If you are trying to keep track, let's see if we can recap the year to date (I am sure I will miss something):
- First there was the Abramoff lobbying scandal starring Bob Ney.
- Never to be outdone, Cunningham lived more like a Machiavellian Prince than a Duke.
- DeLay may or may not have broken any campaign finance laws, but he sure did his best to make it look like he did.
- I have already discussed Mark Foley and his follies on this blog.
Now, it seems, Curt Weldon is under investigation for an alleged incident in which he may have used his congressional ties to secure cushy lobbying and consulting jobs for his daughter and a close friend. Though the alleged incident occured more than 2 years ago, investigators raided his daughter's home this weekend...just in time for some big media before this 10-term congressman faces a tough opponent in the November midterms. What luck!
Now it doesn't take any fancy degrees to tell you that public figures should avoid anything that even appears like impropriety. Ney, Cunningham, DeLay, Foley, and Weldon each have knowingly engaged in activities that regardless of actual illegalities are absolutely questionable. Because of this, the Dems, media, and general public have already found them to be guilty. And this sentiment has tainted the rest of our party.
Rightly so! Our party gained control of congress twelve years ago when we were able to successfully show that we had a clear plan to serve the nation. The Class of '94 was so popular because they had shown that Democrats couldn't be trusted and the Republicans had defined a plan to increase the quality of life while improving the budget and lowering taxes, simultaneously.
Lately, the grand elephants of the GOP have come to bear a striking resemblance to the asses of the Democratic Party. We have mastered pork barrel spending, overspending, and now the congressional scandal. What we have forgotten is how to maintain a healthy cynicism of big government and how to portray Democrat policies as too big brotherish.
I hate to say that we no longer deserve control of Congress. When I looked at the Drudge Report this morning and saw Nancy Pelosi's portrait with the caption "21 Days," I shivered with fear that this particular liberal could potentially be the next Speaker of the House.
Still, if the GOP were to narrowly maintain control of the House, it would only be nominally. Whichever party takes control would be unable to pass significant legislation without some help from the moderates of the other party but would bear liability for the wrongs that occur in the government over the next two years. Basically, all of the responsibility of congressional leadership without the benefits. It could benefit the Republican party to narrowly lose control of the House this year and let the Democrats take some blame for a while.
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