Issa’s surprising new enemies: Why Republicans are mad at him now, too

[DonViejo]

GOP Oversight Committee chair's colleagues in the House are starting to speak out – and it isn't pretty

SIMON MALOY

There are times when I almost feel sympathy for Darrell Issa. When you look around Capitol Hill these days, there aren’t many people voicing their respect and admiration for the House Oversight Committee chairman. You can understand the Democratic antipathy towards Issa; under his command the committee has returned to the bad old days of the Clinton administration when every scandalous allegation – no matter how far-fetched or lacking in evidence – was enthusiastically investigated by the Republicans on the committee out of partisan spite. But Issa is also taking fire from Republicans, which seems unfair given that he’s arguably been, for the GOP, an ideal Oversight Committee chair.

I should explain that “ideal” in this sense means that Issa’s tenure has tracked perfectly with the governing strategy Republicans have pursued ever since they took control of the House in 2010 – he’s made a lot of noise at the expense of accomplishing anything of substance beyond shredding public faith in the competence of the federal government.

Issa, for all his subpoenaing and bloviating and promises of bombshell revelations, hasn’t actually gotten anything to stick to the White House. He launched a probe into Solyndra, a solar power company that received federal loan guarantees before going bankrupt, and it ended up going nowhere. He initiated an investigation into the failed gun-walking program known as “Fast and Furious” that turned up zero evidence of White House corruption, though he did convince John Boehner to let the House vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for withholding documents. His storied handling of the Benghazi investigations, spanning many hearings over several months, never turned up proof of the cover-up conspiracy that everyone knew was there.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/07/22/issas_surprising_new_enemies_why_republicans_are_mad_at_him_now_too/

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