Senator Reid Misses Point: INCUMBENTS are the Problem, Not One Party or Another

Democratic Senator Reid and many in Congress are trying to distance themselves from recent financial scandals that have painted Congressmembers in a very bad way.

He was pointing to Republican senators Cunningham and DeLay, who have been accused of finance crimes. Senator Reid took it one step further, saying that the current Congress is the most corrupt version in U.S. history and that the Abramoff scandal is a Republican scandal. More on that a little later.

It should be noted that scandals that have also touched Democratic Congressmembers: current members Senator Baucus, Senator Dorgan, Senator Clinton, Senator Reid himself, and others have shown up on the scandal radar as well. In fact, many other INCUMBENT Dems and Reps have been tainted by accusations of graft and other wrongdoing.

So before Senator Reid lets his imagination and selective memory run away with him, he ought to come clean on his own involvement with Jack Abramoff, the recently indicted lobbyist. Until he does, the pot is calling the kettle black.

The REAL problem here are the incumbents staying in power too long. The longer a person stays in Washington, the more corrupt they become, and they think they can take full advantage of the opportunities that come before them. This says something for term limits in every state, doesn't it?

With the exception of Senator Clinton, few freshman Senators and Representatives have faced questions of financial wrongdoing, and even then, Senator Clinton has distance between her and Whitewater and has kept her nose out of trouble, with the exception of the very bad memory of Whitewater and Monica.

Ten years ago, Jim Wright was forced to resign as were a couple of other Democrats, and Republicans were making the same charge of corruption in Congress. We won't even talk about President Clinton.

Freshman Congresspeople should be put in charge of campaign finance reform; their hands aren't greedily grabbing handfuls of cash. That's another issue for another day.

The world turns, does it not?