Celebrating Political Sleaze

AP: Conservatives Honor DeLay With Gala. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, facing an audience of conservative well-wishers who reject as politically motivated the ethics questions that have dogged him for months, on Thursday night fired back at Democrats by calling them members of a party with no ideas and "no class."

Prediction: Videotapes from this event will be used against some Republicans in upcoming political campaigns.

Comments

[Jack Krupansky]

Further predictions: 1) Democrats will get all excited and pat themselves on the back for running embarrassing Republican video clips, and 2) The running of the video clips won't change the outcome of the mid-term elections one iota.

Another prediction: It may take *decades* for the Democrats to wake up and realize that they actually have to offer something appealing to the center-right fence-sitters in order to reclaim power, and that cheap "stunts" that play to the "choir" don't attract outsiders.

The level of support that remains for DeLay is an indicator of how far the Democrats have to "travel" before they are once again "in the groove".

For better or worse (mostly worse), a huge chunk of the American people simply want "action", they want "ends" and could care less about any untidiness of "means". Sad, but true, no matter what the rest of us think.

-- Jack Krupansky

[Owen]

Jack's probably right, which is a sad commentary on the state of common sense. It's not enough to prove illegal and unethical behavior, hypocrisy and abuse of power any more. Apparently we also must expect total virtue and apolitical interest on the part of the accusers to command any respect for the charges...sort of a "disparage the rape victim" mentality.

The GOP has certainly laid out an extraordinarily high standard here. I know we can count on the administration and Congressional Republicans to apply it to their own actions and words with equal zeal.

[Dan Chmielewski]

Not sure why so many words are in quotations here, but I just don't buy into the notion the Democrats are that broken of a party. Bush won the last presidential race by the smallest margin of any incumbent president and the expansion of Republicans in the House and Senate can be hinged upon the wedge issues, like Gay marriage, that made it on to so many ballots.

How much longer can the Republicans play off of 9/11, a war they continue to justify with changable reasons, an economic "receovery" that is jobless and rising federal deficits that every economist worth his/her salt says threatens to choke our economy? So much for the crowd that promised not to pass on its problems and burdens to future generations.

The country is more purple than the right-wing media would like it to believe. DeLay's strong arm tactics and "support" will only last as long as he holds his position. Former speaker Jim Wright was forced out for less. But didn't go about changing the rules to save his political skin that way DeLay has. Can you imagine the right-wing media frenzy if President Clinton had somehow managed to do the same things DeLay has done?

Sorry, I disagree that the American people don't care about the means to an end. There are a number of us who care a great deal about the process and journey. I'd agrue that we care deeply about the accountability that is so lacking in this administration and this Congress.

[Scote]

Personally, I'm tired of the Republican Lobbyist Lovefest. Delay is a poster boy for campaign finance reform.

[Anspar Jonte]

Seeing Bush "elected" the second time around, I'm convinced it doesn't matter what the Republicans do. They've got elections sewn up.

[Al]

The Republicans have the elections "sewn up" because they have ideas. The left has none. All they offer is hatred right now. You can't win on hate. They call themselves "progressives". It's a joke because they are for more of the status quo in just about everything. No fixing of Social Security. Don't drill for oil when it's clear that we need a buffer. Don't fix the schools, just throw more money at it. Don't try to fix healthcare, let's have the government take it over. Everything is negative and backwards!
I don't agree with everything about DeLay, but the guy is under a coordinated attack. Hillary's campiagn advisor is in TRIAL right now and we barely hear about it. As I mentioned in Dan's other post "Journalistic Ethics, Codes of", if the people who are attacking were shamed into applying their revelations across the board, then maybe something would be done about the corruption.
As long as the accusations are strictly politcal in nature, we'll never get a better system.
You lefty's can hate Republicans all you want, but your attacks are insincere; they are about acquiring power, not bettering the system. Enough of the public knows this and, thus, the Dem's will keep losing. Heck, they've been losing since the early 90's. Clinton had to "act" Right to win. Hillary is trying it now (for one, appeasing some of the anti-abortion groups.) Now the Dem's go more left with Howard Dean. It's not going to be pretty for the Dems. But, we can probably count on the Republicans to screw up!

