Sunday, January 01, 2006
Storm Clouds Over the GOP
Yesterday's Talking Points Memo item by Josh Marshall does an excellent job of summing up R. Jeffrey Smith's long WaPo article on Jack Abramoff.0 comments
Rumors abound saying that "Casino Jack" is ready to talk and that the announcement could come as soon as tomorrow.
When he starts singing, every member of the GOP will be cleaning crap off their shoes, whether they, individually, are clean or dirty. When enough Republican office holders are indicted, the political balance shifts for every GOP member of the House of Representatives, as well as for every U.S. Senator and state and local GOP official running for re-election this year.
It will firmly establish reverse Swift-Boating as the basis for political dialog.
Thanks to Jack Abramoff, ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham (CA) and soon-to-be ex-Rep. Bob Ney (OH), every GOP Rep. and Senator will be hit with this exchange on an ongoing basis throughout their campaigns:
INTERVIEWER: "(Rep. ____ or Senator ____), are you dirty, like former Leader DeLay, Ney or Cunningham?"
GOP INCUMBENT: "Absolutely not!! Absolutely not!!
I AM NOT A CROOK!
I am pure as the driven snow!"
INTERVIEWER: "Oh yeah? OK. PROVE IT!!"
The remainder of the interview is then taken up with the GOPer stammering about ethics, and chasing his/her tail, trying to convince folks that "while, yes, I may well have rubber-stamped every breath the Bush administration has taken since January, 2001, that doesn't mean that I'm a crook like all the other guys are! I'm just NOT! Ya gotta believe me!" Thus does a frustrated GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman rarely see his precious talking points gain the light of day.
Meanwhile, we can rest assured that the good citizens of the Left Blogosphere will be furiously digging up all instances of GOP inpropriety to keep this balanced discourse going.
Well, not digging, necessarily. More like simply scooping them up off the ground and passing them on. Total Republican control hasn't exactly made this info gathering a difficult task.
BTW, I stand by my assertion yesterday that Tom DeLay probably stands a better chance of physical survival at the hands of his various prosecutors than he does at the hands of the slew of appreciably nasty folks he swindled and reneged on. Think in terms of which river you're found in after you steal from the mob.
posted by Gotham 9:04 PM
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