Issa: Obama Punishes a Whistleblower
Ben Johnson, FloydReports.com
Congressman Darrell Issa has written a scathing five-page letter to the Department of Homeland Security stating it demoted an employee who blew the whistle on the department’s illegal stonewalling of Obama’s political foes. Issa, who is the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote to Janet Napolitano that the action had the appearance of “retaliation” and that “Obstructing a congressional investigation is a crime.”
Issa states that Catherine Papoi, who was DHS deputy unit chief in charge of the Freedom of Information Act, was passed over for a promotion and forced to vacate her office the day after she met with investigators.
Ironically, the Associated Press reported the story the same day Barack Obama was set to receive an award for government transparency to kick off “Sunshine Week.” Obama canceled the event.
Last March, Papoi went to the DHS Inspector General to complain of “hundreds” of cases of illegal stonewalling. The IG report has yet to be released a year later. She then turned to Issa.
Papoi said officials are “breaking the law by knowingly and intentionally delaying and obstructing the release of agency records.”
Watergate? So What? Issa Won’t Investigate Sestak Crime
Ben Johnson, FloydReports.com
This weekend, the Republican Congressman responsible for investigating presidential misconduct said that Barack Obama’s decision to offer a position to Joe Sestak as an incentive for him to drop out of a Democratic primary “was a criminal event under the law” — and that he is going to do absolutely, positively nothing about it.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, rang in the new year by making a sweep of Sunday talk shows. While appearing on CNN’s State of the Union program, guest hosted by Ed Henry, he walked back several of his criticisms of Barack Obama.
He began by reneging on his words to Rush Limbaugh. Issa told Rush that Barack Obama “has been one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times.” He now says he meant to say “that this is one of the most corrupt administrations.”
He followed up by saying he will not investigate the Joe Sestak affair. Why? Because Republicans had been guilty of the same crime, too. When Henry asked him about an e-mail in which he called the event “Obama’s Watergate,” Issa responded….
Is Obama’s UN Appointment a Sestak-Style Bribe? It Sure Looks Like It….
Kevin “Coach” Collins, CoachIsRight.com
Try as it did, the Obama administration was not able to arrange a primary free path to reelection for Arlen Specter in return for his defection to the Democrat Party in April 2009.
Specter’s return must have been engineered with some degree of certainty that Obama could deliver on his promise. Nevertheless, two Democrats, Congressman Joe Sestak and private citizen Joseph Torsella, announced they would make primary runs against Specter.
Obama got rid of Torsella first. After a “sit down” with his old friend Governor “Fast Eddie” Rendell, the Pennsylvania businessman apparently took a deal.
Sestak, however, would not budge. He refused Obama’s offer stayed in and won the primary against Spector then lost the general election.
What became of Joe Torsella?
Last week after eighteen months we got an answer to the question of: what happened to Joe Torsella? He is Obama’s new nominee to the position of United Nations envoy.
This nomination to United Nations Envoy sure smells like a political payoff. The position is so unimportant it has remained vacant since Obama took office.
Darrell Issa Wants to “Make the President A Success”?
Ben Johnson, FloydReports.com
We were disappointed when incoming Government Reform and Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa seemed to sidle up to Barack Obama by saying there was “not a chance” he would consider investigations that might lead to impeachment, at least “at this point.” Issa channeled Chris Matthews in his most recent pronouncement to reassure his implacable political foes.
On election night, just as House Minority Leader John Boehner finished his tearful victory speech, Issa told reporters on a conference call, “I want to prove the pundits wrong.” As he saw it, he said, “My job is not to bring down the president. My job is to make the president a success.”
No, that is not the job of a watchdog chairman. That is Chris Matthews’ job. Those less slavishly devoted to Obama than the talking head with the tingling leg are more interested in serving their defined roles, uncovering corruption, and making the United States a success.
Calling Off Impeachment is Premature, a Bad Sign of Republican Weakness
Floyd Brown, FloydReports.com
Floyd Brown, Chairman of ImpeachObamaCampaign.com, called Republican Congressman Darrell Issa’s recent comments on Impeachment “premature” and a “bad sign of Republican weakness” in the upcoming Congress.
Brown, who is calling on Congress to Impeach Obama for crimes committed while in office, said it is disappointing for the future chairman of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee to rule out any course of action before he has even begun his investigations.
