Darrell Issa Desperately Tries to Unite the GOP Against Obama’s ‘Imperial Presidency’

Republicans are a real mess right now, as the country witnessed with the painful debt ceiling vote. It hurt in the House where Boehner had to once again rely upon Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats to get anything done, and it even hurt in the Senate, thanks to Ted Cruz forcing a vote Republican senators didn’t need to take.

But they’ve discovered a way to get back on track. I’ll give you two guesses, and if your first guess is “get something done for their record”, you lose. Now, reach for the biggest fail you can imagine – a fail that they have already tried and lost at. Reach for the one thing that could turn the House Democratic sooner than thought possible…

That’s right. They’re going Newt Gingrich 1990’s VS Bill Clinton on President Obama.

This crusade of desperation was championed by Darrell Issa Monday night during a New Hampshire speech, where he claimed he wanted to “shape” the debate. Steve Peoples writing for the AP via The Huffington Post reported:

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His party divided, Rep. Darrell Issa, the chief Republican attack dog, is calling on the GOP to abandon government-backed solutions and instead unite against President Barack Obama’s “imperial presidency.”

This strategy is going to be their 2016 strategy as well, apparently, as Issa made wild accusations against former Secretary of State, Senator, and First Lady Hillary Clinton, which he had to amend later:

He said she played a central role in the immediate aftermath of the attack: “Hillary Clinton knew what was going on and conveyed that to the president.” He later clarified, “The accountability for the action and inaction belongs to the two top informed individuals who were awake: (Defense Secretary) Leon Panetta and Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

So, Darrell Issa, who held on the truth about Benghazi for a year in order to attack President Obama over a tragic matter that might have been avoided if only House Republicans had not denied the Obama administration the funding for embassy security that they requested, has the unmitigated gall tothis Presidency an “imperial presidency” with absolutely no facts to support his argument.

As Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) said so explosively in November of 2012 during a House Foreign Affairs hearing, while responding to Republican accusations that Obama’s Benghazi was “worse than Watergate”:

(Republicans have) “the audacity to come here” when the administration requested, for worldwide security, “$440 million more than you guys wanted to provide. And the answer is that you damn didn’t provide it! You REDUCED what the administration asked for to protect these people. Ask not who the guilty party is, it’s you! It is us. It is this committee, and the things that we insist that we need have to cost money.”

Darrell Issa is not letting facts get in the way of his politically motivated witch hunts (his bed time story for conservatives about the IRS targeting them was completely debunked as well). Instead, he’s turning up the volume on crazy, Newt Gingrich style. Don’t ask Republicans what they stand for, or ask why they have announced that they will be doubling down on doing NOTHING this year. Don’t ask why they won’t pass simple things that used be bipartisan, like extending long term unemployment. Nope.

Get distracted by the Big Lies, the gossip, the histrionic drama, and the hypocritical self-righteousness that has come to define the party of No. Seriously, following Newt Gingrich’s example? Really? So much for expanding that tent.

As Republicans rally around hating Obama in lieu of any real policy agenda, they make it clear that they have nothing. They are running on fumes of 2008 hatred and fear-mongering. The only question remaining is how long will it take until they dust off their only semi-live wire, Sarah Palin. Even Darrell Issa can’t do pure, unadulterated, stupid hate like Sarah Palin.

You can sign PoliticusUSA’s Credo petition to tell Darrell Issa to cut out the games and get to work for the people here.

Sarah Jones

Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.

Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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