The Republican culture of corruption refuses to die.
A bipartisan Congressional report documents hundreds of contacts between White House officials and the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partners, including at least 10 direct contacts between Mr. Abramoff and Karl Rove, the president’s chief political strategist.
The House Government Reform Committee report, based on e-mail messages and other records subpoenaed from Mr. Abramoff’s lobbying firm, found 485 contacts between Mr. Abramoff’s lobbying team and White House officials from 2001 to 2004, including 82 with Mr. Rove’s office.
You know, whenever stuff even remotely embarrasing comes out about a Democrat, the Republicans are screaming it from the rafters (and I’ve got to extend this to Gov. Dean - I strongly support the work he’s doing to fix the long term infrastructure of the party, but why is it barely a day goes by without Ken Mehlman on air talking up the GOP, but Gov. Dean’s appearances are few and far between?). Yet, the GOP continues to gift-wrap its corruption and mendacity and the sound from the Democrats is crickets chirping. They are so afraid to move ahead with something that hasn’t been poll tested to within an inch of its life, they end up just letting things pass by. And on the rare occasions that they do hit on something, they think just one press conference or just one press release is all it needs. I have communicated with one or two folks on the inside and it seems like they just don’t understand this. They think that just one presser, or just one email is doing the job while it’s just losing the game.
As I have noted before, the way the world works now - not the way we wish it would work, but the way it actually does - is that a political party must repeat, repeat, repeat its talking points to the point of exhaustion while hitting the press via press releases and activist contact until they begin covering it and the Republicans must respond.
But apart from the occasional campaign operation that gets it, Democrats refuse to do this. It seems irrational but the only conclusion I can keep coming to is that they actually want to lose. They’ve become so used to it, to being the whipped spouse that they think this is how things always have been and will remain.
Stop it. You make me sick. Fight. Stand up. Do Something.
I’m afraid I’ve been coming to the same conclusion. The ones who voted for “yes, please, MIne Leader, send me off to a dark hole prison with no trial or recourse if you so desire!” in particular, I’d like to just shake them till their teeth rattle.
I am planning to write an open letter soon, roughly boiling down to,
“What the hell is WRONG with you?? Oh, and: those mailings you keep sending me for “send us more money?” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No, seriously: dude, I can’t buy you a goddam spine. Grow one your damn self and THEN get back to me.”