If you aren’t registered you should be.
Give me a frigging break. Now the house pubbies want to prohibit ethics investigations?
What have we got ourselves into? Screw them.
How long before the pubbies just place themselves above the law?
I imagine Bob Packwood is dancing a jig at this very moment…
But they don’t have to place themselves above the law - much easier just to change it to suit their needs.
Not to support what’s being done on the Ethics committee, but, hadn’t Packwood been pilloried by Democrats? If I’m wrong in my memory of this, I’ll apologize for the hijack.
The Senate Ethics Committee vote to expel Packwood was unanimous. He resigned before the issue went to the full Senate. Linkety link.
Did you think it was a partisan witch hunt? Why?
Thanks, ElvisL1ves.
Otakuloki, Packwood did himself in. The women that testified weren’t tracked down, they came forward on their own. Not to mention, the man wrote some very damning evidence in his own journal.
Maureen, and ElvisL1ves, my understanding of what happened to Packwood had been mostly formed by reading ahem Anne Coulter’s account. At the time that the whole mess was coming down around his ears, I was still in the Navy, and mostly underway. News reports were less regular than mail service, and ElvisL1ves may remember my complaints about that. 
Certainly nothing on the NOW page that ElvisL1ves linked actually contradicts what I recall of the account I’d read. But, since then I’ve paid a bit more attention to her screeds and have been less than impressed, so I’m not claiming that her interpretation or my memory (on this issue, at least) are accurate, let alone infallible.
Ooooooooooh, the blond harpy. Yeah, I tend to tune her out.
Packwood was derided by members of both parties, including Sen. Rick Santorum (hehehehehee, Santorum, sorry, I know I’m being childish, but it’s so fitting…)
“Iinformed” and “Ann Coulter” in the same sentence. That’s just wrong.
But she uses footnotes, I tells ya! Footnotes!
Without commenting on the merits of the proposal, you are aware, I assume, that if it were to pass it would become equally difficult for the Republicans to initiate BS partisan ethics investigations against Democrats as the converse, right?
But that’s equally unacceptable. I don’t care what side of the fence the person in question comes down on, manny. If they fucked up, then they fucked up.
On the brighter side, it may mean we don’t have to hear any more pious, hypocritical nonsense about how they’re restoring honor and dignity to American politics.
We can always hope so, anyway.
manny, got any recent examples of “BS partisan” ethics investigations you’d like to lay out for us to show what won’t happen anymore?
True dat. And again, I don’t have a position on this yet. But I will say that just as you want to get the bad guys (or investigate the possibly bad guys, as the case may be), you want to prevent a group of bad guys from ganging up and going after someone innocent out of partisan pique. The proposal would essentially require at least one person from each party on the committee to find that an investigation is appropriate. That doesn’t sound so bad on its face.
[b[Manny**, Tom DeLay (R-Undead) is a weeping pustule. You guys don’t watch it, Texas ethical standards will become the norm, and that is not a good thing.
w/o commenting on the merits of the proposal, you are aware, I would assume, that the concern is that it would also make it harder to initiate legitimate investigations, right? and at at time when there’s a certain amount of controversy surrounding Mr. DeLay? that all either party would have to do is control/cajole members of their own party?
Not lately – as you doubtless know, both parties have been in something of a truce over that sort of thing.
But if the truce is ended with the DeLay investigation, this might be something the Democrats benefit from. Any proposed retaliatory shot would have to gain the concurrance of at least one Democrat on the committee.
Don’t get me wrong – politically, the Democrats should and will scream bloody murder about this and score points appropriately. But realistically, it could be a very good thing for them for them to get outvoted on this. Since they can vote as a bloc and still lose the point and win the day, that’s exactly what they should do. But let’s not pretend it’s anything but politics.
My recollection is that at least one Republican member voted to initiate the two recent investigations of DeLay – I know that at least one Republican voted for the rebukes he got. If my memory is correct, this change would not have helped him. Am I correct? I don’t claim certainty on this matter.
Yes. That’s why I don’t have a position just yet – I’m still thinking about it. That said, Congress is still a political body. If DeLay were to be indicted, for example, I have complete confidence that no amout of cajoling could convince all five members to prevent further investigation of him.
Full disclosure: I loathe Tom DeLay. He’s like a Betty Noyer, ya know? As a recovering Texan, I have followed Texas politics at a safe remove. I have become increasingly dismayed at the disproportion of Texas as a political center, and its malignant impact on our beloved country.
You live in New York, right? You think you know something about political corruption. I remind you of Upton Sinclair’s remark: There are two things no civilized person should have to know. One is what really goes into sausage, and the other is what a Texas politician does for his daily bread. Honeyboy, he ain’t shitting one little bit.
The fate of our nation rests in the hands of the honest conservatives. I include you, with the boundless optimism that I commit no flattery. I have said this before: if the nation finally sickens of GeeDubya (from my lips to the ears of Allah!), the first bellwhether would be the fall of DeLay. If GeeDubya gets to be a political liability, congresscritters will do the rat-dive, overboard. If they lose their fear of DeLay, the blood will be in the water.
This latest set of moves are intended either to demonstrate DeLay’s power or to protect it. And if ever a Congressman’s behavior rated a thorough investigation, its him. Google Tom Delay and ethics. Take a sandwhich, you’ll be a while.
How about, um, slightly less recent, then? As in *before * the last inauguration, perhaps? Something you might have actually tolerated, on the nakedly-political grounds you now deplore? Jog your memory any?
What DeLay investigation? What vote? Earth to Manny: DeLay’s own party controls the committee. DeLay controls the party in the House, including assigning all committee chairmen, including the one who’d have to go along with this. Much, much easier to dismiss any legitimate investigation into him as partisan sniping and sour grapes, ain’t it?