Meet the Republican Candidate for the Senate in Illinois

Another Brilliant Tom Tomorrow

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David Jungerman, Right-Wing Parasite

The entire pathetic story is here.

So it seems this right-wing SOB who's calling my fellow Democrats and me "parasites" has sucked up more than $1 million in Federal farm subsidies since 1995, including more than $200,000 in 2000 alone.

Really, do these extreme right-wing conservatives have no conscience, sense of shame, or morals at ALL?

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The Strange Career of Darrell Issa

As you probably know, radical right-wing Republican U.S. Representative Darrell Issa of California has promised the fanatics and haters who make up the Republican "base" that if the Republicans win control of Congress this November, he will use his position to launch one investigation after another of President Obama and his White House staff. The objective will be simple: to destroy Obama and possibly set up the "grounds" for the impeachment of the President. In the twisted, sick world of the Radical Right, no Democrat has the right to govern--ever. Issa intends to see to it that Barack Obama does not get to govern our country, and he intends to send a message: this is what will happen to EVERY Democrat who has the temerity to win the Presidency. Therefore, I thought it might be good to turn my gaze on Issa's career, to see what kind of man we're up against. I think you'll be as appalled and disgusted as I am.

DARRELL THE CON MAN; DARRELL THE CAR THIEF?

In this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, we see the interesting story of Darrell and his brother, who set up a phony car theft and then sold the "stolen" car to a Mercedes-Benz dealer.

In the San Jose case, Issa, who at the time was a 27-year-old U.S. Army officer, and William Issa, 29, were arrested by San Jose police on a felony auto-theft charge in February 1980.

They were accused of a scheme in which Issa's brother allegedly sold Issa's cherry-red Mercedes 240 to Smythe European Motors in San Jose for $13,000 cash and three $1,000 traveler's checks. Within hours, Issa reported the car stolen from a lot at the Monterey airport, near his Army post at Fort Ord.

Issa and his brother pleaded not guilty. A judge ordered them to stand trial on felony charges, saying he had a "strong suspicion" that the men had committed the crime, according to the records.

The case was not prosecuted because the DA didn't think he had a strong enough case, even though strong suspicions still surrounded the Issa brothers. Darrell was also suspected in involvement with two other car thefts, but he blamed his brother William for both of them and denied any wrongdoing. At the time the Chronicle published this article, by the way, Issa was spearheading the movement to recall California Governor Gray Davis, a movement which eventually led to the disastrous governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger. You will recall that this recall campaign aided and abetted Enron's looting of California via the phony "electricity crisis".

DARRELL THE TOOL OF BIG BUSINESS; DARRELL THE ARSONIST?

The Media Matters Action Network has assembled a synopsis of Issa's wretched, scandal-plagued political career right here. Among the interesting findings:

AC Custom Fire: Flammable Liquid Had "Been Poured On The Only Area Not Covered By Fire Sprinklers." The Los Angeles Times reported that "seven months after Issa took control," a fire broke out at the "Quantum manufacturing plant." "Case files from Maple Heights, the Ohio fire marshal and insurers pointed repeatedly to the likelihood of arson in the blaze, which officials estimated caused $ 800,000 in damage. Although an accident could not be ruled out, the uneven and unnatural burn patterns made the blaze 'suspicious in nature,' the state concluded two months later. Flammable liquid appeared to have been poured on the only area not covered by fire sprinklers, investigators found." [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis, emphasis added]

Issa Has Received Nearly $40,000 From The National Beer Wholesalers Association. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Issa has received a total of $38,500 from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) in contributions since 2000.

[Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 2/3/10]

NBWA Was A Leading Supporter Of Bush Tax Breaks. According to the Center for Responsive Politics: "The NBWA...was a leading supporter of President Bush's proposed package of business tax breaks in 2001." [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 5/31/10]

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Has Given Issa More Than $64,000 Since 2000. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Issa has received $64,150 in total contributions from the company Science Applications International Corporation from 2000-2010. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 2/3/10]

SAIC Produced Faulty Software For The FBI. According to SignOnSanDiego.com: "SAIC's custom software, known as Virtual Case File, was intended to help FBI agents and analysts track terrorists and manage criminal investigations. When SAIC delivered the product, [FBI Director Robert Mueller testified that] at least 400 problems were found with the software." The contract between SAIC and the FBI was worth "170 million dollars." [SignOnSanDiego.com, 2/3/05]

DARRELL THE ENEMY OF SIMPLE HUMAN DECENCY

In PERRspectives's "Top 10 Darrell Issa Hall of Shame Moments", (located here) we find the following tidbits:

Issa Calls 9/11 Attacks in New York a Plane Crash

No doubt, Issa's slur against World Trade Center rescue workers was the most unforgettable moment in a truly forgettable political career.

