-
A Lebanese Charm Offensive
January 12, 2013 | 12 comments
-
Softness at the NSC
November 26, 2012 | 20 comments
-
Anti-Business as Usual
June 20, 2011 | 62 comments
-
National Public Internet
June 14, 2011 | 31 comments
-
This Property Is Condemned
June 13, 2011 | 25 comments
Washington Prowler
Who’s Afraid of Darrell Issa?
Media Matters’ reliable lounge Lizza come through. Also: White House political reactions to Tucson.
LOUNGE LIZZA
If
imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Media Matters
must be just blushing, based on the recent profile of House
Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa in the New
Yorker by its Washington correspondent Ryan
Lizza. After all, it appears Lizza took virtually the
entire Media Matters opposition
research file it had been pushing for months and
published it under his own name.
Media Matters’ “research” of its political opponents is largely financed by leftist George Soros, and Issa has been an ongoing target for the organization, in part, because it believes Issa and his committee may begin to examine the relationships between left-wing political groups like Media Matters, MoveOn.org, Free Press, and Public Knowledge, among others, and the Obama Administration and its political fundraisers.
“If you look at the timing of many of Media Matters’ attacks with the agenda of the White House and the Obama Administration and the then-leadership of Nancy Pelosi, you see that there is coordination there,” says an Oversight Committee staffer. “It’s not surprising that the chairman is now Enemy No. 1 for the Obama shills in Washington.”
Media Matters had been pushing attacks against Issa for months with little to no success. In fact, as months went by and Issa, then ranking Republican on the committee, upped his attacks on the unethical behavior inside the Obama Administration, and its attempts to do through the regulatory process what it could not achieve legislatively, Media Matters actually railed against its friends in the media for not picking up its Issa sliming efforts.
Now it appears Media Matters has found its best outlet for its dirty work, a sleepy little weekly magazine out of New York.
POLITICAL LOCK AND LOAD
For more than a week, the White House, several political
appointees inside the Department of Justice, and former Obama
campaign staffers associated with Organizing for America have been
coordinating on how President Barack
Obama’s administration can capitalize on the
Tucson shooting tragedy and the attack on Rep. Gabrielle
Giffords (D-Ariz.).
According to a White House source, conference calls on how to message and politicize the attack began late in the evening Washington time the day of the shooting. “Of course we weren’t going to let this thing go,” says a White House staffer. “Republicans are incapable of capitalizing on these kinds of events because the policy positions for many of them on things like guns tend to make them defensive. From the very beginning we sought to tie the nutjob in Tucson to the tea partiers.”
Another White House aide, reading materials supplied by the Department of Justice, cautioned against building an anti-tea party and anti-Republican campaign around the shooter, Jared Loughner. “You looked over the materials, and it was clear he wasn’t a tea party guy or even a Republican. I just didn’t see the upside, especially if the follow up stories made clear he wasn’t who we were pushing friends in the media to portray.”
But that didn’t stop friends of the White House from doing its bidding, including pressing reporters to use Loughner’s middle name, Lee, in press accounts.
“Every famous assassin has a middle name and the fact that his was ‘Lee’ made it all the better,” says a former Obama 2008 campaign media consultant. “It isn’t like we had to work hard on this one.”
Other Obama Administration attempts to pump up the Loughner story included spreading misinformation initially reported in several national media outlets that the troubled young man might be a zealous pro-life advocate or was angry at Democrats’ blocking of Obamacare repeal.
Last week’s “Together We Thrive” memorial service in Tucson, where the President’s remarks were greeted with enthusiastic cheering and applause, mirroring the politically disastrous 2002 memorial service for Sen. Paul Wellstone, was seeded with attendees drawn from volunteers and friends of Arizona’s Organizing for America operation, the former Obama grassroots organization that is now managed by the Democratic National Committee.
Now, the White House is attempting to devise a media plan should Giffords’ husband, Mark Kelly, fulfill his responsibilities as commander of April’s Endeavour mission.
“This is the kind of opportunity every administration looks to take advantage of, not just us,” says the White House staffer. “It’s nothing different than what the Bush Administration tried to do with 9-11.”
Letter to the Editor View all comments (34) | Leave a comment
More Articles by The Prowler
More Articles From Washington Prowler
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/01/18/whos-afraid-of-darrell-issa
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
The Spectacle Blog
Democrat Dan Maffei Blames Budget Cuts for Girl’s Rape, Mother’s Murder
Robert Stacy McCain | 6.18.13
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.18.11 @ 6:19AM
With technology these types of plans can be put together in minutes and implemented by the state run media off the cutt and apparently that's precisely what occurred.
However, the internet has arisen as a counter prevailing source to the big lie.
It's known now that Laughner thought Bush staged 911 and that Laughner had many other left leaning tendencies.
It's beginning to look like whoever thought up that strategy will soon see it backfire in their face and the public has received another vital and valuable lesson in truth manipulation.
The by product of all this is more cynicism by the public and cynicism has backfired on Obama already as a cynical public ousted his acolytes in the House of Representatives.
