Category: Congress

Ruh-Roh

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This is bad news any way you slice it:

Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the powerful Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has launched an inquiry into whether spokesman Kurt Bardella improperly shared e-mails from other reporters with a New York Times reporter writing a book on Washington’s political culture, POLITICO has learned.
Bardella has been cooperating extensively with the Times’s Mark Leibovich on the book, and Issa told POLITICO Monday that he would “get to the bottom” of exactly what Bardella shared with Leibovich.
Aides close to the office say Bardella’s job hangs in the balance of the internal probe.

While I’m resisting the urge to jump to any conclusion about the facts of the situation, if this is true — if Bardella was indeed sharing other reporters’ e-mails with Leibovich — it’s going to be hard for Bardella to keep his job. Those other reporters would raise holy hell about it.

In fact, for a congressional press secretary to be “cooperating extensively” on a project with one reporter might be seen as disadvantaging other reporters who don’t have that kind of relationship. But we don’t have enough facts to make those judgments, so we won’t.

Kristi Noem: ‘She Is Legit Hot’

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The freshman Republican from South Dakota is a 39-year-old mother of three who has, alas, been objectified:

Recently rated “hottest freshman” in Congress by Huffington Post readers, a throng of photographers greeted her at the airport when she first arrived in the nation’s capital. “She walked right into a hornets’ nest — there were paparazzi at the airport!” Hustead said.
With a beaming smile and big, Western hair, Noem is attractive enough to provoke frequent references from male Republican operatives. “I hear you’re working on a Kristi Noem piece or are you just trying to get a piece of Kristi Noem???” one GOP press secretary e-mailed out of the blue. . . . Another aide said he has seen her up close in the Capitol and “she is legit hot.”
Noem does not relish that brand of attention. Of the Huffington Post story, she said in an interview, “I thought that was kind of an unfortunate distraction, I guess, when that came out. I don’t think about that too much. I’d rather they were talking about my solutions for our country rather than that, but we’ll get there.”

It has been said that Washington is “Hollywood for ugly people” and, given that women in Congress have often been grim feminist battle-axes like Bella Abzug and Barbara Mikulski, a genuinely attractive female face on Capitol Hill is somewhat rare.

(Via Newsalert.)

He’s a Liberal, and Also Crazy

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Excuse me if that seems redundant, but it appears that one Democrat in Congress was even more crazy than the rest:

Three days before the Nov. 2 election, U.S. Rep. David Wu’s most loyal and senior staffers were so alarmed by his erratic behavior that they demanded he enter a hospital for psychiatric treatment.
Their concern had been spiking for weeks in tandem with the Oregon Democrat’s increasingly unpredictable performance on the campaign trail and in private. He was loud and sometimes angry, some of them told The Oregonian. He said kooky things to staff and — more worrisome with a tough election fast approaching — around potential voters and donors. . . .
Several staff members confronted Wu for the final time on Oct. 30. Wu’s psychiatrist was brought into that meeting . . . The meeting was held after four consecutive days of troubling behavior that led the staff to agree that Wu needed a higher level of medical care . . .
“This is way beyond acceptable levels and the charade needs to end NOW,” wrote Lisa Grove, a senior and long-serving campaign pollster, in an e-mail to colleagues that day. “No enabling by any potential enablers, he needs help and you need to be protected. Nothing else matters right now. Nothing else.” . . .
Faced with a stalemate, the campaign essentially shut down at the very time when most other candidates were at their most frenzied. No public announcement was made, but campaign staff withdrew and Wu did not hold another formal campaign event until he emerged on Tuesday night after winning a seventh term.
Last month, The Oregonian reported that at least a half-dozen members of Wu’s staff had resigned after he won re-election in November. That group included his longtime chief of staff and his spokeswoman. In addition, he lost his campaign pollster and his fundraiser. . . .
For some staffers, the beginning of the end was Wednesday, Oct. 27, when Wu delivered a belligerent and rambling 19-minute monologue to Washington County Democrats that some in the audience said was inappropriate for the friendly crowd. His behavior left staff members aghast. . . .
In the early morning of Saturday, several odd messages written from Wu’s private House of Representatives e-mail address were sent to some staffers, all female, with still others copied on them. . . .
At that point, staff knew something was terribly wrong with their candidate. That Saturday, Oct. 30, they checked for available hospital beds and consulted with his psychiatrist. Veteran pollster Grove sent staffers the e-mail that signaled the end. She declined to comment for this story but earlier told The Oregonian that she would never work for Wu again.
There was no doubt Wu was having a rough 2010. He had separated from his wife, and he faced a credible opponent — Republican Rob Cornilles — in a difficult year for all Democrats. He told people he had stopped drinking in July.
But staffers and others who encountered Wu say his behavior that fall was not an ordinary response to stress. As the campaign wore on, they said, Wu became unpredictable and sometimes loopy, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and often not making sense. Nor would he own up to their concerns. . . .
He made few campaign appearances and near the end of the campaign was even placed under what one campaign official characterized as “house arrest.” . . .
Wu had shown signs of erratic behavior before. In 2007, he accused the Bush White House of acting like fake Klingons. In 2003, he appeared to go catatonic before a crucial vote on Medicare.
Sources reported that over the years Wu would have normal periods, followed by times when he seemed disturbed. Each episode seemed more erratic, they said. But just before the election, they said, was the worst they had seen.
As Election Day approached, the prevailing mood, according to one person, “was that the only thing worse than losing the campaign would be winning it.”