Desperate to refuse federal funds to the ailing workers who rushed to Ground Zero, Issa denied the September 11 carnage was an attack on the United States at all. As the New York Post summed it up:

"It's very simple: I can't vote for additional money for New York if I can't see why it would be appropriate to do this every single time a similar situation happens, which quite frankly includes any urban terrorist. It doesn't have to be somebody from al Qaeda. It can be someone who decides that they don't like animal testing at one of our pharmaceutical facilities."
Issa said the destruction of the World Trade Center did not involve a dirty bomb or a chemical weapon designed to make people sick.

"It simply was an aircraft, residue of the aircraft and residue of the materials used to build this building," Issa said.

Issa also viciously defended Blackwater from charges of committing atrocities, and accused those investigating Blackwater of "going after the troops"(!). He further accused Valerie Plame of perjury, and helped force out federal prosecutor Carol Lam with a phony report accusing her of "lax" enforcement of the immigration laws. The purge of Lam was done in retaliation for her successful prosecution of the crook "Duke" Cunningham.

Oh, and Issa also fought against a bill protecting homeowners from predatory lenders.

DARRELL THE PATHOLOGICAL DAMNED LIAR

Issa lied repeatedly and brazenly in the Countrywide VIP loan scandal. Issa lied about evidence and lied about the involvement of Democrats in the matter.

Issa also blatantly lied about the so-called "Train to Sin City", a non-existent piece of the stimulus plan that supposedly financed a high speed train from LA to Las Vegas at the behest of Harry Reid. David Shuster shot Issa down HARD, calling him on his lie in no uncertain terms. (You can see it here since, for some reason, the video will not embed.)

Issa also blatantly lied when he claimed, in a debate with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that the Republicans had been shut out of helping to shape Health Care Reform. Wasserman Schultz was having none of it:

Following the vote on the health care bill, Wolf Blitzer talks to Rep. Darrell Issa and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Issa claims that the Republicans were "shut out of the process from the very beginning" and Wasserman Schultz calls him out on it.

Schultz: That is just a brazenly false statement. From the very beginning...

Issa: Is that like you lied?

Schultz: No, it's a brazenly false (crosstalk). With all due respect there are two hundred amendments that were offered and accepted by Republicans, offered by Republicans and accepted by Democrats and incorporated into this bill. This is a bill that is bipartisan in content, unfortunately not bipartisan in the outcome of the votes. We gave every opportunity over and over again and the American people saw a President in Obama extend his hand and saw Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid ask Republicans repeatedly to sit down with the rest of the negotiating table and we were repeatedly rejected.

After Issa pretends like they would have used the amendment process for anything other than trying to either stall or shut down the bill being passed and Blitzer repeating his Republican talking points about major pieces of social legislation never being passed without bipartisan support Schultz comes back again.

Schultz: It passed without any Republican support by their choice.

Issa has also lied about his own military service:

As several politicians have been snared thanks to fibbing about their military records, TPM took a trip down memory lane exploring others who exaggerated service. It turns out that 12 years ago when Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was running for Senate, the San Francisco Examiner uncovered that his Army record was in doubt.

The Examiner published in May 1998 a devastating article detailing the conflicts between Issa’s public statements and public records. A focus in the story was Issa’s claim he protected then-President Richard Nixon as part of an “elite Army bomb unit” at the World Series in 1971. But it turns out Nixon didn’t even attend the games.

The Examiner scoured military records and concluded that Issa’s service on the squad “was marred by a bad conduct rating, a demotion and allegations that he had stolen a fellow soldier’s car.” It cited his 1998 campaign biography saying he served in the Army nine years, even though records showed he served just over five years.

In Darrell Issa we are facing one of the very worst, most dishonest, most unprincipled, most corrupt, most fanatically right-wing of our opponents. He lacks any shred of decency or concern for the average person. And it is this despicable, loathsome, pathologically lying man who will use his power to ruin President Obama unless we act to stop him, by getting out the Democratic vote in November.

It's simple: either we vote, or this son of a bitch Issa gets to ruin the United States of America.

