Last month, House Speaker Dennis Hastert incomprehensively lashed out at philanthropist George Soros, suggesting that Soros takes money from narcotrafficers. Hastert made the outlandish charge without proof or a hint of support, but felt justified in making the accusation on national television because Soros supports Democrats.
The incident, apparently, is part of a new GOP trend. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, for example, accused his Dem rival of all sorts of notorious connections this week.
“LaRouche is a con felon and all I can tell you is that Mr. Morrison has supported and campaigned with LaRouche followers and Mr. Morrison also has taken money and is working with the Daily Kos, which is an organization that raises money for fighters against the U.S. in Iraq,” said DeLay.
Lyndon LaRouche’s past is well-documented, but why lash out at Kos with such absurd lies? Daily Kos is not an “organization”; it’s one of the web’s most-popular blogs. It doesn’t raise money for Iraqi insurgents; it raises money for Democratic candidates. Indeed, it’s particularly odd for DeLay to accuse Kos of standing against the troops — unlike DeLay, Kos actually served in the U.S. military.
In other words, the House Majority Leader has slandered a blogger (and a veteran), effectively accusing him of treason, because he felt like it.
Kos, to his credit, just laughed this off, but leading political figures really should appreciate certain standards of decency in our political discourse. Maybe if Kos sued DeLay for slander/defamation, DeLay would come to realize that powerful congressmen shouldn’t throw around contemptible attacks against rivals just because they’re on the other side.