ELIJAH CUMMINGS: Mr. Chairman, you have not been fair and balanced at these IRS hearings and I'm ashamed.
DARRELL ISSA: Elijah, I'm sorry for the conduct but you took away my drive. And I need my campaign contributions for my re-election so these hearings are important for my base. Capisce?!
As I'm getting to understand Darrell Issa, there's one thing that I don't think anyone here has touched base on: He's very much similar to Mitt Romney but only more aggressive and disrespectful.
Here's where both are similar: Both Mitt Romney and Darrell Issa both have this oily, salesman-like ability to seize the moment for anything that can get them attention or additional support (be it supporters and campaign contributions). They never bother to take strong stances unless it benefits them and they never challenge people in the Republican Party as it may be evident doing so will cost them their job (more so Issa since he's now still working in government and Romney isn't). They also never seem to be able to break free from business deal making mentality when they are either running for office or serving in government.
On the other hand, where the two differ is that Mitt Romney actually has done something productive and for the greater good: The Massachusetts Healthcare reform when he was governor of the state (even if you think the law has flaws). This of course served as inspiration for the Affordable Healthcare Act.
Darrell Issa on the other hand, hasn't done a single thing for the greater good in all of his 13 years in Congress (elected November 2000) unless by the nature of greater good you are referring to building support for the Republican Party and for yourself. In this case, Issa's record has a lot of accomplishments:
*Served as a prominent fundraiser for the California Republican Party in the 1990's.
*Issued a $100,000 check for the petition drive for anti-affirmative action Proposition 209 in order to keep the proposition alive.
*Took a strong stance against the U.S. Budget compromise between President Clinton and the GOP-controlled Congress in 1997 even though it produced the biggest surplus in U.S. history and saying, "It's going to take more Darrell Issas there to keep America from turning into another France."
*Providing nearly $2 million to the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall Election, running for a short time and then wimping out and crying like a baby because Arnold Schwarzenegger took his wind by running in the race.
*Rubber stamping the Iraq War funding via appropriations and other methods without doing much independent judgement, except after the November 2006 elections when the Democratic Party won control of both chambers of Congress.
*Launching investigations on Fast & Furious, Benghazi, IRS, Healthcare.gov, National Parks Service, etc. that have produced not ONE single bit of REAL evidence or any REAL progress.
*Throwing hissy fits because he hasn't gotten his way or that things aren't going well for him, such as when when of course Elijah Cummings is calling him out for his partisan hearings.
Speaking of the recent incident with Elijah Cummings at the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, below the fold is Darrell Issa appearing on Megyn Kelly's show on Fox News giving his real "apology."
So yes, Darrell Issa's apology is only a "slight apology" but not a real one and he points out that Elijah Cummings clearly did not listen to him.
http://www.tpnn.com/...
DARRELL ISSA: Mr. Cummings and I both had opening statements nine months ago. He asked me before the hearing if he’d be able to make an opening statement, and I said “no, this is a continuation of a hearing specifically recessed.” I then adjourned the hearing. After I adjourned, Mr. Cummings, in what appeared to be a pre-staged event, then went into this, “I have a right to talk,” and screaming and so on.
I broke no rules, I did exactly what is according to the books. I had a script in front of me that had been approved by the parliamentarian, and I followed it.
You know, it’s sad, my last chairman, Chairman Ed Towns and I were dear friends, we worked well together. Elijah Cummings got this job quite frankly by saying he’d be different than Towns, that he’d hold me to a stop, he’d keep me from accomplishing anything.
The IRS targeted conservative groups and held back their ability for years to get their approvals, and that is what the investigation is.
Then there's this:
http://www.tpnn.com/...
When asked by FOX’s Megyn Kelly why Issa didn’t just let Cummings go off, even after he’d adjourned the meeting, Issa responded that he’d probably have handled the situation differently if given another opportunity, but insists that he was just following the rules.
DARRELL ISSA: Megyn, anybody would do something over again if they had the chance. But the fact is that I had adjourned the meeting before he asked. He didn’t raise a point of order or parliamentary inquiries, the normal ways, especially for people as experienced as he is.
He asked, “Can I ask a question,” and I said that we’d already adjourned but go ahead and ask a question. He then went into that diatribe.
Can you really understand this Issa man? I sure can't.
However, Darrell Issa really needs to watch it because from the previous CA Voter Registration Statistics period from February 2013 - December 2013, per the CA Secretary of State's office, his 49th Congressional District of California just lost over 2,000 Republican voters and that's more than the 400+ drop in Democrats and gain of Independents (whose numbers have increased at least consistently since September 2012.
I'm not going to read into the reason why this drop has happened but in case you want to know where I got my math, I just simply compared the number of Democrats, Republicans and Independents in CA-49 from the CA Voter Registration period of September 2012 - February 2013 to the period of February 2013 - December 2013 (most recent report) and if I saw an increase, it would mean an increase in number of voters (per party) and if I saw a decrease, it would be a decrease in number of voters (per party). Simple arithmetic. :)
http://www.sos.ca.gov/...
Orange County:
Democrats: 22,242 (+3)
Republicans: 44,440 (-393)
Decline-to-State/Independent: 19,517 (+440)
San Diego County:
Democrats: 83,842 (-440)
Republicans: 105,236 (-1985)
Decline-to-State/Independent: 72,168 (+1230)
Total:
Democrats: 106,524 (-437)
Republicans: 152,054 (-2388)
Decline-to-State/Independent: 90,015 (+1670)
So that leaves 29% Democrats, 25% Independents and 40% Republicans in CA-49 with a 1% drop in GOP voters from February 2013 - December 2013. You can analyze the data any which way you can and discuss whatever conclusions you arrive at.
It remains to be seen whether the number of Republican voter registration numbers will continue to decrease or increase. That's something I will be monitoring.
In the meantime Dave Peiser is Darrell Issa's Democratic challenger and his information & links are below:
Interview on North San Diego Business Radio
http://northsandiegobusiness.com/...
http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/...
Dave Peiser for Congress: http://www.peiserforcongress.com/
Peiser on the Issues: http://www.peiserforcongress.com/...
Donate: Via ActBlue here: https://secure.actblue.com/... or https://peiserforcongress.nationbuilder.com/...
Volunteer: http://www.peiserforcongress.com/...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/...
Information: info@peiserforcongress.com
Information on our Knowledge Democrats group: We're based on Daily Kos but have a Wiki platform which we're developing and a Twitter channel as well with 2,188 followers and growing (including a number of users from the Unite Blue community). A number of candidates running in Congressional campaigns or operatives in them are following us on Twitter as well.
Our goal is to strengthen the liberal & progressive Democratic community through information, outreach and to also help promote legitimate Democratic candidates regardless of fundraising numbers or attention in the news.
If you would like to get involved in our efforts, our links are below:
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