Darrell Issa Continues Apology Tour, Regrets Calling Obama 'Corrupt'

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) made two stops on his apology tour Monday to walk back comments he had made last month calling Obama "one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times."

"If I had to do it over again I'd have parsed my words a little more carefully," Issa said in an interview with CNN's "Situation Room," hours after making a similar correction on ABC's "Good Morning America."

The congressman, now set to become be the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the next Congress, made the original comments in what he described as an impromptu moment of foolishness during a radio interview with Rush Limbaugh last month.

"Do I think the president is personally corrupt, no," Issa told CNN. "I should never have implied that, or created that in a quick statement on a radio call-in."

But Issa, who spoke aggressively Monday about launching hundreds of oversight investigations, has lately been forced to fold to other criticism as well.

After claiming that the commotion caused by an alleged pre-primary White House job offer to Joe Sestak was tantamount to an "impeachable" offense, Issa later said he wouldn't mount a probe into the matter.

Issa then altered his plan again, however, saying that he would examine similar violations by the Bush administration as well, before scrapping the idea altogether.

At the end of his about-face on CNN Monday, Issa departed with a less confrontational tone:

From CNN's report:

"Our committee is supposed to be about finding ways to - creating reform, making government do its job, and do it within a smaller budget, not a larger budget," Issa said, adding that he plans to continue bipartisan initiatives that were part of the committee's agenda while Democrats were in power.

Comments

[Third World Calif]

11:46 AM on 01/03/2011

nope..we Independents gave you a new congress staring this month so continue to tell the truth and hit pelosi and obama's obamacare and other radical policies with full force. obama lost us independents who got him into office so we are giving you guys a chance to correct this mess that obama/pelosi and bush created. without us independents...you lose. do not care about the smaller far left since they are more or less irrelevant. DEFUND the Obamacare..this will stop it.

[mamapower]

08:04 PM on 01/02/2011

"Issa was charged in San Jose car theft"

http://www­.sfgate.co­m/cgi-bin/­article.cg­i?f=/c/a/2­003/06/25/­ISSA.TMP

[starz2]

11:12 AM on 11/18/2010

Emailed Issa requesting he investigate offering committee positions for votes. Sent to Dennis Kucinich too.

BOEHNER OFFERS PLUM COMMITTEES TO GOP CHALLENGERS

By RAY HENRY and DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press Writers Ray Henry And David A. Lieb, Associated Press Writers – Fri Oct 22, 2:03 pm ET

ATLANTA – Deep in rural Georgia, the Republican who may become the next speaker of the U.S. House is playing let's-make-a-deal with voters.

Minority Leader John Boehner promised this week that if southwest Georgia residents unseat Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop, he will support placing GOP challenger Mike Keown on the House Agriculture Committee. It's a promise designed to get Keown votes in a red-soil district that harvests the nation's largest peanut and pecan crop.

As Republicans campaign to win a majority in Congress, Boehner has dangled similar promises in Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota and Hawaii, sometimes in districts where single economic interests like farming or defense dominate regional economies.

Such pledges are not unusual in an election year, but they contradict GOP messages about fiscal austerity.

For example, Boehner promised newly elected Republican Rep. Charles Djou of Hawaii his support for a seat on the House Appropriations Committee. Democrats are making a special effort to unseat Djou after he won a special election in May when two Democrats on the ballot split the party's vote.

CUT OFF

[JMiler]

06:11 PM on 11/15/2010

Just for kicks lets investigate the investigator! Darrel has some colorful background that may be interesting on how he got the big job in Washington. Are there any honest Republicans?

[starz2]

11:56 AM on 11/18/2010

Wikipedia: A retired Army sergeant claimed that Issa stole a Dodge sedan from an Army post near Pittsburgh in 1971. The sergeant said he recovered the car after confronting and threatening him. Issa denied the allegation and no charges were filed.[6][7] In 1972, Issa and his brother allegedly stole a red Maserati sports car from a car dealership in Cleveland. He and his brother were indicted for car theft, but the case was dropped.[6][7] That same year, Issa was convicted in Michigan for possession of an unregistered gun. He received three months probation and paid a $204 fine.[8]

[creoleguy32]

06:02 PM on 11/12/2010

Sometimes I see myself kissing D. Issa

[JMiler]

12:48 PM on 11/12/2010

Darrell Issa is a man of integrity and I am confident he will investigate Bush for his incompetence that is responsible for killing thousands of Americans. He also will more than likely take a look at Bush's part in the ruin of the US economy because Mr. Issa is a fair and honest servant of the people. Ya right!

