As Matt and I note in Caucus of Corruption, political corruption is not something which merely involves crooked politicians. What we mean is that the problem of corruption isn't that a politician takes a bribe - we can catch and convict a man who does that - but that when a politician takes or gives a bribe, it corrodes the entire political system. Evidence of this corrosion is evident in the case of Alcee Hastings, as noted in NRO's The Corner:
BLACK CAUCUS TO PELOSI: WE SUPPORT HASTINGS
[Byron York]
I'm told that the Congressional Black Caucus has sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi affirming the group's support for Alcee Hastings to become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. "The CBC sent a letter to Ms. Pelosi just to let her know that the CBC is behind Mr. Hastings 100 percent," CBC spokesman Myra Dandridge told me this afternoon. CBC officials declined to release the letter itself, but Dandridge told me it was sent yesterday, after CBC members discussed the Hastings issue at their weekly meeting on Wednesday.
Hastings, of course, was a federal judge who was impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate for taking a $150,000 bribe: and keep in mind that he was impeached and convicted by a Democrat majority in both houses. The man is, plain and simple, a crook - but he's also a living example of how corruption in politics isn't just about taking a bribe. Hastings, you see, has also corrupted his constituents - the fools who continually re-elect this crook to Congress. That was bad enough - but now he's also corrupted the Congressional Black Caucus who for God only knows what reason have decided that the perks and privileges of a crook are of more importance that the safety of the American people. And the worst part about it all is that the CBC may be trying to corrupt Congress as a whole, by placing pressure on Speaker-to-be Pelosi to put this crook in as Chairman of the Intelligence Committee.
We'll have to see if Pelosi is any bit of the new broom she and her backers claim - if she has any desire to combat corruption at all, she'll refuse to make Hastings a chaiman. The problem, of course, is that the reason we've got Speaker Pelosi rather than Speaker Hoyer is because back in 2003, the CBC provided the votes necessary to elevate Pelosi to the minority leader's post over Steny Hoyer. Does Nancy dare bite the hand that fed her? Does she have the guts to say to the CBC, "I appreciate your support, but such support is not worth putting a notorious criminal in charge of a House committee."?
Personally, I don't think so - but we shall see.
Posted by Mark Noonan at November 18, 2006 06:13 PM
Comments
Nancy Pelosi and the Dems have no interest in fighting corruption, they only have interest in gaining more power so that they can enjoy more of the fruits that corruption will bring them.
Posted by:
shoelimpyâ„¢ at November 18, 2006 07:42 PM
"Nancy Pelosi and the Dems have no interest in fighting corruption, they only have interest in gaining more power so that they can enjoy more of the fruits that corruption will bring them."
Wow Sheeplimpy, great insight...so how is that any different from the Repubs interests?
Posted by: Opus at November 18, 2006 07:55 PM
The Republicans are interested in trying to keep our country from being destroyed by Islamic extremists.
Posted by:
shoelimpyâ„¢ at November 18, 2006 08:07 PM
We should be interested in protecting our country from fundamentalists of every stripe.
Posted by:
Samuel Hammond at November 18, 2006 08:52 PM
".....impeached and convicted by a Democrat majority in both houses.." followed by ".....the CBC is behind Mr. Hastings 100 percent..." ----- that's the difference between the Dims and the Republicans
Posted by: Almiranta at November 18, 2006 09:22 PM
it doesn't look like pelosi does have much concern about corruption--or more likely simply equates politics with corruption (more real than we regular citizens would like)--what with her support for Murthabascam's candidacy (which he fortunately lost). Guess we'll have to see if race can trump corruption as more or less an issue in today's world of politics.
Posted by: Nate at November 18, 2006 10:45 PM
Opus,
The big difference is that Republican crooks are rejected by the Republican Party once verified as being crooks...Hastings is a known criminal and he's welcomed with open arms in to the Democratic House caucus...and it looks like he may be in charge of oversight on our intelligence agencies in war time...and if that doesn't make you shudder, then you are just a blind partisan.
Posted by: Mark Noonan at November 18, 2006 11:45 PM
Yay. The man doesnt even have a security clearance for his intended position, we would have two years of just trying to vet Hastings to make sure he isnt a security risk. Meanwhile no one is doing the job and things are getting missed.
Go ahead Pelosi, make a decision, this is exactly the kind of situation I have been waiting for since the dems claimed a mandate two weeks ago. Vaporize your claim of cleaning up politics or piss off half of your bloc...whats it going to be? Enjoy!
Posted by: Lose the Bongos at November 19, 2006 02:39 AM
This, is the same woman that called the GOP the party of the corrupt? What a lying, two-faced fool. She is power hungry, and wants to stack her
party with convicted criminals? Wow....but then again, there are many criminals among the Dems, though they act so righteous and condemning of the members of the Republican Party. Wow....it's
simply amazing, that people cannot see, that when
a Republican screws up, he/she-is "outta here"..
Not so with the Donks-they KEEP their jobs, and fight to stay, and this is a travisty. It has gone so down hill after Bill Clinton, that it is just pathetic. To think, that so many within that Administration were "dirty", and yet....they can point fingers at everyone else. Amazing. Who
and what is it going to take, to get AG Gonzales,
to start filing some charges and investigations into the behavior/activities of the likes of Reid,
Pelosi, etc. WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO START TO LAUNCH SOME OF THE INVESTIGATIONS INTO THIS CORRUPT DEM PARTY, AND FIGHT BACK, AND STOP ACTING
LIKE A BUNCH OF WIMPS?
