It’s not that House Republicans are willing to go over-the-top once in a while; it’s that they just don’t care anymore whether their conduct is ethical or not.
Tom DeLay, a criminally corrupt leader who’s been admonished four times for violating congressional ethics rules, is about to be indicted for a criminal fundraising scheme in Texas. House rules would require the majority leader to step down if indicted, so House Republicans are changing the rules.
The House GOP caucus is likely to vote today to end its rule requiring leaders to step down if indicted, thus shielding Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) in the event that criminal charges are brought against him in a highly controversial case in Texas.
The effort to change the decade-old rule is being led by Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas) to head off the threat posed by what Republicans say is a Democratic political witch hunt against DeLay after his success in redistricting Texas in the GOP’s favor.
Austin’s district attorney, Ronnie Earle, has indicted two of DeLay’s closest fundraisers for their role in that effort and could indict DeLay himself.
[…]
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told The Hill that the rule change, first reported by The Hill yesterday, “reflects a reality that [Earle’s investigation is] nothing but a political witch hunt bent on taking him to court. It’s the final phase that Democrats are coming to grips that Republicans are a permanent majority. There’s not any question it’ll pass.”
Notice that part about a “permanent majority”? I thought you might.
This is truly Republican power gone mad. When their leader gets indicted, they have to change the rules to let him keep his position in order to, in their words, “prevent political manipulation” of the process. I can only imagine how they’re able to keep a straight face while uttering some transparent nonsense.
Let’s also not forget the breathtaking hypocrisy.
Republicans have used Democrats’ ethical lapses, including a check-kiting scandal at the House bank, to their political advantage. In 1987, then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) told The Washington Post: “[You] now have a House where it is more dangerous to be aggressive about honesty than it is to be mildly corrupt. … We have in Wright, [Majority Leader Tom Foley (D-Wash.)] and Coelho a third generation of Democratic leaders, the first that has never served in a minority. … You now have a situation where I think people feel almost invulnerable.”
Guess we’ve come full-circle, right Newt?
Of course, this leads to questions about what Dems are prepared to do about this. Mark Kleiman insists the Republicans are leaving us with little choice.
The contemporary Republican Party has demonstrated a complete lack of scruple and no sense of limits in either taking power or using power. (The current “purge” — their word, not mine — of the Directorate of Operations at the CIA to rid it of those not personally loyal to GWB is just the latest example.)
If they keep playing football and we keep playing croquet, guess who’s going to keep winning?
Pelosi and Reid, and the rest of us, need to take a page from the Republican playbook of 1993-2000. No surrender, no compromise, no bipartisanship, no civility, no reaching out to Republican officeholders (as opposed to detachable Republican voters): nothing but scorched earth from here to victory.
No, it won’t be pretty. But continuing to be ruled by these thugs is worse.
Over the last generation or so, two things have become obvious to me: Dems are really good at governing and Republicans are really good at attacking. Their way keeps getting rewarded (through electoral success); our way keeps getting punished (through defeat and a reinforced impression of weakness and timidity). No matter how despicable the Republicans’ abuses are, there are no negative consequences, so they continue and, at times, worsen. Congressional Republicans have become, as Kleiman put it, thugs. Just as importantly, they’re proud of it.
I really believe stunts like this rules change are effectively a dare. DeLay and his cohorts are telling the Dems, “We’re making a mockery of civility and compromise, tearing up the rules, and embracing corruption. And we’re confident you can’t do anything about it.” They’re literally taunting us. If Dems don’t rise to the challenge, arrogant boasts of a “permanent majority” may not be too far off.