Election 2012: Turning Out the Traitorous Teabaggers - Darrell Issa and Allen West

by Sunnyjane

There are a lot of things in this world that I don’t understand.   I cannot fathom the technology that allows me to send an email half-way around the world and get an almost immediate response.   I cannot comprehend why dogs eat poop – their own or anyone else’s. (Fact: there are no gourmands in the canine world).   And I haven’t figured out why, when I carefully regulate the hot and cold faucets, the minute I turn on the shower I first get treated to a blast of frigid water.  

But these are not the issues that keep me awake at night.  No, what makes me ponder restlessly is how in the name of all that I hold dear can Republican voters elect some of the stupidest, nastiest, most incompetent  and most ignorant hypocrites in the United States of America.  Writing about the crazies in the 112^th Congress is beginning to feel like describing someone's demented old Uncle Charlie’s latest kookiness.  The only difference is that all the "Uncle Charlies" in America are not assembled in one place with a morally corrupt, all-for-the-Rich-and-the-Right agenda to destroy the country. 


It has become apparent to this writer that, even collectively, the über-conservative congress cannot surpass the intellectual competence and moral integrity of Play-Doh.  Perhaps that’s unfair, because unlike today's representative body, Play-Doh actually performs its tasks, however limited, with a modicum of honesty.

Two Twisted Troglodytes*


*Troglodyte: a prehistoric cave dweller; a person of degraded, primitive, or brutal character.

The wealthiest person on Capitol Hill today, Congressman Darrell Issa of California is the proud possessor what can only be called a checkered past consisting of car thefts, likely insurance fraud, an unverifiable  military record, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, etc. In addition, Rep. Issa has racked up a reprehensible history in the House, at one time calling the horrific events of 9/11 "that plane crash."  These less-than-noble activities, in the GOP leadership’s opinion, gave him the perfect credentials to be named as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee after the Tea Party gained control of the House in 2010.  The assignment, of course, was merely a thinly disguised mission to "get Obama" and make sure he was a one-term president.  


Issa's first target was an unwise choice: the First Lady.  I guess I missed the section of the Constitution that spells out  the historic role of the first lady, but Darrell Issa wants to “protect” it by limiting any First Lady’s role in her husband's administration.  Let’s see now: Issa has been in the House through Mrs. Laura Bush’s entire time as First Lady.   Did anyone see this recommendation proposed during her tenure?   No, I thought not.  This obviously was his transparent effort to make Michelle Obama quiver and quake in her stylish shoes, and stick meekly to the role of "White House hostess" circa the mid-eighteen hundreds.   However, Mrs. Obama became, and remains, a very popular First Lady who carries out her worthy causes with vigor, dedication, class, aplomb, and dignity.   So, how'd that "muffle Michelle" thingy work out for ya there, Darrell?

There have been criticisms and controversies  for "Mr. Chairman" during his first twelve months, but his most egregiously offensive act to date (I'm sure there will be more before November 6) was his decision to call a hearing on the birth control issue in this country. When the....ahem...astute panel of experts, or witnesses, or whatever you want to call them, showed up, they were all men.   So much has been written on this badly performed charade and the subsequent shitstorm firestorm that ensued, that there is little need to rehash it here.   I will leave the subject with Nancy Pelosi's excellent perspective on the farce:  “Where are the women on that panel?  Imagine, they are having a panel on women's health and they don't have any women on the panel.  Duh.”

Rep. Allen West serves his Florida constituents as an arrogant, spiteful, ever-ranting Tea Party star, with a side order of paranoia, please.  (He once thought the television network Al Jazeera English was trying to kidnap him on behalf of Muslim terrorists.  It wasn't.  Snicker) 

West spent twenty years in the military, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  He may well have remained in the service had it not been for a wee incident concerning the severe beating of an Iraqi civilian police officer.

The condensed version of this story:

• An "Intelligence specialist" told West about a plot to ambush him and his men.
• Said plot involved the aforementioned police officer, Mr. Yahya Jhodri Hamoodi.
• Mr. Hamoodi was "detained" by West's men and beaten; West fired a gun next to Hamoodi's head, after which, out of fear for his life, the detainee gave his captors meaningless information. (It is important to note the obvious:  West was not a trained interrogator, nor had he ever witnessed or conducted an interrogation.)  
• No plans for an attack and no weapons were ever found.
• West was charged with assault, fined $5,000, and shortly thereafter resigned from the military with an Honorable Discharge.
• West's comment on the incident: At the time I had to base my decision on the intelligence I received.   It's possible that I was wrong about Mr. Hamoodi.

The tidy sum of $5,000 seems to follow in Allen West's wake.  The IRS put several liens on his home and a judge ordered him to pay the amount of $5K in unpaid credit card bills.

And after he got to Washington, West was able to put his military experience to work in what has become Battleground Washington: If you ain't with us, you're a'gin us.   He once got all hot and bothered with DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (they seem to have a history), ultimately sending her a personal email in which he called her vile, unprofessional, and despicable, a coward, characterless, not a Lady, and demanding that she shut the heck up.   Lovely talk...sir.

There are many other instances regarding Mr. West's unseemly behavior, but I'll end our visit into his twisted mentality with a January verbal barrage at a dinner in Florida:  We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table. Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America.  (This attack on Harry Reid inspired Jim Manley, Reid's former spokesman, to tweet:  Me to Allen West: you first, asshole.)

After this rabble-rousing rhetoric caused something of an uproar in DC, West tried to walk it back by lying, claiming indignantly, I did not refer to any person leaving.  Oh, Mr. West, will you and your fellow idiots continue to forget that audio and video equipment record our every word these days?

But, please, let us all remember that Allen West, at this point only a half-term congressman who carries around much personal and professional baggage, has been endorsed (cough, cough) by none other than failed VP candidate and Quitter Half-Term Governor Sarah Palin.  Certainly, that's a good enough reason to send him back to Florida -- for good!

END NOTE  


All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. Thomas Jefferson.