He Works Little for the Money

Joe Conason, the stalwart bringer of truth, hits the nail smack on the head - hey, hey, ho, ho, William Jefferson has got to go.

For those of you still unawares, William Jefferson is a Democratic congressman who got a big bribe in a sting operation, and like right after he took the bribe, the FBI found $90,000 in his freezer wrapped in foil. From what I've seen, freezers have two types of residents. 1) Foodstuffs: meat, fro-yo, Hot Pockets and the like. Those are fine. And 2) Things you are hiding: human remains, drugs, ill-gotten piles of money wrapped in foil. Not as OK.

As Mr. Conason goes on to say, he's innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law. But serving in Congress is not the same as walking around town. There is (should be, anyway) a higher standard to serve in Congress. And I'm sorry, when they find a pile of bribe money in your freezer, it's time to go bye-bye. And as Joe goes on to say,

The most powerful reason for Jefferson to quit, however, was displayed at his own press conference in the U.S. Capitol on Monday, when he announced that he would not step down (and cryptically suggested that there are "two sides to every story"). Asked directly whether he had taken a bribe, the congressman declined to answer. Anyone in public office who can't say "no" to that question should leave -- or be required to leave -- immediately.

Hear hear, Joe! And aside from the ethical bullshit -- just because he's a Democrat doesn't mean he's not a fuckface -- the Republicans are going to take this isolated single incident and try to make it look like the ethical lapses are a congress-wide problem, instead of a Republican one. And it will work. You think the hooplehead voters out there can count past two? DeLay + Jefferson = both parties suck. But that's not the case. Jefferson is one guy who has piss poor judgment. DeLay and Abramoff is a widespread culture of corruption; a plan devised by DeLay to permanently imbue bribery into our system of government. And if I just lost you there, I have bad news for you - you're one of the hooples.

Step down, Jefferson. Democrats in congress, publicly insist that he step down. If we want to run as the party of honesty and integrity, we have to actually be honest and have integrity. We're not Republicans!