Rep. Darrell Issa Stresses Need for Economic Growth; Takes Blame for Your 3AM Wake-Up Call

While he’s not the most entertaining guest on this program, Rep. Darrell Issa tries to at least be a competent one. “That’s good enough for a politician,” he told Imus today.

With the results of Tuesday’s primaries around the country showing a surge from Tea Party candidates in states like Delaware and New York, Issa, a Republican, observed that Washington, DC, is in the process of changing.

He agrees with the Tea Party’s desire to decrease government spending and restore the Constitution, and yet Issa is still largely viewed as part of “the establishment.”

“No matter how much you try to bring down ‘The Man’ and do things that they’d like…you’re still an insider,” he said. “And it’s a Party of outside, to a great extent.”

Neither Christine O’Donnell nor Carl Paladino, the two victorious Tea Party candidates from Delaware and New York, respectively, would have been the “conventional” choice for Republicans, but Issa he can identify with their goals.

“I was a businessman who got tired of seeing politics run by professional politicians,” he said, and stressed the importance of evaluating each candidate individually.

“When it comes to the Tea Party, it’s not a unified organization,” he said. “There are some scoundrels in the middle of it; there are probably some crazies that couldn’t get in the front door of a conventional party. But there are also just some good, hard-working Americans who have had enough.”

Imus wondered if the people in Congress who are like Issa (read: “not insane”) had a head count on whether Republicans can retake the House—and maybe even the Senate—in November.

Issa has counted up to 30 races where Republicans almost certainly will win, and up to 70 races where they could win. The former would keep Republicans in the minority; the latter would put them well in the majority.

“But it’s not about whether we retake the majority or not,” he insisted. “It’s about what we do when the deck gets reshuffled, and Republicans have a seat at the table. Will we use that seat at the table to do the things that need to be done to help America right itself?”

Issa emphasized the need to get the business community running “on all cylinders,” because raising and lowering taxes, or implementing more stimulus packages, only masks a weak economy.

“Our problem today is that capital is sitting on the sidelines,” he said. There needs to be more incentive for job creation and investment in this country, Issa said, because merely taxing the rich will only cause them to put their money elsewhere.

Speaking of rich people, Issa made his fortune in the car alarm and home audio systems business. So, as Imus pointed out, he’s the guy to blame every time your stupid neighbor’s car wakes you up at three o’clock in the morning.

“I have 37 patents,” Issa said. “And more than half of them relate to making the alarm not go off.”

-Julie Kanfer