[creoleguy32]

06:19 PM on 11/12/2010

I agree 500%

[JoyAq]

08:21 AM on 11/12/2010

Darrell Issa, like so many of the GOP, is a word I can't post. American voters thought they were getting a party that would get them jobs and a strong economy. But they're getting obstructionists whose main goal is to bring Obama down. (Nice.) House minority whip Eric Cantor (another word I can't post) said his goal was to have "one oversight hearing a week."
That's what you get, voters, when you're not paying attention.

[nana4g]

11:55 AM on 11/11/2010

He is a Thug. Period. A petty thief who made it to the Big Time. We need to keep an eye on him.

[mabailey]

10:57 AM on 11/11/2010

We're all being distracted from whats really going on in America. And this is another way to keep us blinded and fighting each other. People like ISSA is the cause he's getting paid for what he does like all those lie repubass and the Chamber did in the mid-term. Enough is enough, they never talk about the jobs and companies that we lost too china and india..not once .....WE MUST WAKE UP AMERICA NOW... We need to hold them accountable before it's really to late...

[Brenbooks]

09:24 AM on 11/11/2010

Issa is a crook both criminally and politically:

it is astounding to me that no one has held him accountable for his HEINOUS comments denying funds to 911 responders in 2008.

Check out this article and share--before he wastes our tax dollars on a witch hunt--time to make Sir John of orange's favorite fellow weeper accountable!

http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001007.htm

[nana4g]

11:59 AM on 11/11/2010

Unbelievable. He cries over his lost gubernatorial aspiration and has nothing but disdain for real victims of real tragedy. What's with California?

[askandtell]

06:49 AM on 11/11/2010

Good read on current situation.

The White House Blog: Ethics
Reforming Government: Congressional Republicans Haven't Changed & Can't Bring the Change We Need

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/issues/Ethics

[Siebenstein]

03:45 AM on 11/11/2010

This guy is known for 'Foot-in-Mouth' disease.

[edlindaspy]

03:22 AM on 11/11/2010

Clearlythinking,,,I believe you are correct in your assessment,,,I would almost bet that by him saying he was planning on hundreds of investigations that he was told if that be the case those investigations would go back to "W's" corruption in the whitehouse,,and we all KNOW that he was corrupt,,,he and his cronies,,,!!! Then, he has the audacity to say "I hope they will say I was a success" The guy has no conscience. How does he sleep at night? You see the US embassy in Iraq he had built that was suppose to be a secret? Here ya go,,,,,


http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/NEWUSEMBASSYINIRAQ.HTML

[JayJay333]

12:26 AM on 11/11/2010

I'm interested in the investigation of the Gulf Oil Spill. The Congressional Hearing Committee wasn't given subpoena power and the knowledgable members of MMS refused to testify. Instead, other officials who had no direct knowledge of the incident testified. Very, very, interesting. Could it have anything to do with the fact that President Obama appointed a former BP executive to head the MMS?

[Jeannie Brooks]

04:21 PM on 11/16/2010

Do you know why the Congressional Hearing Cmte failed to get subpoena power? The Republicans stood together and voted it down. The Republicans don't want to get at the truth, they want to protect BP. Remember Barton apologized to BP for having the hearing in the first place? It's pretty hard to interpret the facts any other way.
An important distiction here: the Congressional hearings are about getting answers to the question of whether or not BP was negligent in observing safety measures, did they maintain their equipment, did they do things properly. The investigation Issa is talking about is aimed at finding fault with how Obama, not BP, handled the cleanup and holding BP financially responsible for the damage their spill caused. That's a very different objective. Obama acted quickly and had a force 47 thousand people cleaning up, and negotiated a $20B fund from BP for the victims, not an easy task. He also put Feinberg on it to expedite payments out to people who were now out of a paycheck, thanks to the spill. I'd say Obama did pretty darned well, wouldn't you? As far as shutting down the leak, no gov't agency has the technical expertise to accomplish that, (how could they?) and we had to rely on BP to do that.
Do you still want Issa "investigating?"

[Trogenhorse]

12:15 AM on 11/11/2010

I don't trust this character one bit. What is he really up to?

[chanook106]

08:22 AM on 11/11/2010

He wants the head of Barack Obama. For months he has been looking for - based on FOX news stories - something to pin on the administration for which he hopes will lead to impeachment. But it seems that Issa is himself ethically challenged.
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-7885-issa-issues.html