Culture of Corruption

There is no question that a culture of corruption is permeating the party, leaving it reeling from the many criminal and ethical investigations.

If you read Newsweek and other liberal publications, or if you watch any news channel other than FOX, you probably assume that I'm referring to the Republican Party.

I'm not. I'm talking about the corruption that embroils the Dems and their liberal media mouthpieces.

To find examples, we don't need to go back to the Clinton era, though it might be worth it to recall a few stats from what Bill proclaimed to be "the most ethical administration in American history."

- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
- Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33
- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
- Number of imprisonments: 14
- Number of congressional witnesses who have pled the 5th Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 124

In terms of fostering a culture of corruption, the Clinton administration deserves special recognition for all that it accomplished. However, for the sake of time, let's just review a few instances of Dem corruption from the past twelve months.

1) Dan Rather and CBS used forged documents in a story intended to sway the U.S. presidential election. CBS fired producer Mary Mapes and demanded the resignation of three senior CBS executives -- senior vice president Betsy West, executive producer Josh Howard and his deputy, Mary Murphy. Dan, of course, was forced to relinquish his anchor chair and "retire" in disgrace.

2) David Rosen, Hillary Clinton's finance director for her 2000 Senate campaign, was indicted on federal charges of filing bogus financial reports with the Federal Election Commission.

3) Bill Clinton's former national security adviser stole classified documents from the National Archives and then destroyed some and misplaced others. In early September of this year, a federal judge ordered Sandy Berger to pay a $50,000 fine and give up his security clearance for three years as the penalty for smuggling classified terrorism documents out of the National Archives.

4) Air America Radio and the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club were involved in a loan scheme that is currently under investigation by New York City's Department of Investigation and New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Al Franken claimed that he was not involved. Oops! According to Michelle Malkin, Franken lied about that.

5) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was among many Democrat lawmakers who amended missing or incomplete travel reports. Pelosi failed to file records for three trips she accepted from outside sponsors that were worth $8,580.

6) Harry Reid arranged for federal grants for two Las Vegas pastors and the wife of one of them. They were indicted when they were accused of mishandling the money.

7) Paul Krugman, editorial columnist for the New York Times, has been reprimanded repeatedly for his compulsive lying by Times "public editor" Byron Calame.

8) A scandal involving Chuck Schumer's staff -- working for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee - is currently unfolding. Schumer's staff fraudulently obtained credit information on Maryland's Republican lieutenant governor. Schumer's research director Katie Barge and staffer Laura Weiner reportedly used the Social Security number of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele in an attempt to find something politically damaging to him.

Less than a week ago at a White House press briefing, Terry Moran asked Scott McClellan, "Is the President concerned that there's a stench of corruption around the Republican establishment in Washington?"

McClellan responded, "Terry, I don't think you can make such a broad characterization. There are some instances of individual situations, and we'll let those -- the legal process proceed in those instances."

Of course, it's wrong for Moran to make that sort of sweeping generalization; but Dems and the MSM are shouting it from the rooftops--

There is a Republican culture of corruption.

Speaking of "stench," the Democrat establishment doesn't exactly smell like a bouquet of roses.