Big Dogs Weblog

Democrats Tackle Corruption

by Big Dog on Nov 16, 2006 at 19:11 Political

For a very long time, what seems like decades, the Democrats have been trumping up the story of the Republican culture of corruption. That became a battle cry and of course, some Republicans helped them out by being corrupt. Every time a Republican was caught with his hands in the cookie jar it was front page news and the emails from the DNC blasted away. When Democrats did something illegal, nary a word was uttered. William Jefferson gets caught with tens of thousands of dollars he obtained illegally and all the Democrats (and some Republicans) could talk about was an imagined protection in the Constitution. The Speech and Debate clause does not apply to criminal activity, or any activity that is not part of their work. Many courts have ruled that the clause does not protect criminal behavior but then again, the behavior was ignored anyway.

I have often stated that corruption runs across both aisles and that people from both parties are involved. I have stated that we need to get rid of anyone involved in criminal activity, preferably by sending them to jail. But the Democrats seem not to notice their corruption. They have ignored the obvious illegal dealings of Harry Reid and the MSM is an accomplice in that they do not pursue those types of allegations until their candidates are safely in office. Word now has it that Reid had dealings (more than we are aware of) with Jack Abramoff. Anyone taking bets he is one of the 6 or so Abramoff was talking about?

So now the Democrats are going to be in charge. They have promised to get the Congress in order and to ensure that it is the most ethical place in the world. That is not going to happen because absolute power corrupts, absolutely. Today they voted for the House Majority leader. Steny Hoyer of Maryland beat out Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania. It was actually a rout and handed Nancy Pelosi her first defeat because she was pushing hard for Murtha to win.

Here is how they have managed to make it a more ethical place. Murtha, the one Pelosi preferred, was involved in ABSCAM 26 years ago and escaped indictment by turning on the others involved. He lied in an interview with Chris Matthews and said that he did not know about others and that he was only interested in bringing business to his district. In the film of the incident he clearly mentions two of the others by name and tells the undercover agent that they are no good for this and that if they want things done Murtha is their man. He is also seen trying to figure out how to take a bribe. Hoyer has taken a little over 5 million dollars from lobbyists and special interest groups. I wonder if he was one of Jack Abramoff’s clients? Alcee Hastings is set to be in charge of the Intelligence Committee. Hastings was a federal judge and in 1989 was impeached and removed from the bench because of corruption and taking bribes. These are just three of the stellar performers that the Democrats will trot out to run things.

It appears that Pelosi has handled the culture of corruption and reformed things. Instead of the corrupt members of the Republican Party being in charge, the corrupt members of the Democratic Party are. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Source:
UPI

Tags: Political