Originally Posted By Darkbeer ElKay, I was responding directly to SuperDry post (#8), my post #9, was in direct response to it... He mentioned... >>Nice. This guy was the chairman of the House Intelligence subcommittee on terrorism and human intelligence. I'm glad we have such upstanding people looking after our nation's vital security interests.<< My post states... >>We've all heard how Tom DeLay was allegedly flown all over the country on Abramoff's clients' tab. But what we don't hear much about is that two Democratic congressmen, James E. Clyburn of South Carolina and now the vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, along with Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, now the senior Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, were flown to the Northern Mariana Islands in the mid-1990s, paid in part by Jack Abramoff. And the list of Democratic culpability in the Abramoff affair goes on.<< Senior Democrat of Homeland Security, isn't that basically the same as SuperDry mentioned. Then SuperDry talks about GOP scandals... >>a stock sale by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is being looked at by regulators<< Isn't is also important to note that the Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is also being looked at for improper acts...
Originally Posted By ElKay Not convinced, DB. A passing reference is usually OK by most folks here, but posting two articles that specualte a POSSIBLE problem for Sen. Reid is not really "Hoyle," at least IMO. It's a kneejerk response in this Cunningham scandal. Cunningham admitted to using his influence in order to secure a contract for INTELLIGENCE work during a time that our country is at war. Beyond the "normal" corruption, this scandal has concrete ramifications IF the receipent was in fact passed over by the government agencies that needed the work done. That's the major issue about Cunningham, not who's party peddled the influence. Unlike the Fitzpatrick investigation into Rove or other Admin. officials, there's actually a significant body of reporting that warrants discussion. If you have a direct report against Sen. Reid, other Dems OR other GOP members, then again, make a new threat. Don't hijack a thread just to make political points.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Something is seriously wrong with the system when most enter it to provide good public service and end up doing special interest service to the highest bidder. >>> What's so maddening abou this is that it's the voters that allow and in fact encourage this sort of thing. The reaction of the voters en masse makes it quite clear that they will respond to whomever tells them whatever platitude they want to hear that year, and don't hold elected officials accountable for doing what they said they'd do last time. <<< Then SuperDry talks about GOP scandals... >>> If there are Democrats caught up in the Abramoff scandal, then they deserve to go down as well. As someone else said, I think some of the reaction is not meant to point out GOP scandals, but in response to some people's posting habits whereby they jump on the chance at any opportunity to point out something that a Democrat did wrong, yet are silent when Republicans do something wrong (or at the very least, wait and see if someone else will bring up the subject, then respond with a rebuttal of sorts). If you were to look at only these people's posts, you'd get a very distorted vision of what the current situation is in American politics. And, it seems that some of these people have what appears to be an unlimited time budget to keep up with all of this and post here copiously. There's no way that I'm ever going to bring "fair and balanced" coverage of current events here to WE, but sometimes a situation just begs to be brought up. Personally, I wish that DeLay and scoundrels that are like him would get thrown out of office, either through a conviction based on wrongdoing should that have occurred, or by the voters when they come to there senses. I want my party back!
Originally Posted By ElKay Excellent thoughts, SuperDry! If Sen. Reid does get indicted, then he should step down just as DeLay did. If Sen. Reid or any other Dems get convicted of usurping the public trust, then they should serve time in jail, as I hope DeLay will lead the way for this colleagues.
Originally Posted By RC Collins 1. I'm glad this guy was busted. 2. I'm glad he pled guilty, instead of denying or making excuses. 3. I'm glad he resigned, instead of denying or making excuses. 4. I'm glad the GOP isn't denying or making excuses for this guy. People are flawed. This is why the founding fathers set up a system of checks and balances that didn't gave any one position too much unsupervised power. As citizens, voters, and taxpayers, we should encourage enforcement of anti-corruption laws, and not drink the Kool-Aid of party member protection.
