Staring down the obvious

This caught my attention:

GOP vows to tackle ethics reform - The Boston Globe

"House Republican leaders yesterday proclaimed a fresh start for their legislative agenda, vowing to act quickly to reform ethics laws following the news that Representative Tom DeLay -- the focus of much of the ethical debate in Congress -- is planning to resign his seat."

It's a bit like closing the barn door after the horses have left, but you can understand why they want to come out strong on this issue. Besides it's not their only issue:

"House majority leader John Boehner....adding that ethics reform will be merely the first of many initiatives this spring, including a new fiscally responsible budget plan."

Catch that?

First - they now have permission to fail on ethics reform because it's not the only issue they're working on it is "merely the first". Merely. Not the most important. "Merely" one of quite a few.
Second - the other items include "a new fiscally responsible budget plan". See Credo number 10. This ought to be good. It's not like there haven't been years worth of opportunities.

But the posturing is not one sided:

"Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. ''We are running to end the Republican culture of corruption and restore integrity to our government."

Please - don't make me list out Democratic foibles too. The reality is that whatever party is in power has corruption and ethics scandals, and whichever one isn't in power plays the morally righteous underdog. It's getting old...

Posturing doesn't help anyone - see Credo number 32. It also seems like all politicians have lost sight of Credo number 31, but that only proves Credo number 29.

Ultimately, I'm amazed that either side would expect anyone to believe their hype, but then, they do seem to have a grasp of Credo number 17.

Peace,

Matt




Tags: Delay, Congress, Ethics, Credo, Diverse and Contradictory, Republicans, Democrats, Budget, Politics