L.A. Times: The Democrat Culture of Corruption

From http://patriotroom.com/

Sorry Barry, your big win last month turned Washington into a one Party town. Now, it’s all about the Democrats. And the Libs at the L.A.Times are beginning to eat their own.

The arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich on Tuesday marked the latest in a series of scandals involving Democratic politicians — an ironic turn for a party that won control of Congress in 2006 in part by saying it would end a “culture of corruption” under Republican leadership. . . .

The corruption charges against Blagojevich come as one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress, Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is under investigation by a House ethics panel. . . .

Democratic Rep. William J. Jefferson of Louisiana is awaiting trial on charges of bribery, money laundering and misusing his congressional office. He has pleaded not guilty. On Saturday, Jefferson was ousted from his House seat in a runoff election.

Earlier this year, Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York resigned after revelations that he was a regular customer of an elite call-girl ring.

And Democrats were . . . wait for it . . . shocked about this whole Blagojevich Yard Sale of the Senate Seat.

The allegations against Blagojevich — including that he solicited favors to influence his decision about who should replace Obama in the Senate — were shocking to Democrats.

“It straightened my hair,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

And the Times breaks the bad news - the Republicans could actually win back some seats in 2010 as a result of scandals like these. But the Democrats are confident, because they have made ethics reform a top priority. Hmmmm. Ethics reform for whom?

The political risk for Democrats is that voters will be as repulsed by the ethics problems as they were by the scandals that contributed to the defeat of former GOP Reps. Tom DeLay of Texas, Bob Ney of Ohio, Mark Foley of Florida and others.

Democrats won those and other House seats in districts that had been reliably Republican, and the party made ethics an issue in the 2006 elections that delivered control of Congress to Democrats.

But Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), chairman of the committee responsible for helping elect Democrats to the House, said he thought the political damage would be limited to those engaged in wrongdoing because the party leadership had made ethics reform a priority.

So the GOP ads for 2010 show Blago, Rangel, Jefferson, and Spitzer all doing the perp walk with the word Corruption slamming down on top. Then show Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Reid, Pelosi, and Obama recklessly throwing taxpayer money at the Big 3 automakers, the unions, and every other poorly managed business with political connections to Washington.

Works for me.