Cross posted at DailyKos and OpenLeft

So as we’ve established by now, Darrell Issa thinks very little of 9/11 rescue workers and would prefer that the federal government not concern itself with their welfare.  Cause according to him, 9/11 is not and presumably was not a national issue.  We’ve also established that he has no qualms about throwing federal money around on local pork as long as it benefits him directly.  So the next logical question for me is “oh hey, are there any familiar names that don’t mind taking Darrell Issa’s money?”  As you may or may not know, Darrell Issa is filthy rich.  So he’s spread a lot of money around on Republicans and conservative causes.  So as it turns out, there are quite a lot of Republicans currently running around the Capitol funded in part by Darrell Issa (partial list):

Dean Andal (candidate, CA-11)

Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN-06)

Rep. Brian Bilbray (CA-50)

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-09)

Rep. Charles Boustany (LA-07)

Sen. Richard Burr (North Carolina)

Rep. John Campbell (CA-48)

Rep. Shelley Moore Captio (WV-02)

Rep. Steve Chabot (OH-01)

Rep. Tom Cole (OK-04) [head of NRCC]

Rep. Geoff Davis (KY-04)

Rep. John Doolitte (Retiring, CA-04)

Rep. Thelma Drake (VA-02)

Rep. Tom Feeney (FL-24)

Rep. Mike Ferguson (Retiring, NJ-07)

Rep. Randy Forbes (VA-04)

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (NE-01)

Rep. Jim Gerlach (PA-06)

Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA-11)

Rep. Robin Hayes (NC-08)

Rep. Ric Keller (FL-08)

Rep. Mark Kirk (IL-10)

Rep. John Kline (MN-02)

Rep. Joe Knollenberg (MI-09)

Rep. Randy Kuhl (NY-29)

Rep. Doug Lamborn (CO-05)

Rep. Tom Latham (IA-04)

Rep. Bob Latta (OH-05)

Fmr. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (What the hell? ha.)

Rep. Candice Miller (MI-10)

Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (CO-04)

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (TX-19)

Fmr. Rep. Anne Northup (Candidate, KY-03)

Rep. Steve Pearce (Retiring, NM-02; Candidate, NM-SEN)

Rep. Mike Pence (IN-06)

Rep. Ted Poe (TX-02)

Rep. Jon Porter (NV-03)

Rep. Deborah Pryce (Retiring, OH-15)

Rep. Dennis Rehberg (MT-AL)

Rep. Dave Reichert (WA-08)

Rep. Rick Renzi (Retiring [to prison?], AZ-01)

Rep. Mike D. Rogers (AL-03)

Rep. Mike J. Rogers (MI-08)

Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-06)

Fmr. Rep. Jim Ryun (Candidate, KS-02)

Rep. Jean Schmidt (OH-02)

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (Candidate, TX-22)

Rep. Pete Sessions (TX-32)

Rep. Chris Shays (CT-04)

Rep. John Shimkus (IL-19)

Fmr. Rep. Mike Sodrel (Candidate, IN-09)

Sen. John Sununu (New Hampshire)

Fmr. Rep. Pat Toomey (President, Club for Growth)

Rep. Jim Walsh (Retiring, NY-25)

Rep. Heather Wilson (Retiring, NM-01; Candidate, NM-SEN)

Rep. Rob Wittman (VA-01)

More than 50, and there are a lot of familiar names in there. Swing districts, notorious wingnuts, Senators in tough races.  How many of those people agree with Darrell Issa that the welfare of the heroes of 9/11 are no business of the United States government?  How many of them really want to be forced to answer such questions?  Rep. Issa has, for a number of years, been a bit of a hero in GOP fundraising circles.  Do people really want to be associated with his money now? Presumably the answer is “yes” in private and “maybe” in public.  If it’s even slightly possible to isolate Issa and his money, in this of all election cycles when the NRCC is desperately poor, it’s worth the effort.  Isn’t it time we start finding out how these politicians feel about taking money from just a soulless jerk?

So I just got back from a McCain rally here in San Diego and aside from feeling dirty, he’s definitely a bit worried about California.  He brought out every gun he’s got, big, little, whatever.  He was introduced by Mayor Jerry Sanders, former CA SoS Bill Jones and Governor Schwarzenegger (McCain “will say ‘Hasta la vista’ to wasteful spending in Washington.”).  On stage but silent were locals such as my councilman Kevin Faulconer and County Supervisor Ron Roberts.  Along for the ride on the plane and the photo ops were wife Cindy, mother Roberta, and his murderers row of pseudo-moderates: Governor Crist from Florida and Senators Richard Burr, Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman.  They didn’t say anything but they stood there very moderately.

And then Senator McCain went ON AND ON about the evils of radical Islamic extremism (radical extremism? Is it also exceptionally unique? Largely big?).  He told people that it’s a titanic struggle against people who want to destroy everything and that there is nothing more evil than what we’re up against.  He gave “my friends” plenty of “straight talk” about…evil.  Troops aren’t coming home because that would be surrender (does that mean that we can’t win if the troops come home?).  He said that he was the only one who knew Rumsfeld’s plan would fail and the Petraeus plan was necessary (presumably not even Petraeus knew).  Spent about two seconds on making tax cuts permanent and saying that it’s bad when Congress spends money (just like the Constitution says. Oh wait…).  

Closed things off trying to roll around in the filth of the Reagan legacy and then noting that $35 billion in earmarks could have gone towards $1000 for every child in the country.  How much would the $2 trillion in Iraq money have translated into for the kids? McCain was mum on this point (the answer because I like math is…a whole lot more).

Point is, McCain is desperate to make everyone scared because he’s scared of Romney.  Rally in San Diego seven hours before the polls close to talk about fear? Hm.