A day in the life of a long-gone party

October 13, 2006

Sometimes, it’s helpful to take a step back and see the forest for the trees. Consider, for example, what we’ve seen from Republican members of Congress today.

Rep. [tag]Bob Ney[/tag] (R-Ohio) pleaded guilty today to corruption charges stemming from his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal. In a written statement, Ney said, “I never acted to enrich myself or get things I shouldn’t, but over time allowed myself to get too comfortable with the way things have been done in Washington for too long.” It was a bizarre defense — particularly in light of the voluminous evidence that shows that he did act to enrich himself and get things he shouldn’t have taken.

Rep. [tag]Jim Kolbe[/tag] (R-Ariz.) became the subject of a federal criminal investigation stemming from a camping trip the congressman took 10 years ago that included two teenage congressional pages.

Sen. [tag]George Allen[/tag]’s (R-Va.) name has been discovered in 1974 court documents in Virginia, possibly stemming from an unreported arrest. According to Greg Sargent, who spoke with the clerk at the Albemarle Circuit Court, the reason for the record could be anything from an unpaid parking ticket to an arrest warrant.

Rep. [tag]Chris Shays[/tag] (R-Conn.) inexplicably announced his belief that the abuse at Abu Ghraib did not count as torture.

Sen. [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag] (R-Pa.) had a rather stunning on-air meltdown during a televised debate last night in Pennsylvania.

Remember, this isn’t a particularly unusual day. It’s just another 18-hour period in which Republicans plead guilty to criminal charges, find themselves under criminal investigation, and lose their minds in front of large, public audiences.

And some people wonder why the GOP is losing so badly this year….

Welcome Mr. Kolbe, to the wonderful world of the Witchhunt:
You’re gay! You spent time with young people of the same gender! You must have screwed them! Would you like oak or maple on the bonfire we roast you over?

I see a spike in anti-gay/lesbian/people who fit the “profile” hate crimes rolling our way and we’ll know who to thank [Looks at the GOP].

  • Welcome Mr. Kolbe, to the wonderful world of the Witchhunt:
    You’re gay! You spent time with young people of the same gender! You must have screwed them! Would you like oak or maple on the bonfire we roast you over?

    I see a spike in anti-gay/lesbian/people who fit the “profile” hate crimes rolling our way and we’ll know who to thank [Looks at the GOP].

    I was just about to say the same thing. CB, I hope you’re not suggesting that something improper must have happened on Kolbe’s rafting trip just because the congressman happens to be gay. The article you cite indicates that Mr. Kolbe took two former pages, along with several staffers and his sister, on a camping and rafting trip. Absent any indication that the trip was anything more than that, this sounds like a witch hunt to me, and pure homophobic pandering. I’m sorry to see this site indulging in such cheap rhetoric, even in passing.

  • “And some people wonder why the GOP is losing so badly this year…. ”

    No. I wonder why/how anyone with even half a brain could have voted for almost any of them these past 4 years.

  • James,

    “Absent any indication that the trip was anything more than that, this sounds like a witch hunt to me, and pure homophobic pandering.”3

    If this was the case, in light of the Foley issue, why would the US DOJ and this guy (Paul Charlton) investigate Kolbe? Or are you suggesting the GOP is purging the gays from it ranks?

    http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/az/usa.html
    “US Attorney Paul K. Charlton was appointed by President George W. Bush on November 12, 2001, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona.”

  • Republicans crazed about gay people? It must be the “Santorum effect,” eminatting from a distant planet. Quick, call NASA!

  • What’s happening within the Republican party now reminds me of what Austin Powers did to the Fembots. Heads are just exploding.

    Slip kid, speaking of Santorum, did Kolbe bring any dogs on the trip? Wouldn’t that just explode the entire scandal.

  • I have to agree that the Kolbe story smells of gay witch hunt to me, as well.

    Santorum is definitely slipping gears; he must be convinced he is going down (to defeat in the election, that is). But can somebody who knows tell me, is Bob Casey a good candidate? I’ve never been impressed by what I’ve seen of him – which is limited. Any PA folks want to enlighten me?

  • TuiMei,

    If your are able to view the video of the recent Santorum-Casey debate, you will see Casey as relatively calm, while Santorum is a ranting lunatic. Casey gets points for being low-key.

  • SKNM,
    It seems that to say (in response to a request for information about the quality of Casey as a candidate) that Casey was more calm than Santorum during this debate is damning Casey with pretty faint praise. I am in no way saying that Casey would not be desirable over Santorum. I am honestly asking what he has to offer in addition to not being Rick Santorum – mostly because I seem to recall some controversy about whether Casey was too conservative.

  • George Allen is a racist, misogynistic, self-hating Jew, who despises blacks, minorities, women, and gays. This can all be overwhelmingly proven by facts that are abundantly covered all over the internet, television, and in the printed media.

    He is all the more dangerous because as a Jew he should know better. But then again, Adolph Hitler was exactly like him.

    If the American people in Virginia elect this monster, then it is an indication that we as a nation have learned nothing from 200 years of fighting racist, misogynistic, sexist, megalomaniacs like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Pinochet, etc in countless wars that have killed tens of millions of Americans.

    A victory for George Allen in Virginia, the heartland of the United States, would officially mean the end of America as we know it, and the open beginning of a tyrannical, elitist, oppressive, despotism that our Founding Fathers ran from Europe in order to flee.

    In other words, America as we know it, and what it stands for, will officially be defunct and finished.

  • Let’s face reality.

    Was George Allen forgiven for his violently systematic and continuous racist and sexist comments and actions, over a 30 year span of history, because he is a Jew that insulted a silly little Indian-American?

    Will Mel Gibson be unforgiven, and remain unforgiven for the rest of eternity, because he is a non-Jew that dared to say a few bad things about Jews during a fifteen minute drunken tirade?

    If this is not proof that Jews control this country, its media, and its money, then I really don’t know what is.

    I try not to judge anyone.

    But the double standard here in these two episodes is so obvious that it is sickening.

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