Darrell Issa has plans. If the GOP should win control of Congress, he will be the Chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, with subpoena power.

Rep. Darrell Issa, the conservative firebrand whose specialty is lobbing corruption allegations at the Obama White House, is making plans to hire dozens of subpoena-wielding investigators if Republicans win the House this fall. The California Republican’s daily denunciations draw cheers from partisans and bookings from cable TV producers. He even bought his own earphone for live shots. But his bombastic style and attention-seeking investigations draw eye rolls from other quarters. Now, he’s making clear he won’t be so easy to shrug off if he becomes chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in 2011. Issa has told Republican leadership that if he becomes chairman, he wants to roughly double his staff from 40 to between 70 and 80. And he is not subtle about what that means for President Barack Obama. At a recent speech to Pennsylvania Republicans here, he boasted about what would happen if the GOP wins 39 seats, and he gets the power to subpoena. “That will make all the difference in the world,” he told 400 applauding party members during a dinner at the chocolate-themed Hershey Lodge. “ I won’t use it to have corporate America live in fear that we’re going to subpoena everything. I will use it to get the very information that today the White House is either shredding or not producing .” In other words, Issa wants to be to the Obama administration what Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) was to the Clinton administration — a subpoena machine in search of White House scandals… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Politico.com>

I’m not opposed to responsible investigation of this or any White House. I am opposed to an ongoing witch hunt of the type that the GOP committed in their attempt to discredit Clinton. The key to an effective committee is limiting investigations to areas where there is an actual cause, not just a political cause. During the years when the GOP controlled the House during the Clinton Administration and the Bush Regime, Republicans proved over and over again that they cannot be trusted with this power.

I know that many of my progressive brethren would rather waste their vote in protest on a third party candidate than vote for a Democrat that fails to take progressive stands on every issue. I say that, in the general election, even the worst DINOs are better choices than independents with no chance of winning, because because voting for the latter will help elect Republicans. That Issa bad idea!