Are 2010 Dems as corrupt as the 2006 GOP?

[babylonsister]

Are 2010 Dems as corrupt as the 2006 GOP?
Of course not. But the media seems to be buying the GOP's false equivalence Video
By Joan Walsh

Reuters/ Salon

Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay/Salon composite


snip//

But this is another dramatic case of the double standard the media can't seem to avoid when it comes to Republicans and Democrats. The big difference between the two sets of scandals is that GOP corruption in 2006 was big-time, it was systemic -- and much of it was covered up, ignored and, in some cases (House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, anyone?), perpetrated by congressional leadership. Nancy Pelosi's team came in and developed ethics standards and investigation protocols that are working in the Rangel case, standards that many Republicans, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, opposed.

If you simply examine the corruption scandals, there is no comparison. (This post by the great Joe Conason is a must-read.)

Rangel is accused of taking a free trip to the Caribbean and failing to report $70,000 in rental income on his taxes (though there are other allegations being investigated); disgraced GOP Rep. Duke Cunningham admitted he took $2 million in bribes. Rangel gave up his committee chairmanship (admittedly reluctantly) once he was admonished by the House Ethics Committee this week; Tom DeLay didn't resign his leadership post after he was admonished by the House Ethics Committee, or cited for campaign finance violations by the FEC.

And unlike Democrats, Republicans rallied around their corrupt leader. Unbelievably, the House GOP changed its own rules so that DeLay could stay on as majority leader even if he was indicted.

Indeed, DeLay was indicted, and he finally resigned his speaker post after that. But it took him months to resign his House seat.

There's also nothing on the Democratic side like the Jack Abramoff scandal, which tainted a lot of GOP Congress members and reached up into the Bush White House (where Karl Rove's secretary was a former Abramoff employee; the two men enjoyed dinners and basketball games together). The Abramoff scandal resulted in the conviction of GOP Rep. Bob Ney, two Bush White House officials and nine GOP congressional aides.

snip//

I could go on. Clearly corruption and sexual high jinks go on in both parties. But Republicans tend to rally 'round their wrongdoers, and Republican leadership protects them, while Democrats have done a demonstrably better job dealing with their messes, which are also smaller potatoes than what we witnessed with DeLay and Abramoff. But will voters be able to tell the difference? Not if the media collude with Republicans to push a false equivalence.

more...

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joan_walsh/politics/2010/03/05/false_equiv_scandal/index.html

[philly_bob]

1. The governor of New York got free tickets to a New York world series. (nt)

[Historic NY]

5. the Yankee's & Met's took taxpayer money & then some to build...

of course they priced themselve out of the ballgame lots of empty seats. I don't have a problem with free seats its done all the time.

[philly_bob]

6. I probably should have been clearer. My point was it's No Big Deal.

Democratic scandals are usually small potatoes considering the hypocrisies and vast sums involved in Republican scandsls.

[Tippy]

2. K&R... Info on Scandals who did what when

My memory is not to good anymore and all the talk about who did what, when was getting to me so I did a little searching.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_scandals_of_the_United_States

[babylonsister]

3. Here's a link I keep around for old times' sake...

it hasn't been updated in a long time, but it's pretty revealing.

http://www.republicanoffenders.com/

[Tippy]

4. That is a good one I have used it may times but lost my link...Thanks