According to a report by CBS News, Representative Issa said about impeachment on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital” over the weekend, “Not a chance at this point. I don’t see it happening…Look, disagreeing with the president — the president using his authority, maybe even misusing it — that’s not what impeachment’s for,” Issa added. “Do we have disagreements? Yes. Do we want to see that the president strictly adheres to process? Yes.”
But with the facts at hand, Brown clearly points out and makes the case for at least four impeachable offenses Barack Obama committed while president of the United States: “The Obama administration has been mired in controversy and corruption since day one. Bribes were offered to Congressman Joe Sestak and former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff not to run for Senate. This is a felony and clearly an impeachable offense.”
Five Ways the GOP Will Try to Impeach Obama
Simon Dumenco, New York Magazine
GOPers expecting to take the House are already calling for numerous Whitewater-esque investigations into the Obama administration. Meanwhile, according to Public Policy Polling, 35 percent of Republicans would like to see President Obama impeached based solely on “his actions so far.” Which actions, exactly? Well, there’s always something.
1. Sestakgate!
The White House offered Representative Joe Sestak a government gig to get him out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary. The most rabid proponents of digging into the affair: Sean Hannity (“An impeachable offense”), Glenn Beck (“An impeachable offense, a felony”), Dick Morris (“It’s Valerie Plame, only ten times bigger”).
2. Rezkogate!
Senate-era Obama fund-raiser Tony Rezko, a Chicago real-estate developer and convicted felon, was a recurring bête noire in the 2008 presidential campaign….
Issa: GOP Will Hold Obama Accountable “Like Never” Before
John Gizzi, Human Events
Newport Beach, Calif.—Predicting that Republicans will win control of the House next month and that he will then be chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.) vowed that the Obama Administration will be held accountable “like they’ve never been held accountable.”
In discussing the use of investigatory and subpoena power that would come with his chairmanship of the committee, Issa reminded the Western Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday of past Democratic demands for tougher oversight when Republicans held the White House.
He quoted former Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D.-Calif.) as warning that the Bush Administration “can refuse to give us information, but that would be very unfortunate for them.” He also quoted Nancy Pelosi in ’07 as saying the Democratic Congress would be different in that it would be “shedding light and oversight of accountability on this administration.”
Washington Forecast Includes “Impeachment”
Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily
An impeachment is coming for Barack Obama if the Republicans move into the majority in the U.S. House on Nov. 2, but they won’t be able to remove him from the White House.
That’s the forecast from Jonathan Chait at The New Republic, a statement that pushed him in front of a buzz saw of criticism.
“Hear me now and believe me later: If Republicans win and maintain control of the House of Representatives, they are going to impeach President Obama. They won’t do it right away. And they won’t succeed in removing Obama. (You need 67 Senate votes.) But if Obama wins a second term, the House will vote to impeach him before he leaves office,” Chait wrote.
His prediction stirred an immediate furor among nay-sayers who ridiculed it, even though Chait is far from the first to broach the subject.
In the public forum section of Chait’s column, “Ironyroad” wrote, “They’ll buy themselves a race war. People aren’t going to take it lying down, because they’ll know it’s because Obama’s skin tone isn’t to their taste, not because of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Added, “MICRM,” “I’m glad you’ve pout this in print before the fact. This gives any argument about the idiocy of future impeachment proceedings much more credibility down the road, when the Republicans actually carry out the crazy plans you’ve predicted.”
Chait’s explanation for why he believes an impeachment could be forthcoming says the reason itself actually won’t matter.
“Wait, you say. What will they impeach him over? You can always find something. Mini-scandals break out regularly in Washington. Last spring, the political press erupted in a frenzy over the news that the White House had floated a potential job to prospective Senate candidate Joe Sestak. On a scale of one to 100, with one representing presidential jaywalking and 100 representing Watergate, the Sestak job offer probably rated about a 1.5. Yet it was enough that GOP Representative Darrell Issa called the incident an impeachable offense,” Chait wrote.
“As it happens, should Republicans win control of the House, Issa would bring his hair-trigger finger to the chairmanship of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The Sestak pseudo-scandal disappeared because there was no process to drive the story forward. Had Issa been running the Oversight Committee, it would have been the subject of hearings and subpoenas,” he explained.
