Partisan "corruption" attacks not working for the Dems

The finding of $90,000 in Louisiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson's refrigerator (by the way, am I the only one who noticed that his first and last name are former President Clinton's first and middle name?) has ramifications far greater than Jefferson's re-election bid in Louisiana.

The Jefferson probe has been a perennial thorn in the side of House Democrats who are pinning their election-year hopes on painting Republicans as a party of corruption. The steady flow of ever more colorful revelations in the Jefferson case has drained some of the energy out of Democrats’ argument that Republicans suffer from a “culture of corruption.”

It's frustrating that each Party is trying to paint the other Party as being something evil. We love to whine about "Democrats are this" and "Republicans are that," but our country isn't a parliamentary system where we elect parties. We elect individuals who belong to parties.

In any case, for what it's worth, it's a point well-made that the only politicians involved in scandals who are stepping down are Republicans.

Nonetheless, the only member to have stepped down this Congress because of an indictment is a Republican, former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (Calif.), who is serving prison time. Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), the former majority leader who was admonished three times by the ethics committee and is fighting a Texas indictment, has announced his intention to leave Congress before the end of this term.

The American people aren't stupid. Jack Abramoff was in with Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid as badly or worse than he was with any Republican. Perhaps the only Senator to be more tainted with tribal money than Reid was Republican John McCain, who receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from Indian gambling interests. However, McCain is somehow "untouchable" by virtue of his "independence."

Whatever.

Political corruption is not a party issue. It's an individual issue. Neither party is better or worse than the other when it comes to corruption and accepting bribes, and I think most Americans seem to understand that. The only ones who don't are those (on both sides) who are partisan enough to make corruption a partisan issue.