Dan Chmielewski: the election results are worse than you think. You can try to spin it, but Bush increased is numbers in just about every group. Couple it with a massive effort on the left AND the fact that Kerry had to "act" Right. Bush ran as a solid conservative. He did not shy away from it. Kerry's record was never mentioned; they had to hide his liberalism. Remember him hunting in Ohio? The country is even more red than you guys think.

[Ran Talbott]

"Bush ran as a solid conservative."

Bush ran as Skippy the War Kangaroo, and poll after poll has shown that the majority of his supporters have little or no idea what his real positions are. When asked about what he actually does, the majority disapprove.

"The country is even more red than you guys think."

In the 3 elections that voted in the current Senate, Democrats outpolled Republicans by 47.1% to 46%. In the latest House election, the vote was 45.5% Republican to 43.1% Democratic. Bush couldn't even pull a full 51%.

When the truth finally hits home for the 40% of Republicans who still believe the carefully-crafted Bushie lies about Iraq, the "red" will be on the faces of Republicans, not on Capitol Hill.

[Al]

Ran, where did the Senate come from? We were talking about Bush. The fact is his numbers basically increased across the board. He did very well.

Also, "Skippy the War Kangaroo", as you call him, ran on personal responsibility, reforming Social Security, reforming the tax system, marriage, etc. I'll say it again, he embraced a solidly conservative stance. Kerry, on the other hand, hid his record and focused on attacking Bush. He rarely said what he was for. As we can see, the Democrats, in general, have nothing to offer right now. You can't win on hate.

[Dan Chmielewski]

Al --
Are conservatives the pot or the kettle?

The right's hatred of Clinton set new standards in political divisions. Coodinated attacks of DeLay? What do you call the Swift Book Veterans for Truth? Now, Newsweek is being blamed by the Right Wing media for *all* the anti-Americanism in the Middle East for one small error (that the Koran was flushed, meanwhile there was widespread reports of US personnel kicking and throwing the book around which Muslims find equally offensive); hell, our own administration took less care into their research before launching us into this war, and I don't think Newsweek's managing editor gave orders at GitMo or Abu Gharib.

Coordinated attacks? Nine years and $70 million for investigations for a $600,000 unreported business loss for Whitewater with almost nothing to show for it and where's the federal investigation into $8.8 billion unaccounted for in Iraq? Conservatives complaining about a coordinated attack is like having the school yard bully whining about junior high kids stealing HIS lunch money.

Social Security wouldn't need fixing if the surplus wasn't continually raided to cover massive deficits created by an unnecessary war or unneeded taxcuts. Drilling for Oil in protected areas when their is no committment towards alternative fuels and --even as Bush says, "there is no energy policy" (and he's been president for 4+ years). Throw more money at education? Well, if "No Child Left Behind" and "special education" was fully funded to the Federal Governments full committment instead of having states and local districts putting up funds for unfunded federal mandates, our teachers would be well-paid and kids would have safe schools; NCLB just lets Bush have his cake and eat it too. The Gay Marriage initiative -- read the equal protection clause of the Constitution again and explain to me how -- constitutionally -- you can legislate morality. And please explain to me how allowing Gays and Lesbians to marry threatens *your* marriage?

Clinton didn't act "right" to get elected; he was moderate; I lived in Boston for years. Kerry is a hunter from way back so if you're going to criticize stunts, please don't forget the "Mission Accomplished" banner on a carrier delayed a day and turned around so W could fly out on it as a cost of about $1 million to taxpayers.

So the GOP is the party of ideas? I'd like to hear one that makes *any* sense.