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Saturday, March 6, 2010

shilling for corruption

Joan Walsh of Salon has never been one of my favorite people, but at least I used to respect her. Now she has moved on to a new role as a shill for Democrats which removes any credibility that she might otherwise have had. In her new role, Walsh has solemnly pronouced the current corruption scandals plaguing Democrats as being nothing when compared to the corruption of Republicans in 2006. This is such a dopey argument that even Chris Matthews of MSNBC called Walsh a flack when she attempted to make the distinction on his show. Since Chris never met a Democrat he did not like or a Republican he did like, this condemnation speaks louder than any other.

Walsh actually compares the resignation of Massa in 2010 with that of Foley in 2006. Let's see, Foley sent rather lurid text messages to a male staffer/page while Massa is accused of physically confronting and coming on to one of his male staffers. That does not seem to different to me. Then there is the difference between Tom DeLay and Charlie Rangel. Both are accused of wrongdoing although neither has admitted it. while the money details are different, both are accused of using their positions for personal benefits (although Rangel's are more towards the personal and DeLay's are more towards the campaign funds side). Then there are those who Walsh leaves out. A good example is Chris Dodd who (1)got a sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide that saved the Dodd's over half a million dollars in interest and (2) got ownership of a seaside estate in Ireland which was paid for principally by a "partner". The fact that both Countrywide and the "partner" had major business before the banking committee of which Dodd is chairman was supposedly a mere coincidence. It probably was a coincidence that Senator Landrieu voted for the healthcare bill only after the $300 million special deal for her state in the Louisiana Purchase.

Walsh needs to rethink her actions if she is not to be just a laughing stock.

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