He keeps bringing up Busby’s use of “government machines” even though I doubt he could actually describe the offense in any sort of detail that suggests he knows what he’s talking about.

But that’s the point exactly — he probably got the story from a campaign mailer and a couple blog posts, but that’s good enough for him to use the story as a deflection against the GOP-specific “culture of corruption”.

I strongly DISagree, though, that voters are unable, or incapable, or unwilling to actually make a comparison.

All it takes is a simple (admittedly nasty) mailer that says, “If government corruption is bipartisan, then how come ONLY REPUBLICANS used your tax dollars on prostitutes, Scottish golf trips, Rolls Royces, mansions, and antique furniture?”

Now, I’m not a political campaign consultant. I’m just an angry citizen without any ties to either political party.

People like Other DC Guy are like hard-core sports fans. They’re in it for their team, regardless of the situation. And they’d rather ignore and deflect and justify and rationalize the most widespread corruption, invasion of privacy, illegal activity, and abuse of power in US HISTORY because they’d rather put up with it so long as their team wins.

It’s shameful.

Only because the media has an obsession with appearing “balanced” so they will give equal time to 1 or 2 extremely minor Democrat scandals and the dozens of enormous billion-dollar-taxpayer-money plus hookers plus yachts plus disenfranchisement plus felonies Republican scandals. Then, yeah, the full weight of the corruption will not weigh in. Voters will not realize the contrast between a very few scattered corrupt incidents (Democrats) and the very rules of engagement that are inherently corrupt (Republicans).

Can we please, please PLEEEEEAAAASE never hear ever again from any whiny Republican that the media has a liberal bias? Do you all have any idea how many elections they’ve won for you when they go out of their way to appear balanced by making two things that are completely unequal seem equal? The mainstream media is the best friend the GOP has ever had.

Good luck!

My point is simply that this is not a silver bullet and Dem’s will have a tough time using it — for example Busby’s use of government computers for her campaign does not compare in scale or importance to any possible Bilbray-Abramoff ties, but in the campaign mailers both are effective and neither can claim to be angels. And that situation plays out at a national level too.

I don’t think for a moment that Larry Sabato was trying to equate corruption by democrats to corruption by republicans. Quite the contrary — he was just saying that any Kennedy is a policital “celebrity” because of the notoriety of the name and it’s association with the Democratic Party, and that Republicans can use this to their advantage by trying to deflect much more poignant charges of systemic Republican-specific corruption in Congress.

And FWIW — I forgot to mention a few more names in my previous email. As Larry Sabato mentioned — Gov Taft of Ohio. Should’ve mentioned him when I mentioned Tom Noe and Rep Ney. I should probably add Ken Blackwell to the list, too.

And did we all forget about Fmr Gov George Ryan (R-IL) and GOP lobbyist Larry Warner being convicted on all counts of racketeering, conspiracy, mail fraud, tax fraud, and lying to the FBI? That was less than a month ago!

But but but but… CYNTHIA MCKINNEY PUNCHED A COP!!!

Did you see the DCCC contribute to McKinney’s legal defense fund? Did you see any elected members of the Democratic leadership publically announce support for McKinney after the event? Or did you (like me) see them back away from her on the subject? Did you (like me) see Nancy Pelosi say that she found it “it hard to see any set of facts that would justify striking a police officer”?

Now, I’m not defending Rep. McKinney, but you really think that getting angry and punching a cop who she says was harassing her because she was black is on par with bilking millions of dollars of tax payer money for hookers, limousines, rolls royces, golfing at St. Andrews, corporate jets, etc…?

You really think that someone with a substance abuse problem is “corrupt”, or that the Democratic Party is supportive of Rep. Kennedy’s actions?

Rep. Kennedy crashed his car while under the influence (of either drugs or alcohol - does it matter which?) and used his political power to get favorable treatment from the cops.

The number doesn’t have to be even — is the best message for Democrats “Democrats support fewer indicted felons than Republicans”?