and now the RNC as a whole wants to get into the game. This was the exact same tactic Republicans used in the 90's, including looking into the Clinton's Christmas Card list.

But what really amazes me is that the Bush administration lied us into a war that cost the taxpayers over a trillion dollars and cost us thousands of lives. Whenever Democrats talked about investigations the Republicans warned against them, saying that investigations into the President never works. Of course the yellow bellies of the left bowed down and obeyed. I wonder if they will do the same should anything similar happen in the future?

The bill being considered in both chambers of Congress that will fundamentally change the internet and make it a felony if you even share a video from a friend of a friend of a friend (etc., etc.,) that might have copyright material in it is really pissing people off. How pissed you ask? Well so pissed that some of the internet giants are considering a drastic extreme to send Congress a message:

With debate over SOPA’s future tabled until Congress reconvenes, you might think the issue would have entered a similar lull, but that’s not happened. According to Markham Erickson, head of the NetCoalition trade association, there’s been talk of a so-called “nuclear option,” in which the likes of Google, Amazon, eBay, and Yahoo! would go simultaneously dark to protest the legislation to highlight the fundamental danger the legislation poses to the function of the internet.

There’s been no formal decision on the matter, and the companies in question obviously risk consumer anger and backlash over any suspension of services. There is, however, safety in numbers — and a few simple sentences identifying why the blackout is in place will ensure that the majority of the rage flows in the proper direction.

Even EBay is considering to join in the blackout. Imagine the news if online retailer sales were near nil for a single day because of this? Would Congress wake up then and remember that they represent the people, not the lobbyists? I highly doubt it.

We have heard for months the chest beating of Darrell Issa, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Now it’s gone from chest beating to down right slander:

The Republican congressman who is taking over responsibility for congressional oversight calledPresident Obama's administration "one of the most corrupt administrations" on Sunday and predicted that the investigations he is planning over the next two years could result in about $200 billion in savings for U.S. taxpayers.

It sounds to me like Issa has already passed judgment without as much as a hearing or seeing evidence. The really makes for an impartial judge (NOT!).

And while on this subject, something that really irks me is that Republicans love using the power of Congress to enact oversight on the administrative branch, but when the administrative branch enacts oversight on the legislative branch, generally through the DOJ and criminal investigations, they label it as a “political witch hunt”.

It’s also funny how Republicans, like Issa, warned against investigating George Bush, warning the Democrats would suffer the same way Republicans did when investigating Clinton. Yeah that whole premise went the way of common sense in Washington. Of course I also blame the Democrats for falling for that whole BS line. But perhaps President Obama should take a page from the George Bush playbook and start claiming executive privilege on everything. Let that happen and you can bet the Republicans will be crying foul instantly.

As many know I am a Twitter freak. What’s really interesting is the insight you can gain into a person in 140 characters or less. Take Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA):

Interesting how he has these concerns today. He claims they have been on MMS for “years”, but I wonder if he tried this push 4 years ago when he voted no against extending the moratorium on new offshore drilling? Just a quick look into Issa’s voting record shows that he has been a great friend to the oil and coal industry:

As Republicans take to the airwaves to lay all the blame on President Obama for the Christmas day attempted terrorist attack, Ben Smith points out that Republicans also can take some of the blame:

As Republicans seek to put the blame for the widespread perception of ineptness at the Transportation Security Administration on the Obama administration, Democrats are arguing that Republican legislators bear part of the blame, and that they're politically vulnerable on the subject.

Perhaps the largest impediment to change at the agency: South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint has a hold on the appointment of a TSA chief, over his concern that the new administration could allow security screeners to unionize.

DeMint is showing the exact behavior I have been saying about Republicans – politics trump safety in this time of terrorism.

But this doesn’t stop with DeMint. The Republican caucus as a whole deserves some of the blame:

Republicans have cast votes against the key TSA funding measure, the 2010 appropriation bill for the Department of Homeland Security contained, which included funding for the TSA, including for explosives detection systems and other aviation security measures. In the June 24 vote in the House, leading Republicans including John Boehner, Pete Hoekstra, Mike Pence and Paul Ryan voted against the bill, amid a procedural dispute over the appropriations process, a Democrat points out. A full 108 Republicans voted against the conference version, including Boehner, Boehner, Hoekstra, Pence, Michelle Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn, Darrell Issa, and Joe Wilson.

Welcome back to the 90s:

Rep. Darrell Issa is not working from a position of strength. As the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Issa wants to exercise some, well, oversight when it comes to the Obama administration’s controversial decision to transfer control of the Census Bureau from professionals at the Commerce Department to political aides in the White House. But as a member of the minority party on Capitol Hill, Issa doesn’t have the power to compel the administration to do anything.

So after eight years, we are back to the whole “it’s fine to investigate the President”? I ask that because whenever Democrats said something about investigating Bush, the Republicans would say “oh don’t do that, it really hurt us when we investigated Clinton”.

• Now what are some of the things Democrats wanted to investigate?
• Being lied into a war that has killed tens of thousands and wounded hundreds of thousands
• Our troops being poisoned by contractors in Iraq
• The politicization of the Justice Department
• Outing a CIA agent for political gain
• illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens
• etc, etc, etc

Silly me! None of those are as important as transferring the Census Bureau to the White House.

Everyone has been blasting Pelosi for going to Syria, but there has been no critisism of Republicans doing the same. Today, Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) is in Syria meeting with Damascus. Now Boehner is giving the Republican excuse of why Democrats can't go to Syria:

Boehner declined to criticize [fellow Republican Rep. David Hobson] for joining Pelosi, saying her stature gave the visit an imprimatur it didn’t deserve.

“It’s one thing for other members to go,” Boehner said, “but you have to ask yourself, ‘Why is Pelosi going?’ She’s going for one reason and that is to embarrass the president. She is the speaker of the House. She’s giving (the Syrian) government more credit than they deserve. They sponsor terrorism. They have not been at all helpful. I wish she wasn’t there.”

There you got it - the old Republican double standard. Boehner showed his true colors. He believes that Republicans should have the only say in our government and Democrats shouldn't. John Boehner has once again proven his hatred for democracy.