Darrell Issa Fears Michelle’s Triceps, But Not Dick’s Guns
I’m honestly not surprised that Darrell Issa is so insecure in the face of Michelle Obama’s buff triceps that he is now trying to regulate her.
Under Issa’s amendment, any government policy group that Mrs. Obama or another first spouse regularly participates in would be subject to a law requiring meetings to be announced in advance and, in most instances, public.
At the March 10 markup, Issa’s proposal triggered more than 35 minutes of impassioned debate. I’ve linked video of the exchange below, but Democrats clearly seemed to be recoiling at what some viewed as an effort to target Mrs. Obama.
[snip]
“We are trying actually to protect the historic role of the first lady,” Issa insisted, repeatedly invoking the “transparency” mantra of the Obama administration. “I believe this is open government at its finest.”
[snip]
“We should have a set of rules that future presidents, vice presidents, first ladies and spouses of vice presidents, understand what their do’s and don’t’s are. Can they have an open meeting? Can they have a closed meeting?” Issa said. “Perhaps we need to get to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for an opinion.”
(Nor am I surprised that the Politico has titled this article as, "GOP transparency push seen as attack on Michelle O.")
But I want to know where the fuck Darrell Issa was when we were trying to protect "the historic role of the Vice President" for the last eight years?!?!? I mean, Issa had no problem with Mr. Fourth Branch conducting major policy work in hiding. But apparently he has decided now is the time to regulate Veeps and First Ladies.
To quote my friend, GregB – “Darrell Issa Dickhead !”
Barak is popular. Most folks don’t really know Michelle. It makes me think of the years when Bill Clinton was popular, so the GOP trotted out Hillary.
Boxturtle (Good luck with this. Michelle is not NEARLY the b***h Hillary is)
I am forever amazed at the audacity of some of the Republican critters, too. Issa seems like a real work of art. My own senator, John Cornyn, is a walking embarrassment. None of these people seem to understand that while they are staying “on message” that people are laughing at them. Whoever developed “the message” that these people are trying to convey apparently has no concept of what the public thinks today.
FWIW, I heard former congressman Dick Armey do an interview on one of our local talk radio stations the other day. He was quite a Republican powerhouse before he retired (as I recall, there were some rumors that Tom DeLay forced him out, or somesuch). I have been trying to remember exactly how he stated it, but he was asked his impression of George W Bush. His response was along the lines that Bush had been a great disappointment.
It was truly refreshing to hear someone actually tell the truth!!
It’s amazing what can happen when one is no longer running for re-election. Pandering for votes tends to make fibbing more acceptable.
Boxturtle (Remember when the GOP presidential wannabe’s were asked if they believed in evolution?)
Isn’t it nice that Issa can mutate every republican fear & racism together and call it “protecting the historic role” of the White House. The keu=ys on Cheney’s computer keyboard are flying out of that strip mall office he has in McLean. Now there are some unAmerican emails we should be reading! Where is mother nature (in the form of a heart attack) when you need one?
Bachmann, Issa two faced hypocrites
Cheney’s Secret Energy Planning Meetings PRIOR TO 9/11?
When Lay was on the stand and under oath, wouldn’t it have been great fun to ask him all about his meetings with George Bush Sr. and Dick Cheney prior to 9/11?
Wouldn’t it be great to ask him if the faux California Energy Crisis which his company manufactured just prior to the 2000 elections was actually a scheme cooked up by he and Poppie Bush to compel Americans to install some oil experts in the White House? But what was to be Lay’s reward? After all, he was GW’s largest contributor and best friend of Poppie Bush. Poppie never planned on Enron going bust, and that’s when things started to fall apart.
Wouldn’t if be nice to learn the details of how Lay and Cheney were divvying up the oil fields in Iraq on a big map, even before 9/11?
Wouldn’t it be enlightening to hear that Lay knew for a fact that 9/11 was going to happen as the pretext for the war plan which he clearly had knowledge of prior to 9/11?
Why would you sit around countless energy planning meetings dividing up the oil fields of Iraq in advance of 9/11 unless there were a plan in place to make it possible?
