The American Spectator

Political Hay

One of the favorite terms of endearment employed by the left in pursuit of their return to power is that their enemies constitute a "culture of corruption." You can hardly swing a cat around Democrats these days without getting an earful about Republican corruption. Indeed, if one navigates to the Democrats.org website, they can view a rather neat graphic of file folders tied together with string called "The Corruption Files."

The four folders highlighted by our Democratic friends are titled, "Corruption/Abuse of Power," "Cronies," "Smear Campaigns" and "Coverups/Stonewalling." Now before someone quips that this sounds like a to-do list for the Clinton Administration, remember that these files purport to contain countless proofs of Republican skullduggery.

The first contains ten such items, only two of which have led to actual convictions: those of GOP crook Duke Cunningham and equal opportunity bribe-master Jack Abramoff. The eight others sport blurbs like, "Under Investigation," "Facing criminal & FEC investigations" and my favorite, "KY Governor Pardons Political Appointees." What a relief. For a minute there I was worried that he might have pardoned drug dealers, terrorists and international fugitives who donated big bucks to his campaign.

The "Cronies" folder lists six whole instances of mostly minor level officials with close, dark ties to President Bush, none of whom however is facing criminal charges. One wonders what the size of a similar dossier of Clinton cronies at the Cabinet level might have been. A good start would include Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, and Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary of Chinagate fame who banned the wearing of identification badges at government nuclear facilities because they were "discriminatory."

A trip to the "Coverups/Stonewalling" area is typical of liberal distortions. They make the bold and oft-repeated charge that "Army Chief of Staff General Shinseki was fired after he said that the occupation of Iraq would require several hundred thousand troops." Of course Shinseki announced his retirement in April of 2002, more than ten months before he made his comments in February of 2003.

Also included were startling accusations such as "Nuclear Power Industry Had Meeting With Energy Task Force" and "Under Newly Issued Rules, Higher Education Institutions Can Drop Women's Sports Programs If An Email Survey Fails to Demonstrate Sufficient Student Body Interest." Further proof that the audacity of these Republicans is quite beyond compare.

The "Smear Campaign" page is predictably filled with Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson nonsense but is no less entertaining. Moreover, only the Democrats could shout that "O'Neill Fired For Expressing Misgivings Over Bush's Additional Tax Cuts." Technically, the former Treasury Secretary resigned, but who save liberals would find it newsworthy that a boss would fire an underling for publicly criticizing one of his signature policies?

For more evidence of the culture of corruption, look no further than the liberal media; from the DNC's lips to pundits' pens as it were. Reliably, liberal columnist Bill Press came through with a piece called, "We Still Have Tom DeLay To Kick Around," a rollicking roundup of allegations against the former House Majority Leader.

Press calls him mean, ruthless, abusive, divisive and, oh yes, a hypocrite because, "He attacked 'activist judges' while trying to force federal judges to take over the Terri Schiavo case." Will liberals never understand that activist judges are those who make law rather than adjudicate it. In the Schiavo case, those who are tasked with making law did just that, only to be rebuffed by precisely this sort of judiciary.

He next charges, "Even the big 'pro-family' foundation he headed -- with his wife on the payroll -- turned out to be nothing but a political attack machine, with most of the funds used to run TV ads against Democrats." It takes no small amount of chutzpah for a Clintonista like Press to use the phrases "his wife" and "political attack machine" in the same sentence, but such is the strategy when your side has no real ideas.

Tom DeLay may or may not be guilty of the charges brought against him by grand-jury shopping prosecutor Ronnie Earle, and may indeed be part of a culture of corruption. If so, he joins a much larger group; one that's populated with folks of both political stripes. But the boiling rage Democrats exhibit on this topic are a prime example of the kettle calling the pot black.

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