"What a drooling fool, what a traitor, what a sycophant, what a slimeball."
Perfect description of most politicians. In fact, don't the above attributes account for the enduring tenure of career politicians? While we consider the travesty of tenure among academics (ref:Wade Churchill), in effect, what is the difference among "tenured" career politicians?
Lifetime appointments for judges?
Some are worse than others. Some of the good ones turn bad when they get there; and even the good ones don't seem to have the conviction to make much difference.
What is that W.B. Yeats' quote? This may not be exact:
"The worst are full of passionate intensity, while the best have lost all conviction."