Issa unloads: Says GOP must address ‘failures’ of Bush and Hastert

Republicans have a responsibility to reflect on the “failures” of leaders like former President George W. Bush and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), a prominent House Republican said Tuesday.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, argued the GOP must “throw everything we did wrong under the bus” — even if it means alienating some members of the party.

Issa said that his committee and Republicans in general wouldn’t be doing their jobs “if we’re not investigating the failures of the Bush administration; if we’re not investigating the failures of Speaker Denny Hasterts.”

“You don’t get redemption without confession,” Issa said at a meeting of conservative bloggers at the Heritage Foundation. “They have to take the opportunity to throw everything we did wrong under the bus.”

Issa used the example of former Rep. Mike Oxley (R-Ohio), who Issa said had “screamed” at him this morning over his staff released on the government role in promoting homeowner loans.

Issa accused former President Bush of overseeing a “Ponzi Scheme” of inflated homeownership by the end of his administration, and said that Republicans have a responsibility to hold Bush accountable.

“If you’re not willing to say “Bush didn’t get it”…then we don’t deserve our credibility back,” the California lawmaker continued. “We’ve got to learn from our mistakes; we made some.”

The GOP also has a “void” of African American, Hispanic, Jewish, and young, female members, Issa lamented. But he said the Republican Party shouldn’t bend over backward to win them over.

“Why don’t we just be honest? We’re not for social programs, that, in fact hand outs,” he explained. “And if you believe those social programs are critical, then stay with the Democratic Party.”