Back on 4/22 I quoted Don Singleton and a quote from House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Both bear repeating to start off this entry.
Mr. Singleton:
As long as the Dems can get the MSM to attack Delay, they not only do not need an Ethics Committee, the don't WANT one, because they know that the things they are critizing Delay for are not illegal or in violation of house rules.
Speaker Hastert:
"We know there are four or five cases out there dealing with top-level Democrats."
Then remember that one of the key "ethical" charges democrats are leveling against Congressman Delay is that he has gone on trips paid for by lobbyist firms.
Back on April 20, I wrote about Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, democrat from Ohio, who, according to papers filed by her own staff:
took a 2001 trip to Puerto Rico that was paid for by a registered lobbyist firm - an apparent violation of the chamber's ethics rules
Now the democrat's call for Ethics Committee hearings is coming home to roost.
Captain Ed has the goods on two democrat Congressmen (Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.) who have accepted travel money from the same lobbyist that involved one of DeLay's aides, and as he so aptly puts it, "now Democratic outrage has given way to a series of rationalizations."
Michelle Malkin chimes in with news on democrat Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington, who "took full responsibility" for allowing a lobbying firm to cover part of the cost of a trip he took to a military conference three months ago, a violation of House ethics rules.
She quotes Captain Ed's excellent summary: "No wonder DeLay wanted the ethics probe to continue. At this rate, he may well neutralize ten or twenty representatives on the other side of the aisle before anyone lays a glove on him."
It seems that in their rush to take out DeLay, a very effective member of the GOP leadership, they thought they could keep the light of the truth off their own ethical issues. In the bad old days of MSM dominance, it would have worked.
