POLITICO HEARS NO EVIL

Washington Post:

The Republican congressman who is taking over responsibility for congressional oversight called President Obama's administration "one of the most corrupt administrations" on Sunday and predicted that the investigations he is planning over the next two years could result in about $200 billion in savings for U.S. taxpayers.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, ... used fiery rhetoric in describing the Obama administration in a series of television interviews Sunday....

Politico:

Despite his bombastic reputation, Issa has tried to project a more subtle image in the days leading up to his takeover of the committee. He’s trying to project an image of being a stickler for government waste and not a partisan bomb thrower with an eye fixed on ruining the Obama administration.

Right -- I can't imagine anything more "subtle," more contrary to the role of "partisan bomb-thrower," than calling an administration of the other party "one of the most corrupt" ever. It's such a friendly, conciliatory thing to say. I think it's pretty much what the lion said just before he lay down with the lamb.

Jesus, Politico, I know the goal of the congressional Republicans is to rally the teabaggers by going nuclear on the administration, while simultaneously persuading you supposedly neutral observers that everything is sweetness and light and that the level of combat is no worse than it usually is, but do you have to try to make promulgating that patently absurd double message so freaking easy for them?

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OH, I SEE: Issa was, as Crooks and Liars notes, tying himself in knots on chat TV yesterday to say nasty things while struggling to seem reasonable. But he's not reasonable. Preposterous accusations don't become non-preposterous just by virtue of being marginally less inflammatory than earlier preposterous accusations.