Wall Street Journal Editorial Board consigns Republicans to minority now and "for years to come"

[UpInArms]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120372725916587297.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Extortion and money laundering are usually the province of gangsters, not Western Congressmen. That changed yesterday with the indictment of GOP Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona on charges that he used his seat on the House Natural Resources Committee to enrich himself through a trail of payoffs on land deals.

Prosecutors allege that Mr. Renzi used his clout to push land sales that could then be traded for other property owned by the federal government. Companies that wanted to trade acreage in exchange for federal land they considered promising for mining opportunities were encouraged to buy property belonging to one of Mr. Renzi's business partners. In return, they were promised a smooth ride with the committee on the land swaps. When the sales went through, the Congressman allegedly got a cut of the proceeds from his pal, at least $733,000.

<snip>

The Renzi episode is the residue of what might be called the Tom DeLay era of Congressional rule, when keeping power for its own sake became the GOP goal. Current Republican leaders, now and perhaps for years to come in the minority, tell us they resent our antiearmarking editorials. But Republicans aren't going to win back voter trust if they don't once again become the party of reform and modest government, instead of dubious land swaps.

[ThomWV]

1. Its not the Tom Delay era of corruption - its the Ronald Reagan Era of Corruption come to maturity

[cloudythescribbler]

2. Quibble: the heading misrepresents the WSJ -- they said "PERHAPS" ... "for years to come"

There's a VERY big difference between saying they expect that the Repukes (their favored party) WILL or PROBABLY WILL be consigned to the minority in Congress for years to come, and PERHAPS they will. The latter is carefully noncommittal. If DU were a MSM source, their lawyers would warn of 'defamation' issues.

(Not that I would worry, but it's good to know ...)








:shrug: B-)

[UpInArms]

3. not enough spaces to get it all in

sorry

:hi:

[disndat]

4. WSJ

still hasn't got it right. The G.O.P. problem is not as trivial as land deals, it's the brutal Bush regime's vast scheme to push the U.S. into a Banana Republic style government where the wealthy few rule and the rest are peons working for pennies to make the rich richer. They forgot that the biggest Republican supporters were the Reagan Democrats blue collar workers and the angry white male backlash that enabled the G.O.P. to dominate election after election, except for a short time Clinton who owed his presidency to Ross Perot. John McCain had a good chance of continuing the G.O.P. rule, until the recent NYT's report on McCain's lobbygate, soon followed by a cascade of reports on McCain's business and political dealings that revealed him to be as corrupt as Tom DeLay.

[rurallib]

5. Never used to believe anything in the WSJ and now that Murdoch

owns it, I can't imagine there has been any upgrade.