Dems Whitewashing Medicare Bribery Charge

[unfrigginreal]

No, that's not the real headline of the article, I'll post that in a minute. But at a time when the message of no more business as usual should have reached our Congressfolk, this article shows that it's still you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. Exactly when do we plan to become an opposition party? Do we not have anyone in those chambers that can tell the difference between right and wrong?

Dems want inquiry into reports of Medicare bribe

WASHINGTON — Democrats and a legal watchdog group have asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate allegations that Republicans offered a House member $100,000 in contributions for his son's election campaign if he would vote for a Medicare prescription drug benefit passed by Congress last month.

Such an offer could be interpreted as a bribe that violates federal law, Democrats and outside legal experts said. Ashcroft spokesman Mark Corallo said Thursday that the attorney general's office will review a letter requesting an investigation from Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.

<snip>

Lewis said there was little chance the Justice Department or the House ethics committee would investigate. In the House, Democrats and Republicans have an unspoken agreement not to initiate ethics inquiries, and only a member's request can trigger a committee investigation. House Democratic leaders avoided comment on Smith's allegations Thursday.

American Enterprise Institute political analyst Norman Ornstein said that if the reports are true, the incident "cuts across a whole series of lines." He said Thompson's presence and Hastert's lobbying were highly unusual. "I've never heard of anything like this on the floor," Ornstein said. "It just stains the speakership."

Ornstein said an inducement of campaign money "is by every standard a violation of the law." But he added, "Will anything be done about it? I'm very skeptical."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-12-04-dem-inquiry-bribe_x.htm

[TacticalPeek]

1. Everybody does it.

Don't rock the boat.

Go along and get along.

We need a new tone in Washington.

Investigations are divisive and counter-productive.

Its just finger-pointing.

No money changed hands, no harm.

Don't waste time on this, there's a war on.

-

Did I leave any out?

[gWbush is Mabus]

2. Dems are "politicizing" the issue

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Dems need to take no prisoners, the way the Repblicans have been doing

Otherwise, I'm inclined to believe the Greens when they says the Dems have themselves to blame for losing 2000 if they can't prove to the voters that they have the cojones to get the job done.