Those are merely highlights — or rather, lowlights — or a much longer article. All in all, it sounds like Wu was exhibiting bipolar tendencies, probably aggravated by the stress of separating from his wife.

In other words, a midlife crisis.

What’s interesting is that his loyal Democratic staff kept all this quiet, so the crazy Congressman could get re-elected.

UPDATE: Suggested TV commercial for David Wu’s 2012 re-election campaign.

Dreams of a Government Shutdown?

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Republicans in the House have been pulling long hours to enact a continuing resolution that would extend funding for the rest of the fiscal year. And if they fail to get it passed before the current continuing resolution runs out, they plan to pass a stopgap short-term measure to prevent a government shutdown. Meanwhile, it appears, Democrats hope Boehner fails:

A high-ranking aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told chiefs of staff of Democratic lawmakers that a government shutdown is more likely than not, according to attendees.
Speaking at a regular meeting of the top aides to House Democrats, Pelosi’s floor director, Jerry Hartz, offered, unprompted, his assessment that the odds favor inaction before the government runs out of money, sources said.

This is almost certainly wishful thinking on Hartz’s part. Even the most ideologically rigid of Tea Party freshmen know the history of how Clinton (with the assistance of the media) demonized Gingrich’s Republicans over the 1995-96 shutdown, and are eager to avoid a repeat.

Furthermore, given their campaign mantra of “jobs, jobs, jobs,” the GOP freshmen want to be seen as working pragmatically on fixing the economy. It’s possible that the Democratic majority in the Senate could, by obstinate resistance, create a “no deal” standoff with House Republicans — but that wouldn’t cause a shutdown, just a resort to more short-term continuing resolutions while the impasse was negotiated.

And, at some point, President Obama might have the chance to cause trouble by wielding the veto. But again, that just takes us back to short-term continuing resolutions, and leaves Obama exposed to the accusation that he’s refusing to cut spending.

Some conservatives will be disgruntled by Boehner’s desire to avoid a dramatic showdown with Obama. For example, Ace of Spades was enraged by yesterday’s vote against an extra $22 billion in cuts, and Dave in Texas rages again today. But the GOP House leadership has to be thinking three moves ahead in this chess game, and a “reasonable compromise” now — however much it enrages conservatives — will put Boehner in a stronger position when he’s negotiating with the Senate and the President.

To my enraged and disgruntled friends: Chill.

Once they’ve got the continuing resolution in place for the rest of the fiscal year, House Republicans will immediately begin the budgeting process for the next fiscal year, and that’s when the real fun starts rolling. All you’ve got to do is wait a few weeks, OK?

At any rate, Pelosi’s fantasies of a government shutdown — giving her a chance to claim that House Republicans are a bunch of wild-eyed fanatical extremists — are almost certain to remain a fantasy.

Ten House Democrats Join GOP Vote for De-Funding Planned Parenthood

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And seven Republicans voted “no” so that the final vote was 240 “yes” (for de-funding) and 185 “no” (against de-funding).

UPDATE: Steve Ertelt at Life News:

The fight to stop Planned Parenthood funding is not over as the amendment is part of a continuing resolution bill needed to fund the federal government and the funding apparatus still faces Senate action and likely conference committee action — which could ultimately leave the amendment out of the final draft of the bill that goes to pro-abortion President Barack Obama.

Michelle Malkin has more. There seems to be some confusion as to whether nine or 10 Democrats voted “yes.”