Vice President Biden Brings the HAMMER Down on BP Apologist Joe Barton,

BP's Best Friends: The Radical Right-Wing Republican Party

TPM has the goods right here about the disgusting way in which the official Republican Party and its enablers in the radical right media are kissing BP's ass as publicly as they can while trashing President Obama's tremendous achievement of getting BP to promise a $20,000,000,000 escrow fund for damages. Some of the select opinions, highlighted by yours truly:

Rush Limbaugh: the escrow fund would be a "slush fund,"..."Who's gonna get this money? Union activists? ACORN people? Who's gonna get this money. Let's keep a sharp eye on who Feinberg gives this money to. Because I'm telling you, this is just another bailout fund, called something else, and we'll see who gets it."

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) was concerned that making BP pay so much would hurt their profitability.

On Fox News, Sean Hannity speculated that the account would be used as a "political slush fund." (God, that takes some kind of special nerve coming from a crook like Hannity, who looted his own "veterans charity").

In a House committee hearing Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) referred to the fund as a "$20 billion shakedown."

The House's Republican Study Group called the fund "a Chicago style shakedown".

And my favorite idiot/liar/psychopath Michele Bachmann called it an example of "redistribution" of money.

Oh, and one more thing: Joe Barton, who actually APOLOGIZED TO BP at the Hayward hearing, is in line to become chairman of the House Energy Committee if the Republicans win control of the House in November.

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This is How Sick and Dangerous They Are

A new ad for a radical Right-wing teabagger Republican in Alabama:



Note the themes: Impeachment of President Obama, the ludicrous claim that the IRS is unregulated(!!), the lie about the IRS and health care, and most of all, the call to armed revolution and violence. THIS IS WHAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS NOW. This is how sick, how delusional, how dangerous, and how threatening to our country these people really are. They MUST be stopped.

Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents (and fed-up Republicans), the real call to arms is to you:

GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE IN NOVEMBER.

Yes, the Republicans WILL Try to Impeach President Obama If They Win This Year

Steve Benen has the story here. And wouldn't you know who's pushing it? Everyone's favorite right-wing psychotic, Michele Bachmann. Details:

Everywhere Bachmann goes [she says], people emphasize their desire to see the president impeached. Impeached for what? Bachmann didn't say, and given the deranged crowd she hangs out with, it's probably safe to assume that it doesn't much matter. (As a rule, those seeking to undo national elections might look for "high crimes," but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that those pushing the issue with Bachmann don't care if Obama has actually committed an impeachable offense or not.)

In this case, Bachmann didn't say exactly whether she supports presidential impeachment; it's just what "people" say "everywhere" she goes.

But this brings me back to a point from a couple of weeks ago -- how seriously are Republicans prepared to take this whole impeachment idea?

Obviously, President Obama hasn't committed any crimes, and there are no sane reasons for anyone to try to impeach him. But House Republicans have been known to take some stupendously crazy steps, so it's hardly unreasonable to ask now -- before the election.

Yes, let's ask the Republicans the question BEFORE the November election: Are you going to try to remove President Obama from office by means of impeachment? YES OR NO?

And by God, let's put them on the record IN FRONT OF THEIR OWN RIGHT-WING FANATICS. That's something I'd pay to see.

Addendum:

Bachmann is associated with (and politically connected to) a "Christian" rock band that advocates KILLING gays. Not imprisoning them or fining them or forcing them to stay in the closet, but KILLING THEM. And this woman is considered a leading Republican??

On Hiatus Until June 11

I'll rant to you later.

J. Miller's Current Political Reading List!

I have a wonderful friend coming to visit for a week, so I'll be incommunicado, but this selection of things should hold you for a while:

Michael Lind reminds us of the truth about the Confederacy here.

Governor Rick "Good Hair" Perry of Texas is exposed for the hypocrite and fraud that he really is here.

Arianna Huffington talks about the offshore tax haven scam here.

Newt Gingrich's pathetic lies are refuted with FACTS and EVIDENCE here.

A little history lesson about Dick Cheney, "patriotic" enabler of brutal regimes, is here.

The AP tells the truth about President Obama's andling of the oil spill crisis here.

Newt Gingrich's pathetic lies and right-wing idiocy get another going over here.

That should hold you for a little while.

This Could Shake Things Up in Illinois

I couldn't conceivably care less whether any candidate for public office is gay or not. But the hard-core Right-wing Republican base does care, intensely. So if this story about Illinois senate candidate Mark Kirk turns out to be true--well, it will be interesting, let's just say that.