It’s always good to see a political article with a strong lede, and I think Politico did a nice job with this one.
Note to Rep. Darrell Issa from President Barack Obama: If you want to call him one of the most corrupt presidents in history, say he should be impeached and question whether he was telling the truth about his birth certificate, maybe don’t then brag about working with him in a campaign mailer as you try to hang onto your seat.
As we discussed last week, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has found himself in a bit of a predicament, struggling to hold onto a House seat he’s represented for nearly two decades. The Republican incumbent is so worried about his future that his latest campaign mailers feature a picture of President Obama, seated at his desk in the Oval Office, and boast about the work Issa has done with the White House.Evidently, the president heard about the congressman’s direct mail, and in remarks Sunday in California, Obama couldn’t let this go without a response.
“I’m not going to belabor this point, but let me just point out that as far as I can tell, [Issa’s] primary contribution to the United States Congress has been to obstruct and to waste taxpayer dollar on trumped-up investigations that have led nowhere. And this is now a guy who, because poll numbers are bad, has sent out brochures with my picture on them touting his cooperation on issues with me.”Now, that is the definition of chutzpah. Here’s a guy who called my administration perhaps the most corrupt in history — despite the fact that actually we have not had a major scandal in my administration — that, when Trump was suggesting that I wasn’t even born here, said, ‘Well, I don’t know,’ was not sure…. This guy has spent all his time simply trying to obstruct, to feed the same sentiments that resulted in Donald Trump becoming their nominee…. And now he’s sending out brochures touting his cooperation with me. Now, that is shameless.”
This should’ve ended the back and forth, but for some reason, Issa thought it’d be a good idea to send one more volley.”I’m disappointed but not surprised that the president, in a political speech, continues to deny accountability for the serious scandals that happened under his watch where Americans died overseas and veterans have died here at home,” Issa said in a statement.In reality, Obama hasn’t had any “serious scandals.” Issa should know that; he spent years trying to find one, to no avail.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."