Such a plan would by necessity be a war plan, and this war plan was actually in place prior to 9/11.
Surely any good war plan requires at its core a starting point, a trigger if you will that provides a good “cover story” to implement it. Clearly you can’t just go around invading countries without a good reason…you need to be attacked first, then retaliate.
Was 9/11 simply part of the war plan?
Why wouldn’t it have been?
You can’t hit the “GO” button without a pretext.
9/11 was the pretext for the invasion of the Middle East – all by design.
CAN YOU SAY COVERUP?
It would also have been great to learn what Ken’s meeting with Ahhhhhhhhhnuld was all about, too.
I’d say we’re just one massive coronary short of a full house.
call his offices–just look up his name
ask him where his outrage was when Bush started a immoral and
unnecessary war? And what about Cheney’s death squads?
And why he thinks it’s appropriate to criticize the First Lady’s physical appearance?
I add: Dems know how to fundraise like mad, and I will do what I can–economically and more–to make sure you are not reelected.
Did he really mention her physical appearance?
I can’t bring myself to watch the video, please don’t make me.
Actually this whole kerfuffle has arisen because the Republicans are terrified that President Obama has a devious plan to win over the NRA vote and ensure his reelection by having Michelle assert her right to bare arms.
Minnesotachuck
(Dodging behind the big oak tree in his front yard to avoid the rotten tomatoes and empty beer bottles hurled at him.)
Darrell the Car Thief knows Michelle could snap his neck with her fingernails, and there’s not a thing that scrawny little twerp could do about it.
Hey, Darrell! How does it feel to see the Austrian sitting in the seat you spent $5 million on recall petitions to nab?
He probably hasn’t recovered from the shock of not being wanted.
I’d like to see someone ask him why this bill wasn’t introduced under Bush.
Actually, I liked that one. *g*
OT, but this is of interest to folks here… The BBC is reporting police in the UK will investigate an MI-5 officers role in the torture of Binyam Mohamed.
Poor Darrell, he goes for attention in any way he can. He’s tired of being ignored, so he does yet something else ignorable.
I think Darrell should be asked to explain, in front of the cameras, just exactly what ‘historic role’ the first ladies have, other than being the wife of the president, and why it needs to be protected. (Is he even aware that some presidents didn’t have wives?)
Dear Rep. Issa,
First of all, I hate you. Secondly, since you’re now all about bannin’ closed meetings and transparency an’ all, how about those Cheney energy policy group meeting minutes from the shrub era? I don’t recollect any particular push from you about THOSE closed meetings.
Republicans are pathetic in their petty meanness. Ugly and pathetic. I wonder if any admire them?
Trying to protect, hah.
The little car thief wants a spot of glory. Why don’t we ask him about his conviction on illegal weapons charges? That should be good for a few minutes in the news.
There are some things our media will never bring up to other media hogs:
O’Reilly: loofah, Makris, settlement
Scarborough: dead intern in his office, captive Medical Examiner, early retirement from the House of Representatives
Issa: car thievery, weapons charges, paid-for recall petitions
When Issa is questioned about his car-theft years he always claims having a brother as a car thief led him to invent the Car Alarm. But that makes no sense AT ALL…since Issas bother, Bill, not only had a set of Issa’s car keys but also a duplicate drivers license when he tried to sell the Mercedes. And who leaves their pink-slip in the trunk of their car? A car alarm wouldn’t have prevented this “theft”. In fact, the circumstances were such that it appeared to investigators to be a case of insurance fraud. In fact there was another earlier incident which looked like both Issas were involved. And when Darrell was shown a drawing of the thief he said he couldn’t ID him, and tried to preempt investigators from showing it to his mother – he asked to show it to her-…apparently so he could talk to her. The investigators found that the drawing was a dead ringer for his brother.
So not only has this dirt-ball been allowing his brother to take the fall for him for years, but he even continues to use him..calling him a thief…in order to brag about why he’s a millionaire.
It all depends of what the meaning of Issa is.
Reading about this over at the Great Orange One (where the comments are along the same lines):
Apparently this was actually (quietly) proposed and dropped last year, aimed at the then-front-running candidate and her husband.
