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November 14, 2009

Holding them all accountable

Ex-Congressman William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, sentenced to 13 years

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said public corruption was "a cancer on the body politic."

"There must be some sort of greed virus that attacks those in power," said Ellis, who lamented that so many other congressmen have been convicted on similar charges.

But the other punishments weren't quite as severe. For example, former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty in 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for taking bribes from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and ex-Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, served a 7-year sentence after being convicted in a 2002 trial of bribery and racketeering.

This seems as good a time as any to formally announce a couple additions to the sidebars here, both by PolitiFact.com. On the left side is a gimpy script tracking Obama's campaign promises and where they stand today. On the right side is their Truth-O-Meter which fisks a wide variety of political assertions.

I don't believe that this nation is any better served by those on the Left ignoring the sins of their own than it is by those on the Right ignoring the sins of their own. Thus these two new sidebar scripts as well as this post covering the crimes of a Democrat.

Posted by Kevin at November 14, 2009 09:00 AM