Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

After roe, women are no longer free.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

We still have time to mess this up!

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Republicans do not pay their debts.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Vive La Resistance / Issa calls for special prosecutor

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83Comments

  3. 3.

    Lex

    What Bill said: He won re-election by the skin of his teeth in a district that should have gone Trump but instead went for Hillary by seven points. He’s feeling mortal, finally, and so he’s going to at least say the right thing. But as always with Congressional Republicans, talk is cheap. Let’s see him vote.

  6. 6.

    geg6

    Well, since the chairs of both the House and Senate intelligence committees are fatally compromised, it would seem that only a special prosecutor and/or independent bipartisan commission can get to the bottom of it all. I won’t be holding my breath.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    I’ve been keeping an eye on coverage of town hall protests, and support for an independent investigation has been a consistent talking point. Good. The bastards are running scared on the ACA, and I want them pissing their pants over the prospect of being linked to Trump’s cover up of his Russia ties. These congressmen are cowardly shits who are only interested in their own political futures. They won’t break with Trump until it’s clear sticking with him will hurt them. Let’s make it hurt.

  8. 8.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: Ol’ car thief was the one who orchestrated the recall of Governor Davis thinking he could win the special election to succeed him. Then the Governator got in the race and Issa had a SAD.

  10. 10.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    My local GOPers aren’t showing up and are hiding behind phone conferences. Even better, they refuse to acknowledge they had no problem when Tea Partiers were doing exactly the same thing back in 2009.

    I can’t decide if it’s worth faxing them, but their discomfort and pathetic spinning is enjoyable.

  11. 11.

    efgoldman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Issa’s pissing his pants cause he’s running in a blue district in CA

    1) Think he’s a-skeert enough to retire?
    2) Do CA’s jungle primary rules (regardless of party) apply to congressional districts, too?

    He’d be quite a scalp. Although everything I’ve seen leads me to believe he’s barely competent to dress himself in the morning.

  12. 12.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @efgoldman:

    1) Think he’s a-skeert enough to retire?

    No.

    2) Do CA’s jungle primary (regardless of party) apply to congressional districts, too?

    Yes.

    ETA: I should note, I’m not a fan of the “jungle primary system”.

  14. 14.

    efgoldman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: So theoretically you could end up with two Dems, as you did in the senatorial election, and the idiot car thief and arsonist looking in from outside. Wouldn’t THAT be loverley.

    ETA: This is pretty much what I expected to happen nationally, as RWNJs look at their re-election prospects (that being the Prime Directive).But I didn’t think it could possibly get going so fast.
    His flying monkey mouth breather constituents will turn on him, I’m sure.

  16. 16.

    MattF

    If Darrellfucking Issa is feeling the heat, then resistance-to-Trump is working better than I’d expected. You can’t get much lower than Rep. Issa. I mean, yeah, there’s Gohmert, but it’s a matter of principle that one should limit observations of this kind to humans.

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    @WereBear:

    Me either.

    I think Trump is being normalized. Even to me. It’s just this huge dark cloud of crap that has taken over my country.

  23. 23.

    efgoldman

    @zhena gogolia:

    I think Trump is being normalized. Even to me.

    I dunno’, Top of the page story this morning, outlining “13 Falsehoods Trump Said at CPAC Yesterday.”
    That’s not “normal.” I don’t ever remember it before, not even Tricksie Dicksie Nixie. And there’s multiple similar articles every day. CBS runs a similar story pretty much every time he runs his mouth.

  25. 25.

    Waldo

    If leading a successful charge to get a special prosecutor appointed helps him keep his seat, I’ll take that deal. The damage a prolonged investigation would do to the rest of the party would be worth it.

  26. 26.

    WereBear

    @zhena gogolia: Well, I don’t see any of it as normal. I WANT all these potentially good things to happen.

    I just can’t jump up at every noise any more. There’s too many of them.

    They are trying to make Trump normal. But that’s not within mortal power. That is one thing we have already accomplished.

  28. 28.

    debbie

    @zhena gogolia:

    Trump will never be normalized, and I’m not sure he wants it. I think part of his narcissism likes his own outrageousness, and he’ll just keep doing whatever he needs to do to maintain that image as an outsider.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @efgoldman: That’s what I see. I do fear a problem where Republicans and their voters just refuse to accept reality at all, but that is a story that has been building since Reagan. Trump is just peak anti-reality. Or so I hope….

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    @Waldo: That’s a fair trade-off, but from what I’ve observed over the years, it usually doesn’t shake out that way. I’m thinking of blue dogs who ran away from the ACA and lost their seats anyway. I understand their rationale, but it seems that breaking with one’s party rarely works.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    @zhena gogolia:

    Trump’s “honeymoon” will last six months, and then things will get really bad for him. This is the best he’ll ever have it, believe it or not.

    Trump also benefits from a good economy he inherited, and he really hasn’t actually done much yet outside of immigration.

    Everyone thought the first Bush was a shoe in for reelection after the first gulf war. Four years is a long time. Much will happen.

  36. 36.

