“I want seven hearings a week, times 40 weeks,” exulted Representative Darrell Issa, who is in line to take the gavel of the House government oversight committee.
Those hearings cost money, bud, and what do they accomplish? Nothin' -- except keep Darrell Issa and his clan from actually have to do real work. As the New York Times editorial board suggests, "Try something hard: governing!"
This combativeness from the new House majority is an early symptom of its preference for politicking over the tougher job of governing in hard times. Its plans already feature the low cunning of snipping budget lines so the Internal Revenue Service cannot enforce key provisions of the health care reform law. (Why not defund Postal Service document deliverers while they’re at it?)
Quite apart from the time wasted in meetings and the costs of funding them, how about the additional costs (huge!) of hiring outside lawyers (OMG!) for a worthless political battle. It'll cost the taxpayer plenty. If history is a guide, it will also cost the Republican party its current hold on a majority in the House.
Inevitably, the White House is reported ready to add a platoon of lawyers to defend against the kind of endless harassment the Clinton administration suffered in the last Republican ascendancy. Surely Republican leaders must know that their past Inspector Javert binge helped snuff out their majority, even though it was abetted by President Clinton’s personal misbehavior.
The attention hearings of this kind inevitably draw will reveal that most of the new members of the Republican caucus are dim bulbs at best.
Profiles of the incoming Republican freshmen are not encouraging. Half deny the science of global warming, and 39 percent signed on to the know-nothing move to end birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, according to the Center for American Progress, a liberal research organization.
Voters who remain jobless will be watching these hearings in which Republicans with real jobs blithely take time off from solving economic woes to play politics.
If it weren't for the money and precious time the House majority is about to throw away on politicking and lawyers, the prospect of the Republican party committing hari-kiri on the national media would be a pleasure to watch.
