I just got back from another trip to the desert so I have been catching up on all the news and found this interesting. Delay is obviously high up on the list but he is not the worst offender. I went through the first 30 congressman and 11 were Republican and only 3 out of the top ten were.
So why is Delay catching so much heat for something that all but 4 of the 598 on the list did also? I think it is mostly because the Democrats know Delay is effective at what he does and look at this as a chance to get rid of him. Of course they can’t come out and condem him themselves because they know they are guilty of the same thing so they just feed stuff to the media “off the record” Dan Rather-style. Ask Connie Chung how that works.
I know all the liberals think Fox News is nothing but conservative propaganda but when they were reporting on this they had a Republican strategist and a Democratic one also and they had a real debate with both sides, in my opinion, making some good points. I flipped to CNN and they had Soledad O’Brien and some woman from Time magazine, which, again in my opinion leans left, ripping into Delay.
I thought that summed up nicely the difference between CNN and Fox news.
Maybe, because DeLay has a leadership position, it is important that he set appropriate standards for the rest of the politicians?
If (and I use the word if) DeLay is committing improper acts, then as leader, he is saying to everyone else that it is okay to do so.
At the same time, I think it is important that we work to strengthen the ability of government to enforce ethical behaviour, especially given their propensity to feed at the pork barrel.
These principles should obviously apply to both parties and anyone in a leadership position – I’m not taking shots at DeLay or republicans here. Go after everyone, that is fine by me.
I look at it like a big adult playground. A lot of politicians will do the same thing, but there is always one who goes a little too far at the wrong time.
I can’t be naieve enough to think that all politicians are just squeaky clean civil servants. It is realy just a matter of who was doing what, and who was looking when it happened.
It’s like a High Stakes game of “I’m telling!”.
Vroom - I don’t think the rest of congress has paid attention to any leadership wrt the travel problems that has surfaced as a result of the ‘Kill Delay Now’ witch hunt. There are over 500 folks who have done the same thing. Some of these dating back to the 80’s.
If Delay fries, so should the entire Democratic side of the aisle. The problem I have is not so much with what they did, but the way the dems pinned their ears back and went for Delay’s throat - knowing full well that they were just as guilty.
[quote]vroom wrote:
Maybe, because DeLay has a leadership position, it is important that he set appropriate standards for the rest of the politicians?
If (and I use the word if) DeLay is committing improper acts, then as leader, he is saying to everyone else that it is okay to do so.
At the same time, I think it is important that we work to strengthen the ability of government to enforce ethical behaviour, especially given their propensity to feed at the pork barrel.
These principles should obviously apply to both parties and anyone in a leadership position – I’m not taking shots at DeLay or republicans here. Go after everyone, that is fine by me.[/quote]
vroom:
I would agree with your sentiment, however I would not want government service to seem so predatory that good people refuse to serve.
What does it have to do with Delay’s ethical problems, You can’t take money from lobbyists—that’s what Delay is accused of, this is a travel list–leave it to FOX to conflate something, and Rainjack to fall for it.