Hello Kitty| 1.18.11 @ 10:34AM
My name is Hello Kitty,
and I am here to ask you
to please be kind to any trolls
who post here today.
Pretty please?
freeta goodholm| 1.18.11 @ 11:35AM
Why?
ML| 1.18.11 @ 6:51AM
Darrell Issa is against Israel. Who cares what they wrote about him.
Clint| 1.18.11 @ 8:44AM
Conservative Republican Representative 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.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.18.11 @ 8:53AM
Hi ML
I had not heard that about him. Please fill me in.
I do know he is only one of 435 Reps. and chairs only the oversight committee. Those opportunities to clean up the bureaucracies should keep him very busy and out of Israel's hair.
East Texas Rancher| 1.18.11 @ 7:58AM
Within the first hour after the event, I heard and read in two different places that it was thought the shooter was a veteran of the Iraqi war. Only later do we find out that the only war Veteran was the amazing Doctor, a neurologist, whose experience with head trauma wounds during the war, was the veteran. The MSM never changes. Always the first take on any incident is to blame either the right or veterans. Shame is not in their vocabulary.
E. Texas Rancher
John - TMF| 1.18.11 @ 9:13AM
Who is afraid of Darrell Issa? No one
What will come of all of his hearings? Nothing the MSM/DNC will ignore him on the substance, run re-runs of the McCarthy hearings and the "Crucible" if he gets close, and ridicule him into irrelevance...
Not enough people will care because they won't see anything except the jokes from Jon Stewart and David Letterman.
And just like all of the other abuses... the Inspector General firing, Black Panther dismissal, etc... it will all go down the rabbit hole.
r/The Mighty Fahvaag
KennesawJack| 1.18.11 @ 8:37PM
No rabbit hole this time. There's too much there and Issa is going to expose it. The fun part is going to be watching the MSM go apoplectic on a daily basis.
YeloStalyn| 1.18.11 @ 9:33AM
Unfortunately... ditto.
MaryKayB| 1.18.11 @ 10:40AM
More and more people are seeing through the rhetoric and becoming tired of it. The behaviors are so childish. Rep. Issa needs to be supported and the abuses exposed.
irish19| 1.18.11 @ 10:47AM
I think that you are right, and the people are getting mightily tired of business as usual. I think Issa will get more than lip service support, especially from the freshman Republican reps and senators. Hopefully, he will be able to parlay this into some results.
Chris in Va| 1.18.11 @ 11:55AM
Unfortunately, the observation below is true, however unseemly the left's reaction to Tucson.
"This is the kind of opportunity every administration looks to take advantage of, not just us," says the White House staffer. "It's nothing different than what the Bush Administration tried to do with 9-11."
One need only look at the youtube of the gop 2004 convention and the hundreds of invocations of fear-triggers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcz4_JL5b7c
Yosemeti Sam| 1.18.11 @ 12:03PM
" Who's Afraid of Darrell Issa?...."
Why reptiles of course!
If Boehner is not the Mongoose we've been waiting for then Issa surely may be.
335blues| 1.18.11 @ 12:47PM
Note to Darrell Issa: the closer you get to the truth, the louder they will squeal. Stiffen your resolve and charge on! It is obvious now that media matters is in fact a marxist front group funded and staffed entirely by committed marxists like soros whose intention is to finish obama's stated goal of 'fundamental transformation of America' to a marxist state. Issa and the republicans in congress know he will be attacked continuously by whatever attack dogs soros can muster. Fortunately, nobody reads the new yorker anyway because it is well known that it isn't worth the paper it is printed on and would probably be out of business except for funding from marxists like soros.
Floyd Looney| 1.18.11 @ 12:49PM
does anyone else notice how HUGE the bottom article is if its true?? why is this buried?
Radegunda| 1.18.11 @ 1:08PM
Chris in Va,
That was three years after 9/11 -- meaning almost three years after Democrats began politicizing national security by alleging that the Bush admin. had prior knowledge of 9/11 or even orchestrated it, and then claiming that the Iraq war was "built on lies" (thus, in effect, accusing many Democrats of lying about Saddam).
The Bush administration responded to 9/11 as an attack on all of America by foreign-born terrorists. Democrats soon found it expedient to allege that Bush was fabricating the terrorist threat.
After the Tucson event, Democrats IMMEDIATELY concocted an "evil right wing" narrative to bludgeon their political opponents. That is not remotely similar to what Bush did after 9/11.
Oldefarte| 1.18.11 @ 1:24PM
Hopefully, the left will have much to fear from Rep. Issa, as there should be a ton of evidence/records which he/they can now access upon which to possibly bring criminal/regulatory charges. The governmental actions within the last two years from this domestic terrorist administration is simply deplorable!!!!!!!
hopeful| 1.18.11 @ 2:22PM
I hope there are no car accidents in Issa's future. I'd be looking under my car and in my back seat until these investigations wrap up if I were him.
Osamas Pajamas| 1.18.11 @ 3:27PM
Reminds me of Andrei Amalrik getting out of the Soviet Union decades ago and writing the little book, "Will The Soviet Union Survive Until 1984?" and then his car mysteriously goes blooey and he dies in it.
