Are They Crazy or Stupid?

A couple of days ago, I wrote a post about my disappointment with the leadership Republicans are set to elect as they try on the minority party robes. My irritation with John Boehner and Roy Blunt is that I see them as part of the problem with the Republican party (i.e., they are insiders) and that if Republicans were smart, they would pick fresh leadership, people not tied to the failed leadership of out-going House Speaker Denny Hastert.

It's clear from what people have said following the election that while the failed policies used in the Iraq war were the most prominent issues of the Republican demise, there were a fair number of people turned off by Republican corruption (in the form of the bridge to nowhere and the, still witch-hunty trials of Tom DeLay) and moral turpitude (the Mark Foley scandal). In short, people got mad that the party that talks about smaller government was every bit as greedy (if not more) than the "tax and spend" party. It's hard to make the argument that Republicans learned the lessons of '06 while they are re-electing the same ol' leadership.

Thank God for Democrats. It seems that, while the Dems ran on a platform against corruption, they are set to go down the same road. (Via Patterico's Pontifications). Nancy "We're going to run the most open, the cleanest House in history" Pelosi is set to promote--who else?--crooks to key House positions.

First, there's Alcee Hastings, the judge who was impeached and removed from his position on the federal bench for taking bribes. He's set to head the House Intelligence Committee. Yep, no chance for bribery there, right? Squeaky clean Dems!

Better yet, Pelosi's good bud, John "Abscam" Murtha, is trying to become the next House Majority Leader. If you are too young (or don't remember that far back) to remember Abscam, it was a sting operation run by the FBI, which netted more than a few Congressmen willing to take bribes from ostensibly wealthy Arabs. Murtha lovers are quick to point out that he never went to jail for his role in the scandal, but he did appear open to the possibility of taking bribes. To read about the whole sordid mess, check out Patterico's site.

But what I want to know is, does this mean that taking bribes doesn't count as corruption for Ms. Pelosi?