    Martha

    @Baud: Yes, and I think one economic issue will start killing him in about two months–one no one even foresaw, The precipitous drop in international tourism that is just being reported. It, combined with a drop in international business travel, will hit the economy from a direction none of the “brilliant” Wall Street prognosticators foresaw. The jobs related to tourism…millions. If I were Disney, the hotels, and airlines that relied on international visitors, I’d be terrified.

  37. 37.

    MomSense

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think Nancy Smash gave a pass to the blue dogs who had even a slight chance to win the midterm but many of them were never going to survive a midterm election even without the ACA vote. If you look at the vote tallies you can see it. Hoyer is a master whip.

  38. 38.

    Honus

    @Baud: GHW Bush won the gulf war, and had a 90% approval rating a little over a year before losing to Clinton. Democratic heavyweights like Jay Rockefeller didnt run because the election seemed a foregone conclusion, leaving the field open for relative unknown from Arkansas to run as what was widely considered a scacrificial lamb. Didn’t take anywhere near four years for his popularity to fade. Of course we’ve had another 25 years of erosion of presidential behavior norms since then.

  39. 39.

    Spanky

    @WereBear:

    And what kind of special prosecutor would we get from Issa? Louie Gohmert (who, believe it or not, has a law degree.)

    Depends on who has final say on who the SP should be. And by “final” I mean Vladimir Putin.

  40. 40.

    geg6

    @zhena gogolia:

    I do not agree. Even the only nominal Republican in my department is appalled by pretty much everything that has happened in the last month. She is a low info Repuke, but she’s paying attention now and isn’t happy with what she’s seeing.

  42. 42.

    WereBear

    @geg6: She is a low info Repuke, but she’s paying attention now and isn’t happy with what she’s seeing.

    Not only that, the vast, non-voting, Mobs of Meh are getting a taste of what happens when you take your eyes off the road…

  44. 44.

    zhena gogolia

    This morning I was thinking about how the election happened. Hillary was an old rerun, they wanted a new, exciting show. They just didn’t think it could ever affect their own lives — they just wanted something more entertaining.* They didn’t think about the consequences of handing unlimited power to him and this Congress. And now they’re screwed.

    *Talking here about those who aren’t in the basket of deplorables.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Democrats at War? Let’s Compare and Contrast 2009 and 2017.

    Republicans publicly spurned Obama’s attempts to compromise. They voted against the stimulus bill unanimously in the House and nearly unanimously in the Senate. They launched the era of the routine filibuster on everything. They embraced the tea party within a month of Obama taking office.

    In other words, it was all pretty obvious. And yet, coverage at the time tended to refer vaguely to a “breakdown in bipartisanship.” Perhaps Democrats were pushing too hard? Maybe they were unwilling to compromise? Surely Republicans were sincere about their opposition to increasing the deficit?

    So why the difference this time? Democratic activists have been pretty vocal about what they want, but then again, by this time in 2009 the tea party had already gotten its start. They were pretty vocal too.

    My guess: as always, Republicans are given a pass for their ultra-conservative views, which might be a little crazy, but are still presumed to be deeply rooted and genuine. Democrats, conversely, are generally thought craven if they “give in” to their base. Democrats tend to be a bit wonkier and more policy driven than Republicans, and as a result reporters generally don’t believe that they’re truly passionate about their principles. The very fact that they’re more willing to compromise proves this. So when they oppose Trump, they’ve “conceded” to their base; they’re “mimicking” the Republican strategy; they’re “quietly worried” that their base expects too much; they “still hope for compromise”; and “protesters are leading the politicians.” In other words, it’s pretty calculated, not at all like those Republicans with their deeply ingrained family values and distrust of government.

    Blecch. Can you tell I’m annoyed?

    -Kevin Drum

  47. 47.

    skerry

    Idiot

    Donald J. Trump Verified account ‏@realDonaldTrump
    The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo.
    7:19 AM – 25 Feb 2017

  52. 52.

    Starfish

    I am going to take a moment to talk about the Bernie Bro that I know who switched to supporting Trump. He was defending journalists being kicked out of the press conference because that one time candidate Obama was about to kick Fox News out.

  53. 53.

    Another Scott

    @Waldo: Seeing Issa call for a special prosecutor is good news, but it’s just a reasonable “do your job” kind of statement. I don’t think Issa should somehow be rewarded for it, in a sane world.

    Issa is often at the top of lists of “richest people in Congress”. Presumably if he wants to spend enough of his own money, and spend it smartly, it would be very difficult to defeat him. But, also, it’s been clear for a while that he wants to move up in the political world. He might see the writing on the wall if Applegate emerges stronger for 2018, and decide he’d have a better chance in a state-wide race. I dunno.

    What I really want to see is state and national GOP candidates and elected officials start to feel so much pressure that they have to switch parties to have any chance of winning. That’s when we’ll know that the tide has really turned.

    We have to fight them every single day…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  54. 54.

    Ohio Mom

    @debbie: Ah, memories. I remember being in elementary school and wanting, then adoring, my troll doll so bad.

    The troll’s face at your link is a remarkable likeness, and the mash-up of troll-Trump hair is cute.

    But buy it and have to hold it, even if only to lay it down in the driveway to drive over it in a modern day variation of voodoo? No, the idea of touching even a symbolic Trump creeps me out.

