The "ethics reform bill" now making its way through Congress marks the end, for now at least, of any serious effort to reform the earmark process. This is a sad thing for the Republican Party. Through all of modern history, up until the last two or three years, the Republicans were the party of clean government. It was the Democrats who were associated with bribes, corruption, machine politics, and so on. The idea that the current Republican leaders in Congress--I am thinking especially of Mitch McConnell--are willing to throw away this heritage, and join with the Democrats in suppressing any serious effort at reform--is profoundly depressing.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Hinderaker: McConnell Throwing Away Heritage To Join Unethical Democrats
Leading Republican commentator John Hinderaker of Powerline blog wrote an important piece today highlighting Mitch McConnell's refusal to see how ethics problems are ruining the Republican Party's election hopes. As if Tom DeLay, Mark Foley, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, and Conrad Burns were not enough in 2006, now Mitch McConnell is conspiring with Harry Reid to allow Ted Stevens to keep his committee assignments while the Democrat leader is prolonging this embarrassment to the GOP and running laps around the Louisville liberal. Now Mitch McConnell is going to give the Democrats another victory by giving them the allusion of strength in passing a bill that is nothing but a condemnation of the Republican Party: