"Living the American dream...."

It seems that the conservative Republican from north San Diego county, who single-handedly financed the campaign to put the recall of Governor Gray Davis on the California ballot, has been a bit loose and careless with the facts regarding his youth, military-service record and business career.

...In his short political career, Issa — so far the only declared Republican candidate for governor in the special election this fall — has faced both small and large questions about his record in business and the military and his brushes with the law. Republican and Democratic opponents have accused him of concealing arrests as a youth and embellishing his personal story.

The [L.A.] Times examined Issa's statements and campaign literature over the past 13 years and compared them with military records and other public documents. The review reveals a number of claims contradicted or were unsupported by records and verifiable facts.

Like Bush, not only has Issa frequently embellished his credentials and life-story, but when confronted with the facts, he follows the time-tested strategy that the best defense is a strong offense:

Issa now attributes some of these discrepancies to misunderstandings or omissions from his Army records. He blames Gov. Gray Davis for the questions about his resume, some of which were first raised by fellow Republicans in his 1998 run for the U.S. Senate.[Emphasis mine.]

"Gray's job is to get you to ask 30-year-old questions," he angrily told a Times reporter Saturday at a Sacramento rally, where he accused Davis of "felony behavior."

"If you want to be a shill for Gray Davis' opposition questions, go ahead. We've moved on."

Even Issa’s whiny petulance is reminiscent of Bush.

Well, lying has worked incredibly well so far for the president, so why shouldn’t Issa go for it?

Check out the real story behind the guy whose efforts to wrest office from a duly-elected governor is going to force Californian taxpayers to foot a $30 to $60 million bill for a recall election here.