“You’re Bob Parks, aren’t you? You wrote this, didn’t you?”
Funny, I’ve been writing columns now for over three years that some of you have enjoyed, especially when I pick apart someone you dislike. But when it’s time to circle the wagons and defend someone on our side and I dare not join in, I’m a turncoat. I get it….
“Did you just swallow the Democratic line, hook and sinker?”
Some websites chose not to publish my latest column, as I would assume it was thought it might alienate readers. And not only did I receive negative reactions to the column where it was published (which goes with the territory), but my motives and integrity were also challenged.
“You are collaborating with leftists who are waging a concerted campaign to remove DeLay from Congress. They are doing this because he is the most effective Republican without whose leadership many of Bush’s agenda would not have passed through Congress. If Republican’s betray DeLay, that will be the end of the Republican majority, which is what the liberals after.”
Personal events of the last six weeks and culminating Monday April 18, 2005 warrant an explanation and justification of my opinion that Tom DeLay, as well as all other shady politicians who take advantage of their positions of public trust, need to tossed out on their sorry asses.
More…
Six weeks ago I was diagnosed with arterial blockage, or even more dramatic, heart disease. So I found myself thinking, as I had while in the Navy, about mortality. It was at that point that it became painfully aware that there were more important things in life than popularity, party loyalty, etc. I was beginning to look even more into the right and wrong of things since judgment day could be right around the corner.
“Some of us have been limping along without your work, as best we can.”
As a conservative columnist who tries to present a clear and consistent opinion to readers, it would place myself firmly in the crosshairs of the Hypocrisy Police should I bash liberals on the appearance of wrongdoing and look the other way when our own screw up.
It was that notion that initially drew me to conservatism in general, Republicanism specifically. The notion that right is right and wrong is wrong.
I don’t care if it’s Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT),
Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA),
Congressman Fortney “Pete” Stark (D-CA),
Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA),
Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI),
Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH),
Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA),
Congressman Chris Cannon (R-UT),
Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-TN),
Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX),
Congressman Tim Bishop (D-NY),
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA),
Congressman Bernard Sanders (I-VT),
or any of the overall four dozen or so congresspersons and senators who’ve hired family members for their campaigns or PAC’s. When you’re given the public trust and are paid well with salary and perks, playing shady games is something we as taxpayers (and Republicans) shouldn’t have to tolerate.
We, as a party, have demanded our own step down for matters of marital (and/or sexual) indiscretions, but it would seem when only money changes hands we should look the other way and blame George Soros. I know Soros is the latest Wizard of Oz, complete with fire and smoke, but since when can he tell a Republican who he can hire and for how much?
You mean to tell me that some of these very same Republicans who appear on conservative radio and television with regularity, don’t know that hiring a wife, daughter, nephew, or cousin for thousands of dollars appears shady at best? It’s apparent they don’t give a damn and are willing to allow Republicans to have to go and defend their actions to rabid liberals while they avoid explaining why they’ve once again left some of us swinging in the breeze.
“Bush didn’t come out swinging on his National Guard service as you would have Delay do on this non-story. And the reason that Bush didn’t do it is the same reason that Delay isn’t doing it. The MAINSTREAM MEDIA plays with a rigged deck. Coming out and falling all over youself to explain that you didn’t do anything wrong is exactly what the MAINSTREAM MEDIA wants Delay to do in order to keep the story alive. Aside from that, you still haven’t pointed out where the appearance of impropriety is?”
According to the law as written today none of what these people have done is illegal. But when
* DeLay’s wife and daughter were paid more than $500,000 for working on his campaign and political action committees;
* Lieberman’s son received about $34,000 and daughter about $36,000 for working on the 2004 presidential campaign;
* Reichert’s nephew was paid $3,000 last year, plus several hundred dollars for mileage, for serving as driver;
* Stark’s wife earns $2,400 a month as campaign consultant;
* Lewis’ wife is congressional chief of staff at a salary of nearly $111,000;
* Stupak’s wife earned about $36,000 annually the past two years as the finance director for her husband’s campaign;
* Ney’s wife was paid about $1,730 a month during the 2004 campaign and has worked as a campaign consultant since the 2001 election cycle;
* Costa’s cousin made about $45,000 as a co-campaign manager last year;
* Cannon’s three college-age children worked on his campaign last year at $5,425, $9,508, and $17,766;
* Gohmert’s campaign manager wife was paid $21,791 over four months, including a $7,500 bonus last November;
* Bishop’s daughter was paid $46,995 as 2004 campaign finance director; Rohrabacher’s wife makes $40,000 a year as campaign manager; and
* Sanders paid his wife $91,020 for media consultation from 2002 to 2004, while his daughter was paid $65,002 as campaign manager in 2000, fund-raiser and office manager in 2003 and his database manager last year,
we’re all supposed to fall back on the fact it doesn’t quite smell right but it’s legal.
