Suppose you were an idiot...

And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. (Mark Twain)

It's obvious Mark Twain had a great deal of disdain for government, including Congress. Another quote often repeated that Twain made was:

It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.

We are now into October so the political heat increases and more and more focus is on not what positive can be done but finger pointing and drama that makes most average americans shake their heads and walk away. If they are also aware of the history of past Congressional scandals that makes it even more difficult to get all "outraged" over the behavior of one party and even easier to be disgusted with the behavior of both parties past and present.

A few interesting links for those interested in the past Congressional scandals are a 1997 PBS News Hour show transcript that details from recent to back into history. Wikipedia has a whole section on Congressional scandals as well. Some of the scandals I remember paying really close attention to as an adult was the House Banking scandal, and a bit closer to home some of the media that was surrounding Buz Lukens and the whole Rosie Coffman episode. I also remember when Rep. Gerry Studds refused to step down from office during the 1983 Congressional Page scandal.

As each new scandal of the moment appears the public and the media attention seems to forget some of the more recent ones, as one example, very little has been said about Rep. William Jefferson. However, I do give credit to the House Democrats for voting on June 15, 2006 to strip Jefferson of his committee assignment by a vote of 99-58. I do agree with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that if Democrats are going to make Republican wrong doings a focus that the Democrats have to establish that they are going to expect/demand ethical behavior from their own party members. I also hope this continues after the elections, because that really is the only way that some trust in Congress can be restored, each party making sure they deal swiftly and fairly with their own who do not display appropriate behavior before they turn their attention on the other party...