Sunday, October 12, 2008

Your Modern Republican Party

Attaturk called my attention to this item over at The Washington Monthly:
The McCain/Palin ticket is the first in American history in which both candidates were found to have violated ethics standards before a national election.

McCain, of course, was admonished by Senate Ethics Committee "for exercising 'poor judgment' for intervening" with federal regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, as part of the infamous Keating Five scandal.

And now McCain's running mate has also been found to have violated state ethics laws and abused the powers of her office, as part of the "Troopergate" scandal.

The nation has had 102 major-party tickets covering 51 presidential elections over more than two centuries. And we've never had a ticket in which both candidates on the same ticket were responsible for ethics violations before a national election. McCain/Palin is the first.

My, how the party of “accountability” and “moral values” has fallen. I do believe we’re seeing the beginning of the end of the Republican Party.

I think every person in my neighborhood with a McCain/Palin yard sign should be asked if they are aware they are supporting the first ticket in American history in which both candidates have violated ethics standards before the election.

It goes without saying that no Democrat with these kinds of ethics questions in his or her background could ever get out of the primary. The media would be vicious. But as always, the rule of American politics is IOKIYAR. There’s one (terribly high) standard for Democrats, one (much lower) standard for Republicans.