Republicans In Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_03/022807.php#more

REPUBLICANS IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULDN'T THROW STONES.... Of all the issues for Republicans to seize on, ethics in Congress may be the most tone-deaf of them all.

In the wake of a handful of Democratic scandals, Republicans are piling on, hoping to associate Democrats with the same stink that brought down the Republican majority: corruption. The GOP has tarred Democrats who accepted campaign money from Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), and continue to attack the Democratic leadership for what they call hypocrisy on ethics and transparency.

"Nancy Pelosi said in the very beginning that this is going to be the most open, honest ethical congress in history," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor on Meet the Press at the end of last month, "and what we are seeing is that she is breaking that promise every day."

Many in the media actually seem to be falling for this. The NYT had a piece the other day trying to draw parallels between some recent Dem controversies -- Paterson, Rangel, Massa -- and the Republicans' infamous culture of corruption in 2006. Even Time's Karen Tumulty, who usually knows better, lent credence to the idea.

So, let's clear things up a little. First, there's a quantitative difference. Have there been some Democrats who've run into trouble of late? Obviously, yes, but the list includes a modest number of isolated incidents.

In contrast, the corruption that overcame the Republican establishment during their reign of error was systemic and overwhelming. After a while, so many GOP officials were involved in scandals, the names started to blur together. Which one was Abramoff's buddy? Which one took bribes from defense contractors? Which one had his home raided by the FBI? Which one was locked up in a federal penitentiary? If Republicans really want to talk about ethical lapses, it's worth reminding them of names like DeLay, Cunningham, Ney, Foley, Lewis, Burns, Stevens, Craig, Vitter, Miller, and Renzi, among others.

snip//

In contrast, Dems cut their scandal-plagued allies off quickly. Paterson has no support. Massa is a pariah in Democratic circles. No one returns the phone calls of Rod Blagojevich or John Edwards.

And finally, the Republican argument is premised on the notion that the GOP scandals are a thing of the past, and now it's Dems' turn to look awful. But that's silly. Not only were there more scandal-plagued Republicans before, there are arguably more scandal-plagued Republicans now. Indeed, the entire ethics push comes as a sitting GOP senator is in the midst of a humiliating sex scandal involving likely crimes and ethics violations.

It's not just Ensign. In the midst of Republicans' new-found interest in propriety, the list of current GOP members with ethics troubles is already pretty long: Vitter, Sanford, Pete Sessions, Nathan Deal, Don Young, Ken Calvert, and others.

Do Republicans really want to go down this road?

—Steve Benen

[Raine1967]

1. Good Article.

I think it is important to note how quickly Dems cut the crap off soon and quick.

It's really frustrating -- IRT to Nathan Deal. he said he would step down in lights of an ethics scandal to run for governor and rescinded so he could vote NO on HCR.

Don't even get me started about Ensign.

[Kdillard]

2. Republicans have no shame or sense of the absurd. They better be careful

This doesn't turn around and bite them hard.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Thanks for posting

[liberal N proud]

4. Their hypocrisy allows them to do this without conscience

[Grown2Hate]

5. Well, as Demetri Martin says, maybe nobody should throw stones. That's just kinda crappy

behavior, throwing stones. Well, unless you're actually TRAPPED in a glass house... maybe then throwing stones is alright. There's no point or metaphor here... ::slowly slinks away::

[BlancheSplanchnik]

6. oh gosh...NUANCE again...

dang that complexity. Only black and white retooling of reality makes it into the public eye.

It's a sound bite world now.


(but that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep fighting to put intelligence into public discourse.)

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. To answer your last question:

Yes.