Cross posted GOP Ethics Retreat: Media Coverage Roundup & Commentary.
In a rare retreat, the Republican-led House on Wednesday overturned contentious rule changes made to the House ethics process, with Republicans saying they surrendered to the Democrats to try to restore a way to enforce proper conduct in the House.
All reports had the word “retreat” in it. This was a fair lede, IMHO.
The House, with grudging Republican support, voted Wednesday to reverse GOP ethics rules that Democrats charged were designed to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
No, they were designed to protect DeLay.
Republicans beat a retreat Wednesday on House ethics rules meant to shield Majority Leader Tom DeLay, marking a public embarrassment and unleashing an investigation whose direction and result can only be guessed.
Heck, even the Dallas Morning News got the story better than the AP.
The standoff over the ethics panel had become a political embarrassment for Republicans in the face of mounting questions about DeLay’s foreign travel funded by outside groups and his ties to a lobbyist who is under federal investigation.
[…]
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who is the only House Republican to call publicly for DeLay to resign as majority leader because of the questions surrounding his conduct, said his party needed to resolve the ethics committee issue and refocus public attention on GOP accomplishments.
“We’re in charge and we are doing some pretty incredible things,” he said, “but nobody is paying any attention to it.”
“Incredible”? Bankruptcy bill, SS bamboozlement, hiding stats on terrorism? Really? “Incredible”? Accomplishments?
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday dropped new ethics rules opposed by Democrats, clearing the way for another anticipated probe of their majority leader — embattled Texan Tom DeLay.
[…]
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said, “The decision of the Republican leadership to abandon its misguided attempt to change bipartisan ethics rules is a victory for the American people.”
Said Rep. Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat: “The speaker has finally relented to the public pressure.
Anticipated is an understatement.
All articles I saw included good quotes from Dems.
The decision by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert to go forward with the rule reversal — which passed 406-20 — came after weeks of controversy over rule changes that Democrats claimed were designed to protect DeLay from scrutiny and to retaliate against the bipartisan ethics committee after it reprimanded DeLay three times last year.
No, it is not a claim. It is a fact.
And finally,
DeLay Is Likely to Be Found Culpable on Ethics violations, if not on laws.
