3 January 2011 Not in contempt of Congress, just in contempt of Congressmen

Issa says Obama administration is 'one of most corrupt'

By Philip Rucker

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, January 2, 2011; 7:33 PM

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…

Issa said he plans to lead bipartisan investigations on food and drug safety, as well as Medicare fraud.

"We can save $125 billion in simply not giving out money to Medicare recipients that don't exist for procedures that didn't happen," Issa said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "These are real dollars. Ten percent of the deficit goes out in wasted money - money that doesn't get one person health care in Medicare."

Issa, like all the GOP would be happy to scrap the FDA, the EPA, and of course, the SEC and any other financial regulatory agencies. He may find a few instances of Medicare fraud but I’m certain he won’t point out the huge rip-offs that take place under the Medicare Advantage programs that Congress allowed Humana and other insurance companies to craft in order to expand their profits. Nor will they eliminate the incredible markups found in the sales of “durable medical goods” There is fraud in the Medicare delivery and billing system. It doesn’t take a Congressional committee to find it. And if they hold hearings, nothing productive will come from them.

The session hasn’t begun yet but the GOP leadership is already ignoring any promises of moderation and rationality made prior to the last election. I’ve seen Issa on several television programs pretending to be the personification of reason, willing to put party aside for the good of the nation. I didn’t believe him then and his performance yesterday on CNN reassures me that I was correct in my assessment of his character and nature. Issa was read direct quotes from his appearances on Limbaugh’s and other right wing talk shows. I haven’t seen such blatant lies as he tried to deny what he had previously said since the Clinton impeachment hearings.

His accusations of corruption, which he has somewhat tried to soft pedal, are intended to allow him and his committee to launch a series of investigations that will grow to rival those of the Clinton era, costing the taxpayers at least $40,000,000.

This seems to be yet another instance of the GOP taking its marching orders from Limbaugh and the teavangelists. The only reason for any investigations at this point in time are to dredge up the smallest shred of anything that would allow the GOP to bring impeachment charges against Obama, in hopes of satisfying the racist GOP\teavangelist backers.

As to which administration has been the most corrupt, the boxes for Harding, Nixon, Reagan, and Bush II get checked off by anyone with more memory than party loyalty. The sainted Reagan by action or by reason of developing Alzheimer’s takes the crown for the most corrupt administration.



According to: The Progressive Review - The Clinton Legacy

According to our best information, 40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate. A reader computes that there was a total of 31 Reagan era convictions, including 14 because of Iran-Contra and 16 in the Department of Housing & Urban Development scandal. 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. 14 persons were imprisoned. A key difference between the Clinton story and earlier ones was the number of criminals with whom he was associated before entering the White House.

Using a far looser standard that included resignations, David R. Simon and D. Stanley Eitzen in Elite Deviance, say that 138 appointees of the Reagan administration either resigned under an ethical cloud or were criminally indicted. Curiously Haynes Johnson uses the same figure but with a different standard in "Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years: "By the end of his term, 138 administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."

http://prorev.com/legacy.htm

Watch for a host of subpoenas to be served by a Congressional Committee that should be held in contempt for the manner in which it will attempt to overturn the choices made by the electorate. The 2011 House of Representatives will take the 1994 House as its role model. Settle in for a long and expensive session that feature the GOPers\teavangelists trying to take the nation back to the cultural and political configuration it had under Reagan, at least, under McKinley at worst.