Doug| 1.18.11 @ 9:07PM
I believe Amalrik died in an accident while driving over the Pyrenees, when his car met a large truck coming in the opposite direction. The story I heard is that some loose lumber shot forward from the truck, crashed though Amalrik's windshield and killed him instantly.
At least, that's what I was told. . . .
Osamas Pajamas| 1.18.11 @ 3:32PM
Suggested headline --- INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS! BLOODSXCKING DEMOCRATS SXCK THE BLOOD OF THE TUCSON MASSACRE DEAD AND INJURED FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES!
Some skunks praise OhBummer for his speech at the Tucson shooting memorial pep rally --- but his cat's paws in the Democrat-captured media were already doing the dirty work for him and asserting that right-wing freedom of speech and privately-owned arms for self-defense were the cause of the Tucson massacre. OhBummer is still a criminal and so are his supporters.
Impeach Don't Wait| 1.18.11 @ 9:22PM
Yes, and the conservatives are supposed to "tone down the rhetoric" and "be more civil" (translated: we won't stand for your criticism and will swiftly label it as "vitriol".) And by the way, control your grassroots. After all, the President is doing all he can to be nice.
Sheesh...
GKPAL| 1.18.11 @ 5:36PM
Rep Issa is someone with guts and he needs our support. I would be careful, though, not to overreach. Let's investigate those that are acting for the political benefit of the democrats and the left at the expense of the American people. On top of the list should be Obama's DOJ, Obama's czars, and who Obama bribed to get where he is.
This regime is so corrupt that Rep. Issa should be able to uncover things that will shock the American people. The MSM is not as powerful as it once was, thanks to the Internet as it was demonstrated last November. So pay no attention what it says. It is an organ of the Democratic party and just as corrupt.
idalily| 1.19.11 @ 3:14PM
Just as long as he has more to show at the end of the day than a dress with stains on it. Even though Clinton was impeached, that was a hollow victory, because we lost political ground big time. Issa better not make the same mistake.
matthew s harrison| 1.18.11 @ 5:53PM
I think the right should be capitalizing on Giffords husband, who is out of a job as an astronaut, because barry is spending NASA money helping the freaking saudis make rockets, by sending hundreds of millions to the freaking PLO, and helping george soros' banks and oil companies stay in business(see PetroBras and IndyMac). this is a win/win for the right, but apparently our leadership is either too timid to "take advantage of the crisis" or just too smart/stupid for their own good(you choose which).
We could have won this whole issue in about 10 seconds if we researched this kid as ravenously as the left did-and if we pushed the fact that the sheriff let this kid go each time he was arrested as a favor to his mother who is a county employee-and a high ranking one at that. This was an opportunity to call out the lefty parents who let their loony kid run wild, smoke dope, and who obviously purchased a 9 for him, also his lefty tendencies like 911 truthism, burning an American flag, etc.
Just a huge loss-yet again, for the party of the timid.
Time to take back our country-and to do so, it is going to get a bit messy-so man up RNC and other PAC's and start on the offensive-please, before we are dodging goose stepping, jack-boot wearing storm troopers with brown shirts and mausers! PLEASE!
Tina B| 1.18.11 @ 6:34PM
Well, matthew s. Tell us how you really feel.
I must say I often feel as you do. And as a daughter of a former engineer for the Apollo program, and a firm believer in the Space Program and the resulting technology, not to mention national pride, I agree that this is a good argument. Pity I haven't read it anywhere else. Thanks for mentioning it.
I reside in Central Florida and vacation at Port Canaveral, home of the Space Industry, and a wonderful spot for R 'n R while inexpensive enough for a teacher's salary. The locals are getting very nervous. They are a warm and proud people and have served the staff of the Kennedy Space Center (for over 60) years very well. Many of the local area businesses have already lost big money and are struggling to stay afloat. Thanks to BHO they are very concerned about the future as well.
Now an astronaut may have made a great spokesperson, but conservatives just don't play the way liberals do. I know that this is your point. We must play dirty back. But using the husband of a critically injured victim (or his current profession) to fight our political battles at this time, is just playing too dirty IMO. And would show no class. And we will fight, but with class, and not that dirty.
At least not yet. Just for your consideration.
Nite| 1.18.11 @ 10:43PM
Issa has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. He is wealthy and a tough old bird. He does not scare easily. I would imagine that things the Dems would prefer to stay hidden, will certainly be front and center.
gaetano| 2.28.11 @ 6:02AM
With all the corruption in the DNC in the last4 years, that Obama has been involved in, Issa is having a ball writing subpoenas so fast he can`t keep up. You can bet that he is surly going to hit a home run on several of the cases. The DNC will never keep up with all of them, and will for sure contradict themselves and be nailed to the wall.I also believe the SCOTUS will also be in trouble.There is just to much unconstitutional moves that the DNC has made and someone will be caught.
Adidas | 8.11.11 @ 5:28AM
is good
العاب بنات | 4.11.12 @ 2:29PM
thank you .... nic