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This must drive Darrell Issa crazy!

The trifecta of so-called scandals currently being hyped by the inside the beltway press corps in Washington seem to have had the perverse effect of elevating President Obama's popularity with the great mass of Americans who live outside the beltway, outside the bubble. The results of the first polls since the stories broke show that his approval ratings have actually increased. His approval now stands at 53 percent.

I'm sure this has left Republicans scratching their heads, trying to understand why the American people are not responding to their faux outrage over Benghazi, the IRS, and the AP. The public, at first glance, seem to have sussed out just what that "outrage" is: A political attempt to damage and weaken a popular president.

We've all been down this road before, not so many years ago. We remember the Clinton era and Gingrich et al's attempt at impeachment. Now Republicans are tossing around the word impeachment once again. It seems almost certain that they will attempt it with this president as well. Because that's what their crazy base wants and expects. They are not into governing the country. They are into mischief-making and gumming up the works of government as much as possible.

When they do get around to attempting impeachment, they will find eager partners in the slavering Washington press corps who like nothing better than a ginned up phony controversy. With such stories to obsess about, they don't actually have to get out and work to dig out the real news that affects people's lives.

In the Republicans' continuing campaign to bring down the Obama presidency, there is no more eager soldier than Darrell Issa, the California representative who has dedicated himself to destroying President Obama and has enlisted the committee he heads as his instrument. And what has been the net result of all of his "investigations"? Well, as noted, Obama's popularity has increased while the disapproval ratings of Republicans are at their highest level since CNN started polling the question in 1992. This must drive Darrell Issa crazy!

You would think that it might also cause the Republicans to stop and reconsider their policy of obstruction. They might gain more sympathy and support from Americans if they actually showed some attempts to assist in solving the nation's real problems - of which there are many - rather than simply being the party of "no." But, frankly, these guys seem incapable of such reflection and so I suspect their tantrums will continue and so will their attempts to bring down the president and the country be damned.

When they get around to impeaching Obama, I imagine his approval ratings will skyrocket - 90 percent seems imminently possible.
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