Author: NeilDB

(cross drunk posted at dkos) I’ve had no time to read the papers for the past few weeks....

There’s a new scandal every day and Americans are quickly losing trust in all levels of...

Modern political scandals are funny.  Funny strange, not funny haha.  

Strange because the initial acts that trigger the scandal are obscured by the technical reasons that the person is in trouble.  Nixon was sunk by the cover-up of the Watergate break-in more than the actual act.  Clinton was nailed for lying about an act that was not illegal at all.

Tom DeLay, indicted for money laundering and violating campaign finance laws, seems to be an exception.  DeLay played fast and loose with ethical considerations.  He’s accepted vacations from lobbyists, paid family members hundreds of thousands of dollars, used government resources for partisan gain and illegally shifted corporate money to state elections.  As a result, he’s been admonished by the House Ethics Committee and indicted on charges of money laundering and violating campaign finance laws.

Fundamentally this is a scandal of business as usual being pointed out to the American public.  There’s never been any doubt that Tom DeLays and Jack Abramoffs exist; up until now there just hasn’t been any interest in the mainstream media or in the halls of justice to document their crimes.  What still isn’t being discussed is how DeLay’s habit of representing corporate boardrooms and not the citizens of Texas’ 22nd congressional district has been harmful to the whole country.