Darrell Issa: Beyond Demogoguery

Why does contemptible human being and, unfortunately for America, Congressman Darrell Issa behave the way he does? Because he can. Case in point:

John Boehner, SINO (Speaker In Name Only), weighs in:

"From what I understand, I think Mr. Issa was within his rights to adjourn the hearing when he did," Boehner told reporters at a weekly press conference in Washington.

Asked if Issa's action detracted from GOP efforts to tie the targeting scandal to President Barack Obama ahead of the midterm elections, Boehner stood by his chairman.

"I think he was within his rights to do what he did," he repeated. "Darrell Issa is the chairman, he's been an effective chairman, and I support him."

It's outrageous that John Boehner would think that Issa's behavior is acceptable, but the most outrageous part of his statement is that he feels Darrell Issa has been "effective."

Here's a thought experiment: Name something, anything, whatever comes to mind, that Darrell Issa has done as Congressman and Chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

Pundits and reporters are already thinking about Issa's accomplishments. He has some! Here's Dana Milbank:

Even by today’s low standard of civility in Congress, calling a hearing and then not allowing minority lawmakers to utter a single word is rather unusual. But Issa, now in the fourth and final year of his chairmanship, is an unusual man.

Earlier in his capricious tenure, he banned Democratic witness Sandra Fluke from a panel about birth control, leaving an all-male slate of witnesses and giving his Republican Party a major embarrassment. His hearings have been chaotic affairs in which he talks over members of his panel, and he has often discredited his committee’s investigations by making incendiary accusations that turn out to be unfounded.

His latest: speculating at a fundraiser last month about why Pentagon assets were not mobilized to protect American facilities in Benghazi, Libya, when they were attacked in 2012 because Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton “told them to stand down.” But the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee found that there were no such orders.

“Well,” Issa told Fox News’s Chris Wallace when pressed about this on Sunday, “the use in answering questions in a political fundraiser, that was in response to a question, the term ‘stand down’ is not used in some sort of an explicit way.”

On the IRS, similarly, Issa had said that it was “the targeting of the president’s political enemies effectively and lies about it,” and that he would prove it was directed “out of Washington headquarters.” But Issa found no such proof, and on Wednesday he acknowledged that “roads lead to Ms. Lerner.”

Accomplishment one: Embarrass the GOP and make Sandra Fluke a hero. That episode was the Gettysburg of the GOP War on Women. Well played, sir.

Accomplishment two: Benghazi, where the scandal is that any real journalist doesn't burst out laughing instead of giving Issa any credence. Note when Wallace calls Issa on the "stand down" claim, Issa's answer was, basically, that "I said it at a fundraiser full of rich GOP morons and of course it was bullshit. Isn't that what fundraisers are all about?"

Accomplishment three: Issa proved that you can talk about something so long that two things happen. One, the IRS looks guilty without anything actually going on, and, two, nobody cares. Seriously, Issa, Nobody Cares. Oh, I forgot about his base, and, uh, the 18% of people who thought Barack Obama was a Muslim.

Accomplishment four: Issa has made himself a bigger story than his phony scandals. Credit where credit is due.

The Congressional Black Caucus wants him out. Fat chance.

Congressman Darrell Issa: the man with a plan (see how
hateful he can be, then raise money from it. Win!).