In light of Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) indictment, we’ve been hearing quite a bit, particularly from far-right bloggers and Fox News personalities, about the culture of corruption now having infected both parties equally. The Washington Post’s Jeffrey Birnbaum, a quality journalist for many years, really ought to know better.
On the June 4 edition of Fox News’ Special Report with Brit Hume, Washington Post staff writer Jeffrey Birnbaum asserted that the June 4 bribery indictment of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) “makes the allegations of corruption bipartisan.” In just the past three years, however, at least nine Republican members of Congress and Bush administration officials — including the former House majority leader, Tom DeLay (TX) — have been indicted or pleaded guilty to criminal charges. Birnbaum did not explain how one indicted Democratic congressman who was not in the congressional leadership (and another who is under investigation) is equivalent to the wide swath of Republicans who have been convicted, indicted, or are under investigation. […]
Hume had previously asked Roll Call editor Morton M. Kondracke whether the indictment “change[s] … the political equation” on the issue of corruption and whether it “deprive[s] the Democrats of [the] issue” and “help[s] the Republicans in their efforts to try to say, ‘Look, you know, they’re no different than we were?’ “
Hume’s ridiculous framing of the corruption as applying to both sides equally is to be expected — he is, after all, Fox News’ Brit Hume — but Birnbaum has to realize that one indicted Dem does not a “bipartisan” scandal make.
We’re talking about one guy here. One. Media Matters listed Republican members of Congress and Bush administration officials who have either pleaded guilty, been convicted, or been indicted, and came up with nine guys (Cunningham, Ney, DeLay, Safavian, Libby, Griles, Foggo, Crawford, and Korsmo), which doesn’t even include some low-ranking Republicans, such as Claude Allen, who was busted for shoplifting, or Mark Foley, whose interest in congressional pages is well documented.
For that matter, if we expand the circle a bit to include GOP lawmakers facing criminal investigations right now, the list finds six more (Doolittle, Lewis, Miller, Renzi, Burns, and Weldon), which doesn’t even include Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who appears to be of interest to FBI investigators right now.
“Bipartisan”? Please.
And let’s also not forget how the competing parties reacted to corruption scandals in their midst.
Even before the indictment against Jefferson was issued, congressional Democrats spoke out against him, distanced themselves from him, and removed him from power committee assignments. The Democratic leadership made clear they had no tolerance for Jefferson’s alleged crimes, and pivoted off his indictment to introduce a massive new ethics reform measure.
And then there’s the GOP. When Cunningham was exposed, House Republicans defended him. When DeLay was about to be indicted, they considered changing their own rules to let him stay in the leadership. When Ney was investigated, they stood by him. Indeed, the standard Republican strategy was to blame prosecutors, blame the media, make excuses, and defend the accused.
Even now, none of the current lawmakers facing criminal investigations have been ostracized for what appears to be a series of scandalous decisions, while most of the party wants a pardon (amnesty?) for a convicted felon caught lying and obstructing justice in the Plame leak scandal.
Looking at the two parties, there’s simply no comparison. For Birnbaum to suggest that Jefferson “makes the allegations of corruption bipartisan” is absurd.