Comments on Advance Indiana™: DeLay Hammered With Indictment; House GOP Chooses Ethically-Challenged Blunt Over Gay Dreier

Gary,Of course no social phenomenon is so simple a...

2005-09-29T20:32:00.000-05:00

Gary,

Of course no social phenomenon is so simple as to be explicable with demographics alone, but it is a good start. Isn’t this the meaning of oft quoted claim that "demographics explain about two-thirds of everything".

As for the remaining and more subjective opinion explanting the bottom third—the voters’ desire to clean up corruption—I’m only in slight agreement. Just because Democratic swing voters in the southern states were convinced of a Republican cultural promise (Contract With America) they could unite behind.

Also interesting to note, given the Advance America battle here, that Gingrich ultimately withdrew from politics after being fined and censured for using tax-exempt foundations for political purposes and subsequently lying to the House ethics committee.

Kay,A culture of corruption was a central theme of...

2005-09-29T15:22:00.000-05:00

Kay,

A culture of corruption was a central theme of Newt Gingrich and his band of conservatives during the 1994 election--this was evidenced in the Contract With America which focused, in part, on congressional reforms, such as term limits for members of congress, limiting terms members could serve as committee chairmen, applying laws to Congress that previously only applied to all the rest of us, etc. Every day during special orders, Gingrich and his supporters would take to the floor to denounce the majority's abuse of power, ethical lapses and general corruptness (e.g., Dan Rostenkowski, Tony Coelho, Jim and Jim Wright to name just a few). They attributed this culture of corruptness to the Democrats' near-uninterrupted control of the House for nearly a half century. I would note that Gingrich did this without the support of the House Minority Leader Bob Michel, who was part of the good ole boys network on Capitol Hill. My point is that the Republicans have become drunk with power exactly the same way as the Democrats had in the early 1990s. I think any objective analysis of the cause of the 1994 realignment election would have to include near the top of the list--the voters' desire to clean up the corruption in Washington.

Your post is another good analysis of ethically ch...

2005-09-29T12:58:00.000-05:00

Your post is another good analysis of ethically challenged Republicans, thank you.

However, your last sentence seems to make a faulty comparison between the current wave of GOP indictments/investigations and the 1994 congressional elections which bought defeat to the slim margin of control the Democrats held at that time. For clarity sake, non-partisan analysis identified that the Democrats lost control as a result of two major missteps: “The failure in 1994 to offer any theme or message around which to rally and the failure over a 25-year period to fashion an approach uniting the middle and underclass wings of the party.” http://www.fairvote.org/reports/1995/chp3/gans.html

Fortunately,Democrats even at the most elementary level (that would be me) are beginning to speak up and unite the gap—knowing that all Americans deserve a government representative of its founding principles, diversity and interests.