UPDATE II: Still no roll call results yet, because debate over the continuing resolution and a long series of amendments is causing a serious logjam:

The passage of the Planned Parenthood defunding measure, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), came after the House debated the amendment for almost three hours Thursday night.

The House could be in session all the way into Saturday morning.

UPDATE III: Shane Vander Hart quotes Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List: “[Defunding Planned Parenthood] must be a top priority in the Continuing Resolution battle. Taxpayers have strongly rejected their complicity with Planned Parenthood in the sex trafficking of underage girls.”

UPDATE IV: Ken Shepherd of Newsbusters chronicles the neutral objectivity of ABC News.

UPDATE V: Cubachi has video of Mike Spence’s speech last night:

Much more at Memeorandum.

UPDATE VI: You may have heard of this guy, who used to be kinda important:

UPDATE VII: Nowadays, Ace of Spades is far more important. If he was to link a brother, you’d notice the traffic. Just sayin’ . . .

Darrell Issa: Unintimidated

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“Issa to investigate Obama? They must be scared to death of what Issa could learn. They must be scared to death of what Issa could produce, because they’re now out to do what they did to Robert Bork. Go down the list, Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, any number of people, Ken Starr. Now it is Darrell Issa’s turn.”
— Rush Limbaugh, Wednesday, Feb. 16

As couple days ago, I blogged about the Left’s smear campaign against Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) the newly-installed chairman of the House Oversight Committee. It’s apparent that these tactics won’t stop Issa, who has just subpoenaed records relating to the Countrywide mortgage scandal:

The chairman of a House oversight panel issued a broad subpoena Wednesday seeking documents related to a controversial VIP lending program run by Countrywide Financial Corp., with the goal of finding out which public officials benefited.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) sent the subpoena to Bank of America Corp. (BAC) , which acquired Countrywide in 2008. Countrywide’s former chief executive, Angelo Mozilo, has long faced allegations that he approved loans for favored borrowers in violation of the company’s lending policies.
The subpoena is Issa’s first as chairman of the oversight panel after Republicans assumed control of the House last month. Issa had clashed in fall 2009 with the committee’s former Democratic Chairman, Rep. Edolphus Towns (D., N.Y.) over whether to investigate the program. Towns ultimately agreed to a narrower subpoena.
Towns received two mortgage loans under the program, The Wall Street Journal reported in August 2009. At the time, he contended that he had no knowledge that he was in the program and didn’t receive any special treatment.
The loan program, known as “Friends of Angelo,” provided loans at rates and terms more favorable than what Countrywide offered to the general public. Lawmakers have been scrutinizing whether those VIP loans were also aimed at influencing public officials.

(Via Jammie Wearing Fool and Instapundit.) Here is Issa’s official statement on the investigation:

“Countrywide orchestrated a deliberate and calculated effort to use relationships with people in high places in order to manipulate public policy and further their bottom line to the detriment of the American taxpayers even at the expense of its own lending standards,” said Issa. “This subpoena will allow us to obtain the information needed to answer the outstanding public interest questions regarding the full size and scope of the VIP program. The American people have a right to know the totality of who participated in the Countrywide’s VIP program and what they did in return for access to it. Our role is to get all of the facts so that the American people can judge for themselves who should be held responsible and accountable.”

The differences between the Issa probe and the limited investigation conducted under Towns’s chairmanship are explained by Politico‘s Jake Sherman:

Last year, the subpoena directed Bank of America to give all documents identifying House members to the House Ethics Committee. This year, the subpoena directs all documents to the Oversight Committee.
Also, whereas last year the committee spared senators — who are governed by their chamber’s ethics panel — this year they will be part of Issa’s probe. Issa’s aides would not say they’ll shield senators who might surface in the probe — last year they said they’d hand documents over to the Senate ethics committee — although they don’t have the authority to punish them.

Two words: Chris Dodd. In 2009, when I was covering the “IG-Gate” story — the pattern of Obama administration pressure against inspectors general — the reluctance of the Democratic majority to conduct serious oversight investigations was obvious:

Behind closed doors on Capitol Hill last week, I asked a Republican source about the investigative efforts of Democratic staffers for the House Oversight Committee.
“Honestly?” the source said. “They’re useless.” . . .
Despite the “grave concerns” expressed by Towns and Issa three weeks ago [about the unexpected retirement of the Amtrak IG], however, Republican sources on Capitol Hill have complained that Democratic staffers on the Oversight Committee have not shown much zeal for the investigation. Sources say Democratic staffers have skipped meetings and conference calls to which they were invited by GOP investigators, who are attempting to work with Grassley’s staff in order to prevent unnecessary duplication of efforts. Sharing documents and scheduling interviews with witnesses, allowing Republican and Democratic investigators from both chambers an opportunity to question these witnesses, is a demanding logistical task. And GOP staffers complain that this task seems to be lacking in terms of bipartisanship.