The GOP is not only shameless, but also brainless. And thinks everyone else is the same way.
Also, perhaps they should require these open meetings to be held by the spouses and immediately family of ALL legislative and judicial branch officials as well. That way we could see what their role is in fundraising, if they are making any quid-pro-quos to donors, etc. No more “private” fundraisers in luxury boxes at Britney Spears concerts, no more private meetings. Just a little sunlight on the process, Mr. Issa…since you are now such an advocate of openness!
Good one Teddy!
You know, you might have mentioned this paragraph from the very article you link to:
And you might have asked, is it actually a good idea, given that it would apply to all Presidents, Vice Presidents, and their spouses? Might it not make for a more transparent Executive Office? Wouldn’t that be good? Is it wrong to want more such transparency, rather than less? Might not the legislation indeed be used as laying groundwork and precedents to legislate further transparency covering such meetings as those held by Cheney?
Instead, of course, now that Obama is President, you interpret a restriction like this as only a personal attack against a fellow Democrat that must, most certainly, be defended against. Why should Michelle — who never could do wrong, and could only do good both intentionally and unintentionally — have to actually report to anyone her activities that might relate to public policy? How dare they ask that of her!
Suffice it to say, if you can’t pull yourself out of this kind of partisan hackery, and deal with the issues on their objective merits, it’s going to vitiate the perceived value of your opinions.
Oh, come on. Issa’s got his head up his assa. It’s a natural position for him.
Glad to see Sen. Issa has his priorities straight. Torture, don’t care. Mrs Obama might meet a lobbyist, care.
I guess the entire nation should get to know this asshole Issa. Why should we Californians keep him to ourselves?
Thanks, but no thanks, for that bridge to nowhere…..
It’s Thersday upstairs at the Mothership!
BREAKING: Paranoid Dingbat Who Thinks Female Grammar School Teachers Are “Fascists” Warns of Widespread Paranoia
I am annoyed when I see “Barak” in these comments. His name is BaraCk, and although we may disagree with him on some things (and I do), we should do him the courtesy of spelling his name correctly. To do otherwise seems like a slur to me. Just sayin’…
Do not forget Issa’s role in getting Carol Lam fired.
Transparency. In government?
I still wanna know why the DOJ coddled Tommy Kontogiannis and treated him like a hero instead of the mortgage fraudster they knew him to be. What’s up with all the state secrets BS that still prevents his court docs from being released? Work on that Darrell, and then get the internal report on the house intelligence committee made public, get the Ambramoff documents declassified, the Cheney energy task force docs released, find Rove’s missing emails.
Now about regulating, I think there is a long list of things that need that word applied to them. And Michelle isn’t on it.
Issa, damn him to hell, is a CA product, and I for one am NOT proud of that. May he rot in hell. Soon.
Michelle Obama, is a hottie, is the wife of a president I respect, looks great on camera (vid or stills), and in general is likely as bad ass of a human as her husband is. Or they wouldn’t be together.
Issa can go Cheney hisself.
Michelle, and Barack, can do what ever they choose to do, in their private lives.
I have confidence they will BOTH do fine in the time they serve us, and their time when they don’t.
I’d love to play cards with them, let their kids run amok, and enjoy time with them as a couple with me and mine.
And I trust HIM, to run the country. He’s got a heavy load or a billion, to deal with.
I’d like to see where we are at in 4 years, if the fucktards and whackaloons don’t let the Dem’s themselves (phreakin blue dog asshats) drive us to an early impeachment.
We inherited 40 years and more of GOP and right wing 1% thuggery and theft.
Mr. Obama might need some help and a bit more time to save us from ourselves.
Doncha think, FirePups?
”First Lady” is an unelected ”office.” Michelle Obama needs answer absolutely NO ONE. She can walk out of the White House, out of her marriage, appear on television and call Repubs subhuman (which they are).
“We are trying actually to protect the historic role of the first lady,” Issa insisted,
That silly man is having a problem with prepositions. He’s trying to protect the role from the first lady. Hope that helps!