GONZALES....WHERE ARE YOU, IN DOING YOUR JOB?
It should be okay, right people? Remember how a short while back, Slimy Bill Clinton, used and pointed Janet Reno into ANY directions he wanted to, in order to 'silence his critics, or make her the fallguy for his own ineptness, and also squash
any "real investigations into his/her activities, that should have been deemed illegal". Turnabout is real fair play, and in this case, there are alot of questions on these Dems and their activity
that needs some looking into.
Posted by: Jo at November 19, 2006 07:22 AM
We should be interested in protecting our country from fundamentalists of every stripe.
Spoken like a true Massachussetts blue-blood. A knock on evangelicals, no doubt. Yeah, Sammy-hammy, I'm really worried about those evangelical suicide bombers. Idiot...
Posted by: Redneck Restrictionist at November 19, 2006 07:38 AM
Tom Noe, the GOP fund-raiser at the heart of Ohio's biggest political scandal in a generation, was sentenced today to 27 months in a federal prison for illegally funneling money into President Bush’s re-election campaign.
Got another one. The level in the incompetent neocon swamp is starting to go down.
Posted by: Josh Keaton at November 20, 2006 04:00 PM
Please report any inappropriate comments to abuse (at) blogsforbush (dot) com. Be sure to include the title of the blog entry, the name of the commenter, and the text of the offending comment.
Post a comment
Nancy Pelosi and the Dems have no interest in fighting corruption, they only have interest in gaining more power so that they can enjoy more of the fruits that corruption will bring them.
"Nancy Pelosi and the Dems have no interest in fighting corruption, they only have interest in gaining more power so that they can enjoy more of the fruits that corruption will bring them."
Wow Sheeplimpy, great insight...so how is that any different from the Repubs interests?
The Republicans are interested in trying to keep our country from being destroyed by Islamic extremists.
We should be interested in protecting our country from fundamentalists of every stripe.
".....impeached and convicted by a Democrat majority in both houses.." followed by ".....the CBC is behind Mr. Hastings 100 percent..." ----- that's the difference between the Dims and the Republicans
it doesn't look like pelosi does have much concern about corruption--or more likely simply equates politics with corruption (more real than we regular citizens would like)--what with her support for Murthabascam's candidacy (which he fortunately lost). Guess we'll have to see if race can trump corruption as more or less an issue in today's world of politics.
Opus,
The big difference is that Republican crooks are rejected by the Republican Party once verified as being crooks...Hastings is a known criminal and he's welcomed with open arms in to the Democratic House caucus...and it looks like he may be in charge of oversight on our intelligence agencies in war time...and if that doesn't make you shudder, then you are just a blind partisan.
Yay. The man doesnt even have a security clearance for his intended position, we would have two years of just trying to vet Hastings to make sure he isnt a security risk. Meanwhile no one is doing the job and things are getting missed.
Go ahead Pelosi, make a decision, this is exactly the kind of situation I have been waiting for since the dems claimed a mandate two weeks ago. Vaporize your claim of cleaning up politics or piss off half of your bloc...whats it going to be? Enjoy!
This, is the same woman that called the GOP the party of the corrupt? What a lying, two-faced fool. She is power hungry, and wants to stack her
party with convicted criminals? Wow....but then again, there are many criminals among the Dems, though they act so righteous and condemning of the members of the Republican Party. Wow....it's
simply amazing, that people cannot see, that when
a Republican screws up, he/she-is "outta here"..
Not so with the Donks-they KEEP their jobs, and fight to stay, and this is a travisty. It has gone so down hill after Bill Clinton, that it is just pathetic. To think, that so many within that Administration were "dirty", and yet....they can point fingers at everyone else. Amazing. Who
and what is it going to take, to get AG Gonzales,
to start filing some charges and investigations into the behavior/activities of the likes of Reid,
Pelosi, etc. WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO START TO LAUNCH SOME OF THE INVESTIGATIONS INTO THIS CORRUPT DEM PARTY, AND FIGHT BACK, AND STOP ACTING
LIKE A BUNCH OF WIMPS?
GONZALES....WHERE ARE YOU, IN DOING YOUR JOB?
It should be okay, right people? Remember how a short while back, Slimy Bill Clinton, used and pointed Janet Reno into ANY directions he wanted to, in order to 'silence his critics, or make her the fallguy for his own ineptness, and also squash
any "real investigations into his/her activities, that should have been deemed illegal". Turnabout is real fair play, and in this case, there are alot of questions on these Dems and their activity
that needs some looking into.
We should be interested in protecting our country from fundamentalists of every stripe.
Spoken like a true Massachussetts blue-blood. A knock on evangelicals, no doubt. Yeah, Sammy-hammy, I'm really worried about those evangelical suicide bombers. Idiot...
Tom Noe, the GOP fund-raiser at the heart of Ohio's biggest political scandal in a generation, was sentenced today to 27 months in a federal prison for illegally funneling money into President Bush’s re-election campaign.
Got another one. The level in the incompetent neocon swamp is starting to go down.