Now with the GOP in the majority, Issa has a much larger investigative staff and, most importantly, wields subpoena power and the chairman’s authority to schedule public hearings. This is going to be the “action” committee to keep an eye on in coming months. Continue reading Darrell Issa: Unintimidated →

Surprise: Supporters of Most ‘Transparent’ Administration Launch Smear Campaign Against GOP Congessman Investigating Most ‘Transparent’ Administration

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Because they’re all about the transparency!

Democrats are understandably obsessed with Darrell Issa — he’s built himself up as a one-man investigative machine aimed straight at the Obama presidency.
But a handful of liberal political operatives . . . are taking their anti-Issa passion to a whole new level, launching a nonprofit group, a website and even paid media advertisements aimed at undermining and investigating the rabble-rousing chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
They say they’re leaving no stone unturned in digging into Issa’s personal and business history. . . .
The purpose of this new group is to . . . make life difficult for Issa and sow seeds of doubt on his investigations.
They plan to run TV advertisements and other paid media in the future, saying they already have a “significant commitment” of cash. . . .
The group will be run by the principals of SCN Strategies, a San Francisco-based consulting firm. . . . One of those deeply involved is Averell “Ace” Smith — who ran Hillary Clinton’s successful 2008 California and Texas primary operations and is known as one of the more cutthroat political operatives in the business.
Dan Newman of SCN Strategies, one of the three people leading the anti-Issa campaign, declines to disclose how much is being spent on the effort or who is bankrolling it . . .

If it weren’t for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all.

ARIZONA OUTRAGE: Rep. Giffords Shot in Tucson; U.S. Judge Killed; Gunman Identified as Jared Loughner, 22

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UPDATE 5:05 p.m. ET: According to CBS News, Jared Loughner, 22, reportedly used a semi-automatic pistol with an extra-large ammo clip in the attack that critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), killed at least five others — including a 9-year-old girl, a federal judge and one of Giffords’ aides — and wounded several more people.

Information about Loughner is sketchy. It appears he has had at least one previous run-in with law enforcement. What appear to be messages Loughner left online suggest he was suffering from mental illness. Da Tech Guy has scheduled an extra hour of his radio show tonight to discuss this bloody tragedy.

UPDATE 5:25 p.m. ET: It has been confirmed that U.S. Judge John Roll was killed at the scene.

UPDATE 8:35 p.m.: Arizona Shooter “Seems to Be Someone Desperately Needing Mental Health Care.” According to various reports, Loughner had a criminal history and had attempted to enlist in the Army but was rejected.

I’ll be on Da Tech Guy’s radio show tonight to talk about this sad incident. You can listen live at the WCRN Web site.

Please note that the updates below are not all in chronological sequence. I’m trying to post new information in order of importance.

UPDATE 6:05 p.m. ET: Warner Todd Huston has transcribed the demented gibberish in the online videos posted by Jared Lee Loughner.

Beyond the general incoherence, the evidence of mental illness in the video text includes psychological projection: While Loughner commits numerous errors of vocabulary and syntax (e.g., “conscience dreaming” instead of “conscious dreaming”) he nonetheless denounces the “majority of people” who “are illiterate.” This suggests grandiosity and scapegoating, both symptomatic of paranoia.

I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it turns out that Loughner had previously been treated for mental illness.

UPDATE 5:15 p.m. ET: Donald Douglas at American Power has a round-up on the shooting, including attempts by “progressive” bloggers to blame Sarah Palin.

Linked by Bob Belvedere at the Camp of the Saints — thanks!

UPDATE 4:10 p.m. ET: The Associated Press names the suspect apprehended in the shooting as Jared Laughner.

UPDATE 4:42 p.m. ET: Commenters below have linked to the YouTube channel of someone named Jared Loughner, who in recent weeks had posted weird videos with semi-literate text about “conscience dreaming” and “new currency.”

If this “Loughner” is the gunman in custody, it appears that he is mentally ill. This is eerily similar to Pentagon gunman J. Patrick Bedell. See my March post at the Hot Air Green Room, “Whatever Happened to Crazy?”