  56. 56.

    Elizabelle

    @Starfish: Just walk away.

    I think we need to make Fox News toxic. They paved the way for today’s know-nothings. It was a decades long effort that brought us Trump. They radicalized conservatives and poison civil discourse. They’re making this country ungovernable, through planted ignorance.

    Don’t group them among actual news sources. They belong with InfoWars and Breitbart.

  58. 58.

    different-church-lady

    …to exonerate him, of course. I mean, having a special procecutor dig really really deep but find nothing is the only way people are going to accept the fact* that Trump is utterly innocent of these allegations.

    *(alternative)

  60. 60.

    Cthulhu

    Not only is Issa in a district that has been trending blue for some time, he has a Dem, Applegate, who is both a great candidate and one who won’t give up until he gets Issa’s seat.

    Not sure being out in front of going after Trump will save him though – might get him a Trumpian challenger that will cut into his vote.

    In any case, Issa being finally out of office would be a highlight of 2018.

  61. 61.

    PsiFighter37

    @skerry: Moron fails to note context – Obama came into office with economy in freefall, while Trump got to inherit more good fortune. Asshole was born with a silver boot up his ass.

  62. 62.

    japa21

    @different-church-lady: Let’s see. If a special prosecutor was named, who would determine who it would be? ?I would think the DOJ. That pretty much determines the outcome. One would al most think Trump would welcome that.

  63. 63.

    Gelfling 545

    @WereBear: My daughter, currently in law school, is of the opinion that getting a law degree does not necessarily require great intelligence, just persistence.

  65. 65.

    Gelfling 545

    @geg6: The few Republicans of my acquaintance have been strangely silent of late. One did post n FB that she was sick of hearing about ” all the political stuff”.

  66. 66.

    Chip Daniels

    @Cthulhu:
    Issa won his seat by barely a whisker.
    I don’t know if Applegate is running again, but my money is that Issa is gone in 2018.

  69. 69.

    Feebog

    I’m not sure we all realize yet just how extraordinary this situation is. The White House not only tried to compromise the FBI investigation, they successfully enlisted the aid of the Chairs of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to downplay the gravity of the Trump/Russia connections. Let’s also remember that Nunes and Burr have been briefed multiple times on this. They know a hell of a lot more than we do. Yet they were willing to put party over country and cooperate with the White House. Absolutely disgusting.

  71. 71.

    sigaba

    @Gelfling 545:

    The few Republicans of my acquaintance have been strangely silent of late. One did post n FB that she was sick of hearing about ” all the political stuff

    Tired of winning.

  72. 72.

    cmorenc

    Darryl Issa asking for a special prosecutor? Should we look gift-horse paragons of virtue in the mouth for moral decay, or gladly accept the gift for what modest amount it might positively be worth?

  73. 73.

    Gindy51

    @Gelfling 545: Same here… husband said they were strangely silent at the country club but the few Dems were grouped together and talking excitedly… he finally met some and more are coming out of the wood work every time he golfs. Kind of amazing since he thought he was the only one there.

  75. 75.

    AnotherBruce

    @Starfish: Also, he backed down after the other media entities threatened to boycott him. BTW, I hear too much of this. “Obama did it” It’s childish, you know. like when your dad told you. “If Jimmy jumps off a bridge doesn’t mean you should too.”

  76. 76.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Ol’ car thief was the one who orchestrated the recall of Governor Davis thinking he could win the special election to succeed him. Then the Governator got in the race and Issa had a SAD.

    Was Issa the one who was actually crying that Arnold dared hijack their coup?

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @PsiFighter37:

    Asshole was born with a silver boot up his ass.

    I know he’s a big asshole, but his silver boot and his head? Isn’t it the hands and one other part that are small? Of course if deflated his head would be about the size of a sandwich bag so maybe the entire thing is a moo point.

  78. 78.

    No One You Know

    @Another Scott: I’d like that, too, if I could know that they wouldn’t all prove to be Wilmers. Not that I’m a purity pony. But a Republican would have to have several personal tragedies to convince me. (I’m a believer that Republicans don’t have compassion until it’s personal.)

    A show of rhetoric wouldn’t do it. A quickly demonstrated 80% or better voting record supporting Democratic ideals might.

  81. 81.

    Lurking Canadian

    @skerry: Since Obama’s first month in office would have been running on a Bush-era budget, and Trump’s first month in office ran on an Obama-era budget…

    Well, I agree it’s a shame the media didn’t report it, but not surprised, because “Democrats are more fiscally responsible than Republicans” is the truth that dare not be spoken by the US media.

  82. 82.

    mohagan

    @Lex: Absolutely! Issa’s district is in Orange County (name of airport: John Wayne), which has long been a byword for conservative in So Cal. He won reelection by 2,000 votes. He better support a special prosecutor or he could be easily out of a job in 2018.

  83. 83.

    Juju

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’m very impressed with Schiff. If Feinstein decides not to run I’d wish for Schiff to run. I live in NC, so my senators are the compromised head of the senate intelligence committee, and the man who looks like a human badger hybrid.

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