Playing Devil's Advocate...I Think...

All righty. For the most part, this post is directed to Mike D. Long, a good friend from a message board I frequent, because of the incredibly bizzare situation that has arisen due to claims that House Representative William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, has taken bribes. (Information about it can be found here.) The investigation into Jefferson is part of what is being referred to as a "bi-partisan" investigation into congressional corruption - Ohio Republican congressman Bob Ney is also being investigated because of possible ties to Jack Abramoff.

Anyway, one of the things that happened after he was accused (and two people acknowledged their guilt in bribing him, and he was also videotaped by FBI agents, accepting $100,000 in cash) was that his home and House of Representatives office were searched. Remember this bit. I'll have more on it later.

At Jefferson's home, FBI agents found, among other things, I believe $90,000 in his freezer, wrapped in $10,000 bundles.

Let me repeat that so it sinks in: Representative William Jefferson from Louisiana, who has claimed no wrongdoing whatsoever since his name first popped up for investigation, had stashed a huge sum of money in his kitchen freezer, wrapped in aluminum foil.

My response to this is, "Huh?" If he's got nothing to hide, why not put the money in, oh, I don't know, a bank?

No information has been given as to whether anything incriminating was found in his office at the House of Representatives.

Now, if I may sidestep for a moment to direct you to this thread, you will see that, among the many issues discussed, one point that Mike made was how Republicans were getting more attention for bad stuff than Democrats were. In all honesty, I do agree with him on that point, but as I pointed out in the thread, since the Republicans are the ones in power, most of the attention is going to be directed at them. If it were the Democrats in power, the same thing would be happening. (For a reference point, feel free to go look up some old articles about Bill Clinton's Oval Office daliances. Or just read the headlining article in the New York Times that said Hillary Clinton's marriage to Bill Clinton could "hinder" her run for president - never mind the fact that she's not exactly a Dem favorite anymore.)

I'm getting away from my point, which was, when I saw the initial article (and resulting news coverage), I was going to send Mike a link and say, "Ha! See? It's not just the Republicans who are getting attention!"

But then, something weird happened.

For those just too bored or who can't be bothered to click the link, here's a brief rundown of what it's about, with a few paragraphs borrowed from the Associated Press article:

WASHINGTON - The FBI’s weekend search of the House office of a Louisiana Democrat under investigation for bribery may have overstepped constitutional boundaries, House leaders said as the congressman under investigation pledged to stay in office.

House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio told reporters Tuesday that the Congress will somehow speak to “this issue of the Justice Department’s invasion of the legislative branch. In what form, I don’t know.”

“I’ve got to believe at the end of the day it’s going to end up across the street at the Supreme Court,” Boehner said.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the Justice Department had never before crossed a line that separates Congress from the executive branch by searching a congressional office while investigating a member of Congress.

So, what does this mean? It means that William Jefferson's possible (and, judging from the evidence that is being reported in the so-called liberally-biased mainstream media, probable) bribe-taking is being pushed aside so members of Congress can make a fuss about the FBI searching a fellow congressman's office!

This revelation seems to support Mike's theory. Jefferson, a Democrat, is being ignored while a big stink is being made over the FBI's actions. However, if you take a look at the names listed above, you may notice something a bit odd about it. Go ahead and take a minute to do a search, if you feel you need to. I'll wait.

Find it? For those of you who did, stop laughing. For those who didn't, let me clue you in: John Boehner and Dennis Hastert are... Republicans!

So, while the story itself seems to support Mike's theory, the ones who are behind it are exactly the wrong people to be doing it! The smart money, for those guys, would be to bring this thing out and ride it like a pony - "Look! See? The Democrats are just as lousy! It's not just us!" (I imagine it would be worded differently, but what do I know?) It might not cause their ever-dwindling base to suddenly turn around and say, "Oh, well nevermind, then," but it could very possibly take a little bit of heat off of them. (Or, at the very least, put a little under the Democrats' feet.)

Now, a few things about all this have me wondering...

1. Why are all of these congresspersons so concerned? (And it's not just Republicans, mind you; there are a bunch of Democrats making a fuss... I just used the two examples above to point out what I was getting at.) Do they have something to hide? Do any of them, Dem and Repub alike, have a little price chart in their desks, like Randy "Duke" Cunningham did? I understand the "We're all supposed to be on the same side" thing, so I imagine they wouldn't expect this sort of thing to happen to one of their own, but they all seem a bit twitchy about it.

2. Why doesn't Jefferson show a bit of honor and step aside until this matter is cleared up, one way or the other? Sure, he says he doesn't think he did anything wrong, but wouldn't it be wise to step down, or at least ask to be removed from the committees he's a part of, until this is taken care of? There are a lot of Democrats who would like to see him just leave, obviously, because it could tarnish their stance as "the good guys who want to clean up corruption in Congress." As if there are no other Dems who might, you know, be skimming a few bucks on the side. Case in point, Hillary Clinton. (Hey, I already said I don't like her.) She is the Democrat who has received the most money from lobbyists. For the record, Rick Santorum of PA is the #1 Republican.

As I said in the last political thread on that message board, if someone did something illegal, they need to be frog-marched out the door. Plain and simple. Political party means exactly zip to me when you are screwing over good, honest people in order to line your pockets. If Jefferson was taking bribes - and, as I pointed out, it looks pretty damn convincing that he did - then he needs to go. I just wanted to make that clear so nobody thinks I'm trying to whitewash anything.

Anyway, the bottom line is, I wanted to give Mikey a "Tip of the Hat" (thanks, Stephen Colbert!) for causing me to find all of this so funny.

Thanks, Mike!

All the best,
Derek
(DCF)