UPDATE 4:55 p.m. ET: Ben Smith of Politico uses the term “anti-government political views” to describe the content of these YouTube videos, but “incoherent” and “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” might be a more accurate characterization:

“You don’t have to accept hte federalist laws,” the video [by Loughner] says; it also insists on the gold and silver standard, talks of revolution, and suggests that the government is imposing “mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar.”
His linked MySpace page, no longer available, included statements about the gold standard and about SWAT teams paying for their equipment with illegal currency.
Among his long list of favorite books in his YouTube profile are Mein Kampf, The Communist Manifesto, Siddhartha.

As I would note also in reference to the Pentagon shooter Bedell, the “political” beliefs of the mentally ill are difficult to categorize ideologically. “Crazy” is not an ideology. When somebody starts babbling word-salad stuff about “mind control,” etc., the problem is not politics. The problem is that somebody forgot to take their meds.

UPDATE 4:20 p.m. ET: A federal judge and a 9-year-old girl are reportedly among those killed in this incident. Medical authorities have said they are “optimistic” about Giffords’ survival.

Left Coast Rebel, VodkaPundit and Weasel Zippers are all blogging about this senseless tragedy. Instapundit is also aggregating. Via Memeorandum, we see that “progressive” blogger TBogg says “f*** it, I’m going there” to blame Sarah Palin.

UPDATE 4:02 p.m. ET: Troubling news that there may have been more than one gunman. Fox News reports:

Initial reports said that Giffords had died but a hospital spokesman and three House sources told Fox News that she remained alive in a nearby hospital where she was undergoing surgery.
At least 19 people were shot at Gifford’s “Your Corner” event held outside a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, including three members of the Democratic congresswoman’s staff in Arizona. Five have died and nine are in critical condition at the University of Arizona Medical Center.
A suspect is in custody. Authorities are looking for a possible second suspect.

But that’s just a “possible” suspect. These early reports are bound to be confusing. For one guy to shoot 19 people would probably require that he have at least two weapons or else an extra-large clip. Will clarify as further news becomes available.

UPDATE 3:46 p.m. ET: Interestingly, Giffords was one of the Democrats who didn’t vote for Nancy Pelosi as minority leader Wednesday. She voted for Rep. John Lewis, Georgia Democrat and civil-rights hero. Giffords was barely re-elected in the 8th District, edging Republican Jesse Kelly by less than 4,000 votes, and only won by campaigning well to the right of the Democratic leadership on immigration and other issues.

UPDATE 3:10 p.m. ET: Contradicting earlier reports that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was dead, the Washington Post now reports that the Arizona Democrat is in surgery and reportedly in critical condition. The number of others wounded or killed is also in dispute. Still no word on the identity of the gunman or his motive.

UPDATE 3:25 p.m. ET: As noted below, some are attempting to theorize a political motive in the absence of any actual knowledge. Given that we don’t even know at this point how many people were shot, or whether they’re dead or alive, it is irresponsible in the extreme to speculate about a motive.

The Anchoress writes: “It’s kind of disgusting when you hear someone is shot and the first thing you do is try to figure out how to fit the terrible news to your political worldview.” Da Tech Guy recalls the Bill Sparkman fiasco.

Linked by the Lonely Conservative — thanks! I’ve also been on the phone with Da Tech Guy, whose show tonight on WCRN 830 AM will obviously now have to include discussion of this horrible crime. 

PREVIOUSLY: Democrat Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was among seven people fatally shot at an event in the parking lot of a grocery store. The gunman, described as being in his late teens or early 20s, is in custody.

Ed Morrissey has been aggregating the story for more than an hour.

UPDATE: According to the New York Times, Giffords’ spokesman said she was “shot point blank in the head.” The total number of people reportedly killed or injured is 12.

No word yet on a motive, but . . . point-blank in the head? The word for that is “assassination.”

UPDATE II: Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post notes that some Daily Kos commenters appear to be trying to blame this on . . . wait for it . . . Sarah Palin.

UPDATE III: Regardless of who perpetrated this outrage or why, it’s terribly harmful to the political process.

While I was on Capitol Hill for swearing-in events Wednesday, I saw Democrat Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ-7) walk past on the sidewalk. He was walking alone, with no aides or anybody else with him. I said hello, smiled and waved. 

Every regular reader here knows how enthusiastically I covered Republican Ruth McClung’s challenge to Grijalva in the election. But it’s just politics, people!

No matter how intense the debate or how serious the issues, no one ought to fear for their safety merely because they become involved in the political process, either as an elected official or any other capacity.