Did Darrell Issa Dupe The Wall Street Journal?
Written by Eric Boehlert
Published
As Republicans prepare to take control of the new Congress this week, perhaps no member has been more visible that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Issa has been making the media rounds advertising the laundry list of investigations into the Obama administration that he's going to launch, and attacking the president, on the Rush Limbaugh show, as the “one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times.” (Issa now suggests the Obama administration, not the president, ranks among the most crooked and dishonest.)
Issa has also essentially called for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder. In other words, it's pretty rough partisan stuff, but that's what most people expect from Issa who is known as a rapid, right-wing partisan.
In fact, here's how Politico reported on Issa's sweeping to-do list this week:
Rep. Darrell Issa is aiming to launch investigations on everything from WikiLeaks to Fannie Mae to corruption in Afghanistan in the first few months of what promises to be a high-profile chairmanship of the top oversight committee in Congress.
According to an outline of hearing topics obtained by POLITICO, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is also planning to investigate how regulation affects job creation, the roles of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the foreclosure crisis, recalls at the Food and Drug Administration and the failure of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to agree on the causes of the market meltdown.
But apparently somebody forgot to tell the Wall Street Journal about Darrell Issa, because last October, on the eve of the midterm elections when Republicans were trying to push the image of responsible legislators, the Journal published a profile of Issa in which he stressed his interest in working with the White House and downplayed any investigations he might launch.
Here was the Journal's rather naive headline at the time:
Issa Says GOP Oversight Won't Be Overbearing
Detractors portray him as a Republican pit bull-in-waiting who will lunge for the Democrats' jugular if his party wins the House in next month's election. Rep. Darrell Issa wants to bury that notion. He said he won't pepper the Obama White House with subpoenas and showboat hearings if he becomes chairman of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform. “That's not my plan at all,” the California Republican said in an interview.
While fellow Republicans promise efforts to repeal the Democrats' health-care overhaul and block funds to undermine the Obama agenda, Mr. Issa talks cooperation. And cooperation, in particular, with President Barack Obama.
Given the events of this week, the Journal might want to go back and revisit the topic of Darrell Issa.