Since both sides do it, it’s kosher.
I’m called a liberal dupe while I’m expected to join hands with Ben Stein, Rich Lowry, the Freepers, and conservative talking heads who’ve accused me of being a parrot while they repeat the now infamous liberal retort “everybody does it.”
Let’s not forget every time you turn on C-SPAN and see hearings in which these same elected representatives are looking down on ordinary citizens and ripping them new ass holes. These elected representatives, who can verbally and professionally destroy people they invite to testify, should and MUST be held to a higher standard. On a personal note, as a columnist it’s maddening to have to retreat after sticking up for politicians who could give a you-know-what when it comes to their actions.
“If Delay resigns it will only mean that, once again, the Republicans have shown that they have no cojones and that they do not understand what being in the majority really means.”
Actually, being in the majority signifies the fact that our party currently has the public trust. After all, it’s the Democrats who are presently lamenting the fact that they lack credibility on the morals issue. Got a clue why…? As conservatives and Republicans, we should always hold our own to a higher standard. Are some of you, who presently delight in ostracizing me, the same who would’ve said that these same politicos could keep some of us as slaves because “everybody does it”?
No. For some of YOU self-righteous out there, not everybody does it. I would hope most in our party avoids the appearance of impropriety because handing that kind of ammunition to Democrats is precisely the kind of activity that turns people off of conservatism. Everybody-does-it is the very thing that is wrong with today’s society and whether I say it, Bill Cosby, Colin Powell, or Bill Bennett says it, when wrong becomes right we’re all screwed.
I remember Democrats saying the very same thing during the Bill-Monica thing just to avoid giving up a victory to Republicans. We were the ones accusing Democrats of the three D’s, “Delay, Deny, and Destroy.” How ironic that one of the D’s is now the name of one the GOP’s most powerful leaders. Also ironic is our own use of the liberal phrase “everybody does it” while calling people like me a RINO.
“Two factors here – first of all, DeLay, from what I have seen, hasn’t done anything illegal or technically “unethical” that many other Congresscritters do. However, what is legal and/or ethical in Washington often still stinks to high heaven. So you need to figure out the difference and approach your columns likewise.”
The only thing I as a columnist have is consistency. Should I one day criticize a liberal for wrongdoing while joining in with the present Tom DeLay dodgefest, I lose credibility. Credibility is based on consistency.
And let me begin to close this column out by asking you all one thing: if any of you did something improper, would Tom DeLay stick his neck out for you if there was a chance it would affect his career negatively? I wouldn’t bet my life on it. How about you?
“I’ll say it again — JUST ONCE I would like to see the Republicans stand together and act like they own the Senate, House and White House — JUST ONCE! When the RATs were in power, they ran everything with an iron fist and kept the Republicans under their thumbs and in their place. Get a clue — learn from the past, you RINOs! Nice guys finish last!”
The Republican Party is not Tom DeLay. As most on our side would have us believe, losing him would not spell doom for the party. However allowing one man to drag us down might; just ask the Democrats about Bill Clinton. Every corporation, sports team, or political party needs to occasionally clean house and start up with new blood. I cannot say if the Republican Party truly needs a complete transfusion of ethics, but it’s quite disheartening to hear some of the very people who would wave a bible in my face, now tell me to look the other way and be a team player.
I contend I always was.
Final note
After weeks of taking the prescribed medication, I suffered side effects last Friday and was said to have had a near miss of a heart attack. I spent the weekend in the hospital and Monday had the mildly risky cardiac catheterization procedure performed, which basically involved stringing a hair-like wire through the arteries in search of blockage or arterial damage. Depending what was found, there would be different avenues of what could be done immediately or for more serious problems, later.
The results of my cardiac cath were negative, basically meaning that the six weeks of medication prescribed, the side effects, and the ensuing medical procedure were all for nothing. On one hand I should be grateful that I don’t have heart disease, yet how can I not be just a little pissed off that lives were turned upside down because diagnoses were erroneous?
It was an error in judgment and “everybody does it” won’t work here. “Everybody does it” shouldn’t work anywhere.
