Salon cites hypocrisy on ethics
CREW has been highly critical of ethical lapses by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), but we also recognize there is plenty of hypocrisy among some who have attacked Rangel. As Salon's Joe Conason notes:
... as the Republicans and their media epigones celebrate Rangel’s downfall, the contrast with their own typical tolerance of corruption in their own ranks is instructive.
... Five years ago, when (former Republican Congressman Tom) DeLay came under intense pressure from prosecutors, the press and watchdog groups, the National Review urged conservatives to rally around him in an editorial, noting dismissively that "many of the offenses DeLay is being accused of -— taking foreign trips funded by outside groups, attending events with lobbyists -— are committed by every congressman on Capitol Hill."
Of course taking a foreign trip funded by an outside group (with corporate support) is precisely the transgression for which the ethics committee admonished Rangel.
But the same National Review editorial suggested that official rebukes by the ethics committee are unimportant anyway, at least when directed at a Republican leader: "The [ethics] committee did warn DeLay to be more careful, the ‘admonishment’ that has played in the media as an official sanction, which it wasn't." In short, they didn’t believe an admonishment by the ethics committee was enough to get rid of DeLay, but it is reason enough to throw out Rangel ...
It would be nice to see members of both political parties treat ethics as something more than just a weapon they brandish during election years to beat up on the other party.
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