The law and order party

September 30, 2006

We’ll get to the latest developments in the Mark Foley scandal in a moment, but before we do, Carpetbagger regular Castor Troy raised a good point in comments that deserves a little more attention.

Over the last 12 months (less, actually), House Republicans have made criminal defense attorneys in Washington very happy.

* Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.) resigned in disgrace and went to jail.

* Tom DeLay (R-Texas) resigned in disgrace and is facing a criminal trial.

* Bob Ney (R-Ohio) has already pleaded guilty to corruption charges and will leave Congress in disgrace.

* Mark Foley (R-Fla.) has resigned in disgrace and may face criminal charges of his own.

That’s just one party in one chamber in one year. In the Senate, Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been the subject of a criminal probe. In the states, Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) was indicted and Ohio Gov. Bob Taft (R) has been convicted. In the executive branch, Scooter Libby (R) has been indicted, Claude Allen (R) has been convicted, David Safavian (R) has been convicted, and DHS spokesman Brian Doyle (R) pleaded guilty to cyber-sex charges and faces jail time.

And then, of course, there’s many more Republicans facing investigations for other scandals, including the New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal, the MZM scandal, and various friends of Jack Abramoff.

I’m not saying Dems are pure as the driven snow — William Jefferson and his freezer come to mind — but damn. For Republicans, all of this has to be embarrassing.

“For Republicans, all of this has to be embarrassing.” – CB

I think it’s embarrassing for all Americans. We should do the Repubs a service and send them a copy of the Ten Comandements so they can brush up on the “thou shalt not steal” and “thou salt not bear false witness” parts and then tell them to see an ethics counselor.

Yet another bunch of logs on a Republican bonfire of political evils.

  • Of course, maybe the law and order party is a set up for a TV show; “Law and Order: Capitol Hill Ethical Violations Unit.” They seem to come up with a new episode every week.

  • Have we heard all that we are going to hear about the Brent Wilkes scandal (poker parties and strippers and possibly prostitutes of both sexes in the Watergate)? It took down Porter Goss and Dusty Foggo, but surely it takes more than two to have a poker game.

    Despite the great success Bush and the Republicans have had in the past in letting bad news come out on Fridays and after elections, they aren’t doing so well on the “after elections” part this time around.

  • If we want this to be a national issue, in lines with Gingrich’s end to professional politicians in Washington, then how about an ad showing each Republican, and the various legal probes/action taken due to their criminal activities? Sure, the Press wants to make any corruption bipartisan by implicating the other side, but how would you respond? When the evidence is laid out so starkly, it becomes difficult to make that case. I might even frame the debate as, “Is the GOP Congress more corrupt than others?”

  • “For Republicans, all of this has to be embarrassing.” – CB

    These scum have been so far beyond being embarrassed by anything for so long they don’t even know the meaning of the word. Remember, these are the members of God’s Own Party who are doing God’s Own Work (the stuff he’d agree to a Good Christian doing, if only he took a moment to look at the situation, but they know what he’d say to do because they are God’s Own Partisans), and they have been forgiven by their “higher father” for any transgressions committed in the furtherance of God’s Own Plan.

  • Here’s a story about another pervert who was working in Congressman Rohrabacher’s office and molesting a child. Will this be investigated to find out what Rohrabacher, long a subject of rumors, knew?

  • “For Republicans, all of this has to be embarrassing.”

    One thing I’ve learned about these crooks and liars the last three years:

    A party that knows no shame will suffer no embarrassment.

    These guys and dolls don’t play by the rules of civil culture.
    Lying and stealing IS THEIR public policy.

    Gleefully:
    They will crush the Constitution…
    They will crush Science…
    They will crush the Middle Class…
    They will crush you…
    And they will crush me…
    To get their way.

    The Barbarians aren’t OUTSIDE the gate.
    They are among and running amok.

    Anne Coulter is not an aberration or an outlier.
    Rather, she is their very Conscience unmasked…

    Shame? Embarrassment? Humility? Morality?

    No.

    Expect instead, a happy bootprint for your face.

  • I think it is vitally important for the Democrats to be open about things.

    THere is a list of 4 Republicans in Congress who have been convicted or resigned and there is William Jefferson (Clinton?) on the Democrats side.

    The Democrats forced Jefferson to give up some (all?) powers while the Republicans basically did nothing.

    However, you need to mention Jefferson in the same breath.

    “We are not as pure as the driven snow but we have taken steps to remove Jefferson from leadership roles. On the other hand, the Republicans have people in JAIL and others who resigned. The Republicans did nothing to remove people from power initially and even changed the rules for Delay.”

    I know the above paragraph needs help but in order to get the swing voters to listen you need to mention the bad side of the Democrats too.

  • Here’s a scary thought. What if the Republicans didn’t have all these scandals and corruption? Would we be the United Theocracy of America by now? Would the permanent Republican Majority be a reality?

  • It’s time to advertise the boxscore on Congressional corruption:

    Republicans — 4
    Democrats — 1

    Now, if Disney won’t let us advertise this boxscore on TV, and Clear Channel won’t let us post a large boxscore on interstate billboards, then the fascist state will have arrived.

  • Beyond the US House, Republicans in the Alaska Legislature had their offices searched by the FBI and IRS last month. Nobody is saying exactly what they’re looking for — though the search warrants did include orders to seize items with the logo “Corrupt Bastards Club.” Seriously.

    The only tie to Congress is that Ben Stevens, the son of Senator Ted Stevens and currently state senator himself, had his office searched twice, and apparently some documents related to Ted were taken.

  • “What if the Republicans didn’t have all these scandals and corruption?”

    In other words, could the Republican party have become the blot on American history we’ve come to know and loathe if it weren’t currently filled with power-crazed, greedy, lacivious (sp) bastards? Could such a group exist without the attendant disregard for the law vis-a-vis themselves?
    Nope.
    The scandals that these folks produce are the inevitable product of wing-nuts who think they have a right to everything and treat humans like objects. One could say their bottomless greed is some higher power’s way of making sure these guys never get completely out of hand before they wind up in jail. And eventually enough sane people will get sick of them and either vote Democrat or stay home on election day, restoring a true balance of power, giving the country and the world a much needed break!

  • I think Neil Wilson’s point is well taken. When Jefferson’s freezer antics were disclosed, the Dems took immediate action and told him to step down from his committee positions. The Repubs take no action and fight everything and call it a conspiracy by the Dems. And then they resign in disgrace saying Oh, I guess I did do it.

    Call them on this bullshit.

  • “Gleefully:
    They will crush the Constitution…
    They will crush Science…
    They will crush the Middle Class…
    They will crush you…
    And they will crush me…
    To get their way.” – koreyel

    Actually, I don’t think that gets to the banality of their evil. The Republican’ts merely seek to obtain and hold a majority for the purpose of providing their corporate sponsors all the protection from or exploitation of the Government they can. But being natural incompetents (competents aren’t conservative, they seek the environment of change so they can take advantage of it) they make numerous mistakes (like Iraq or putting Mike Brown in charge of FEMA) and when the consequences of their mistakes become evident to the world, they have to scramble to retain the power they so do not deserve to have.

    It is the scramble in their desperate state of fear that they make these foolish evil acts. Like giving President Hillary Clinton the power to imprision them as enemy combatants without trial or access to habeus corpus.

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