Christopher Macintosh

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The climate of corruption in the Bush administration and among Republicans on Capitol Hill continues with, apparently, no remorse, shame, or embarrassment in any form. Indeed, they seem almost proud of their venality and mendacity.

Last week, the Government Accountability Office issued a scathing report condemning the Bush Administration’s practice of buying news in which prominent reporters and journalists were paid tens of thousands, in some cases hundreds of thousands, of taxpayer dollars to spread pro-Bush propaganda. The report focused on Armstrong Williams, an arch-conservative commentator, who was paid by the Department of Education to spread propaganda favorable to the “No Child Left Behind” program, which has left millions behind because it mandates certain standards, but provides no money to schools to meet those standards. In other cases, TV commercials were produced by various agencies that purport to show great progress being made by the Admnistration in a variety of areas. However, the commercials were made to resemble news reports and were sent to hundreds of TV stations, many of which showed them as news reports without proper identification as government PR creations. Bush’s people can’t do this anymore.

Scooter Libby, Vice-President Dick’s chief of staff, was revealed to be a source in the Valerie Plame case this week when he released New York Times reporter Judith Miller from her confidentiality pledge. The coward allowed a reporter who was protecting his identity to languish for nearly three months in jail before he finally released her. What was he hiding and if he had nothing to hide, why did he force her to sit in jail for more than eighty days to protect him? Both he and Karl Rove, the other source in the leak, which may have violated national security laws for mear political retribution against Plame’s husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, should face jail time.

Tom DeLay has finally been indicted for something. For years, he has used every dirty trick in the book to claw his way to power and to cower and intimidate those under him in the House Republican Caucus to follow his demands. In 2002, he formed TRMPac, Texans for a Republican Majority, to raise money for a Republican campaign to take over the Texas Legislature so that they could, among many things, gerrymander Congressional district lines in Texas so that the Republicans could pick up five seats. It worked. However, corporate donations, which are illegal in Texas for legislative races, were funneled and laundered through the Republican National Committee and several have been indicted on this. DeLay has been indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy in the scam. It is blatant and he is defiant.

And, now BOTH Republican Congressional leaders are suspect. Senator Bill Frist is under investigation for insider trading. First, he sold stock held for him in a private trust which he isn’t supposed to have influence over. Secondly, the stock he sold is in HCA, Hospital Corporation of America, a company controlled by his family. His family was selling their stock just weeks before poor earnings reports were to come out that sent the stock plummetting. Trading by insiders on private information that outsiders are not privy to is illegal. Frist says it is just a coincidence that he sold his stock at the same time his family was dumping theirs, just weeks before the stock tanked. Just a coincidence. Yeah, right.

I know there are egregious cases of corruption among the Democrats, but these four examples of a myriad of Republican illegalities and unethical behaviors are just so blatant and so “in-your-face” that it is mind-boggling. And, the continued support of right-wing lemmings is amazing. They don’t care how many mistakes the President and his people make. They don’t care how many no-bid contracts to rebuild Iraq and the Gulf Coast go to the President’s contributors and friends. They don’t care how many laws are broken, how the Bill of Rights is ignored, how many lies are told, how many billions of dollars are built up in debt to China and the Saudis to bail-out the Administration’s wasteful and insane spending, how many young Americans die in an illegal war.

People get the politicians they deserve.