Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to A good place to start

Interesting article
Mary Anne — (archived)

Mel Reynolds was first elected in 1993, indicted on sex charges in 1994, returned to office by the electorate while fighting the charges, convicted in 1995, resigned, and has never returned to Congress since. He was elected twice, and only served one full term in Congress.

He served his full prison sentence for the sex offenses. Bill Clinton commuted an unrelated fraud sentence to allow him to leave prison and serve about half of that sentence in a halfway house, which is not a pardon or a cover-up.

We'll see how the Foley story unfolds, but at the present time there are serious and substantial allegations that he has been at this for years and years, while in office and in a position of seniority, and that the leadership knew, or was informed of it, for quite some time. That's quite a difference from elected one year, indicted the following year, and convicted then resigned from Congress the year after that. Compared to the Foley situation, which is still in the "alleged wrongdoing" stage, Mel Reynolds's treatment looks downright timely.

I agree that politicians look for strategic mistakes by their opponents and try to use those mistakes to their own advantage. I agree that this behavior can border on the sleazy, and sometimes crosses the line. In this case, however, the party with the problem appears to have had time and warning of the wrongdoing and, rather than do the timely and fair thing, chose to wish it away. Even if the Democrats are behind the timing of these revelations (also in the "alleged" stage), the Republicans can only blame themselves for not dealing with it earlier, at a time and place of their own choosing. They hid this grenade in their own back pocket and forgot it was there until somebody pulled the pin. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Better examples of Democrats covering up for their own -- ones that also involve years and years of concealment -- are out there. You might like to try again.

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