Chait will have to get in line, however, among those who have predicted – or even called for – much the same end result.
WND reported earlier when Maj. Gen. Jerry Curry, who served in Vietnam and commanded the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground during his long military career, suggested Congress should simply hand Obama an ultimatum.
Click here to sign the petition to impeach Barack Obama.
GOP Will Investigate Obama Crimes After Midterms
Ben Johnson, Floyd Reports
In the past, conservative uprisings have been put out when Republicans came to power. Bill Clinton’s first term — loaded with a broken promise to cut taxes, a tax increase, gays in the military, HillaryCare, Jocelyn Elders, Lani Guinier, Paula Jones, and Whitewater (to name a few scandals) — enraged most of the country. But after Republicans came to power in 1994, the nation simmered down — even when the Republican leadership backed down on Clinton’s well-deserved impeachment.
Politico has a revealing new story that, if Republicans retake Congress after the midterm elections, they intend to investigate a wide variety of Obama’s misdeeds, some of them grounds for impeachment. The story lists a few of the cases under investigation:
Jobgate. The most serious allegations on the list were raised by two Democrats: Joe Sestak and Andrew Romanoff. Both have said the Obama administration offered them jobs or other incentives to drop out of hotly contested U.S. Senate races in Pennsylvania and Colorado, respectively. The White House believed their primary opponents stood a better chance of winning, so they attempted to bribe these two, according to the candidates. If the allegations are true, they likely meet the definition of “impeachable offenses.” Former President Bill Clinton has contradicted the Obama administration’s story on the Sestak offer already. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, has responded to the denials with calls for further investigation.
Bailouts. Republicans want to look into Obama’s endless bailouts. Investigators should pay close attention to the administration’s tactics in taking over General Motors on behalf of Big Labor, a move certainly unconstitutional, as his Chicago-style, backdoor arm-twisting could easily have crossed the line. Despite his promises to have the most transparent administration in history, much of Obama’s dealings remain hidden. As Obama said on the campaign trail, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
The New Black Panthers Case. Politico calls this scandal “microscopic”; readers outside the Beltway know it is anything but. It is perhaps the most explosive issue facing the Obama administration. In addition to letting off a pair of radical activists who threatened Republican voters with clubs, there is the broader allegation raised by J. Christian Adams that Barack Obama and Eric Holder have decided to drop all cases against minorities. That kind of blanket discrimination makes a mockery of the idea of “blind justice” and undermines one of the key pillars of our government.
ACORN. Despite its defunding, ACORN continues its dubious voter registration schemes under another name. In addition to presidential funding, the committee should investigate ACORN’s role in the Obama ’08 campaign to determine the extent of coordination the president had with this often-indicted organization.
The article lists a few other, in some cases local scandals. May I suggest a few more to Rep. Issa, et. al.?
Government Propaganda. Darrell Issa has led the way on the Obama administration’s funding of covert propaganda. His committee drafted a 36-page report of Obama’s potential crimes, many of which your tax dollars finance. He made a compelling case at least some of these cross the line into illegality. Now, let him prosecute it.
Invasion of Privacy. The Fourth Amendment forbids the government from searching Americans without a warrant. However, a recent court case has found the government does not need a warrant to attach a GPS to your car while it is parked in your driveway. Forbes has reported full-body-scanning vans now prowl the streets, as well. Does the administration obtain a warrant to scan (and thus see naked) everyone monitored? If not, does it retain the images of people not covered by warrant? Does it act on information it finds without a warrant?
Politico quotes some Republicans who want to curtail all talk of silly things like upholding the Constitution or following the rule of law. Let’s hope this time any potential investigations are not short-circuited from within.
Will Clinton’s Sestak Denial Re-Open Calls for Impeachment?
Ben Johnson, Floyd Reports
The last impeached president has denied he helped another president commit an impeachable offense.
While stumping for Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania, Bill Clinton denied offering Sestak an unpaid government position as an enticement to suspend his successful primary challenge against Arlen Specter.
Clinton can be seen on a recent video stating three times that he made no such efforts. (See below.) “I didn’t try to get him out of the race,” Clinton said. “In fact, I wasn’t even accused of that.”
The ex-president had previously dodged the question altogether.
His comments contradict a memo the White House released in May to quell Republican charges the Obama administration had bribed Read more
