Politics and Hypocrisy

Not Your Normal Campaign Question

While Republican Ted Stevens’ legal troubles are currently front page news, Democratic Representative William Jefferson’s issues with the law (remember the alleged bribe money in his freezer?) have been relegated to the back page. That is until Jason Mattera of the Young America’s Foundation hit him up for a few questions including this classic:

“In your opinion, what’s the best way to stuff $90,000 in a freezer”

(h/t - Diggers Realm)

Do Ya Think?

In an obvious case of no s*** polling, Alaska pollsters think that Ted “bridge to nowhere” Stevens might have a hard time winning the Republican Senate primary in Alaska. Why you ask? Well it could have something to do with the seven count felony indictment that was handed down today:

The seven-count indictment charges Stevens with making false statements by failing to disclose “things of value” he received from Veco Corp., the now-defunct Alaska-based oil services and construction company, and from its chairman, Bill Allen, over an eight-year period.

At the same time, according to the indictment, Stevens received solicitations for official actions from Allen and other Veco employees, and used his office on behalf of Veco.

But then that would just be a guess on my part…

Bad Year For The GOP Gets Worse

The 109th Congress will go down for many things including an almost total lack of accomplishment but with the news yesterday of Ohio Republican Bob Ney pleading guilty to influence peddling, the 109th term will most likely become the second most scandal ridden session in recent memory behind the Abscam driven 96th Congress of the late 70’s.

Ney’s plea makes 5 members of Congress that have been involved in one scandal or another and other than Democrat William Jefferson whom so far is still under investigation for bribery, all have been a member of the Denny Hastert led GOP majority House of Representatives.

Ney now joins an "exclusive club" that includes former Majority Leader Tom DeLay who is under indictment for campaign irregularities, Mark Foley and his improper IM’s with underage House Page’s, and Randy Cunningham whom earlier this year plead guilty to accepting bribes from defense contractors.

So with all these examples of GOP leadership, what is on the horizon? Other than the ongoing Jack Abramoff issue that Ney was involved in and another possible scandal brewing with Republican House member Curt Weldon, recent polling shows that it could result in more than just a Democratic takeover in the House as some Senate races originally considered "safe" for the GOP are starting to look as if they aren’t as safe as first thought.

If the GOP does in fact lose their majority in one or both houses of Congress, they can lay the blame not so much with their losing popularity among their base but with their increasing popularity with law enforcement officials. Unfortunately for them, that is one group they didn’t want on their side.

So Much For That GOP “Safe Seat”

Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley has resigned “effective immediately” only hours after being confronted over emails he sent to a 16 year old Capitol page.

Hours earlier, ABC News had read excerpts of instant messages provided by former male pages who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.

Foley’s House seat had been considered “safe” for the GOP in November but I think that you can now consider it wide open after this…

Best Laid Plans

It looks like the great plan envisioned by some on the right that involves getting back at Democrats for their successful attempt at keeping Tom Delay on the ballot has backfired.

It seems that these right-winger’s had thought that Delay would again win back his seat in the House because the Democrats, in their infinite wisdom, had gone to court to block the Texas GOP’s attempt to replace Delay’s name on the November ballot. Initially Delay’s campaign staffers had told Time Magazine that Delay would campaign vigorously for the seat if the Democrats won their court case.

Well yesterday the Democrats won their fight when the courts ruled that Delay’s name could not be replaced on the ballot, but instead of starting his re-election campaign in earnest, Delay announced that he would instead push for his supporters to vote for a write-in candidate instead and would push to have his name removed completely.

I guess he finally realized that fighting charges for money laundering would not be a good thing to have on his plate at the same time he was trying to win the House seat that he was forced to resign from because of those same legal troubles.

Technorati Tags: Tom Delay, Texas House Race

Delay To Stay On The Ballot

A federal appeals court has refused Texas Republican’s attempt to replace Tom Delay’s name on Novembers ballot with another GOP candidate.

The Democrats had sued to keep Delay’s name on the ballot even though he had since moved to Virginia in an attempt to give them a better shot at winning the seat that he had recently resigned from over money laundering and conspiracy charges.

Delay representatives had said as recently as a few weeks ago that if he is on the ballot that he would aggressively campaign to retake his seat.

A source close to the ex-Congressman tells TIME that DeLay is planning an aggressive campaign to retake the House seat he quit in June if an appeals court lets stand a ruling by a federal judge last week that his name must stay on November’s ballot–even though he has moved to Virginia. “If it isn’t overturned, Katy bar the door!” says a G.O.P. official.

Right wing blogs are already on the Delay bandwagon predicting a Delay win throwing the Democratic tactic back in their faces. I question their wisdom in wishing to have Delay voted back into office considering the charges he is facing and I would also question the wisdom of Texas voters if they re-elected him but as is the case in politics, anything is possible.

I have just a two word reminder for those wanting to see Delay re-elected, James Traficant.

Technorati Tags: Tom Delay, James Traficant, Texas House Race