GOP Rep. Darrell Issa Is A Big Fat Liar

For over a year now the Republicans in Congress having been saying that the Obama administration has been lying about the attack on American diplomats in Benghazi. They have been saying the attack was arranged and carried out by al-Queda instead of mob violence instigated by anger over a film by an American fundamentalist preacher that defamed islam.

The GOP has been saying that al-Queda hasn't been damaged nearly as much as the president has claimed, and that the White House should have expected this attack and beefed up security (completely ignoring the fact that it was their party that cut $300 million in security funds for American consulates and embassies in other countries).

And one of the primary Republicans who has been questioning the White House over Benghazi is Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California). He has used his position as chairman of the House Oversight Committee to "investigate" Benghazi, and attack the president over his failure to sufficiently attack al-Queda or defend the diplomatic mission in Benghazi. And he has done that loudly, and with the sureness of someone who knows what he is saying is true.

But those silly accusations were exposed last week. The New York Times published the findings of a report on what happened in Benghazi -- and it was revealed that neither al-Queda nor any other terrorist group had anything to do with the attack. The attack was just mob violence precipitated by the American fundamentalist film defaming islam, just as it was initially reported. And since it was a spur of the moment action by a mob, there was no way anyone could have predicted it (or made special preparations for it).

You might think Issa (and many of his Republican cohorts) would be embarrassed at this revelation. Not so. It seems that Issa and other committee members have had the results of this study for over a year now. They just chose not to reveal it, because it didn't agree with their attacks on the president -- and attacking the president is more important than revealing the truth for them.

This means Issa has been lying to the American people (and wasting taxpayer money with the fraudulent investigation) for at least a year now. But he's not the only one. The congressional GOP has shown in the last few years that they are perfectly willing to tell a lie when the truth doesn't help them.

(The caricature of Darrell Issa above is by DonkeyHotey.)