Posted on 11/18/2006 6:01:53 PM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
WASHINGTON--They won't take over congress until next year, but there are already signs that Democrats are abandoning any real effort at reforming the so-called "culture of corruption" in Congress. According to the New York Times:
Sweeping change... may be a tough sell within the party. Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, was embarrassed by disclosures last week that he had dismissed the leadership proposals with a vulgarity at a private meeting. But Mr. Murtha is hardly the only Democrat who objects to broad changes.Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who will oversee any proposal as the incoming chairwoman of the Rules Committee, for example, said she was opposed to an independent Congressional ethics watchdog.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Times reports, the Democrats are now saying that real reform is not needed, now that those "wascally wepublicans" are out of office:
“There is an understanding on our side that the Republicans paid a price for a lot of the abuses that evolved,” said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, alluding to earmarks. Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, said the scandals of the current Congress were “about the K Street Project for the Republicans,” referring to the party’s initiative to put more Republicans in influential lobbying posts and build closer ties to them.
The Times notes that even earmark reform will probably go nowhere, now that they are controlled by Democrats:
Two House Democrats, Representatives Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, have proposed a measure they say would block a lawmaker from requesting an earmark that would benefit a company, group or lobbying firm that employed a member of the lawmaker’s family or a former member of the lawmaker’s staff.What was that Roger Daltry sang about the new boss again...?But almost no one expects the Democrats to enact such a change, in part because many have close ties to former staff members or family members in the lobbying business.
They (Democrats) probably figured out that with every rock they turned over, 3 Democrats would crawl out for every Republican they might find.
What a freak show they are putting on. I wonder how long it will take for average Americans to see.
The lack of italics was why I merely gave it a bump instead of a BTTT! ;)
Boy, what a shock this is.
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