Monday, September 24, 2007

Shun Ted Stevens?

This from today's Instapundit:

JOHN FUND: Republicans should shun Ted Stevens:

It's time for Senate Republicans to step up to the plate. It's increasingly clear that their Sen. Stevens has ethically compromised himself and brought shame to the Senate. Will his colleagues continue to kowtow to him as a powerful Appropriations Committee member and allow him to serve on other key committees? Or will they send a signal that they are prepared to shun senators who abuse the public trust?

We generally agree with Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds on most things, though not all. And this is one of those cases. Glenn says he agrees with Fund. We do not. Hear us out.

HazZzMat has cordially despised the thuggish Senator Stevens for years. He's your typical, arrogant, old-style pol, the kind of guy whose always tempted (whether he does it or not) to send someone out to kneecap people who disagree with him.

That said, I'll be happy to jump on Stevens as soon as the Democrats expel Representative William "The Fridge" Jefferson (D-LA). You know. The dude who keeps tens of thousands of dollars in cash in his freezer, whom, like Stephens the FBI is also after. True, the Dems took away any possibility of Jefferson's getting to chair a committee, but he's still on whatever committees he wants to be. But he's just as big a hack as Stevens. So why no outcry here?

We've said it before, we'll say it again: the Stupid Party, of which we are currently members, still does not understand that if you demand your own people resign from the House or the Senate every time they're accused of something, you can lose your majority pretty quickly. Since the Repubs have already lost their majority, they would only be digging the hole deeper if they take John Fund's advice seriously at least at this moment.

The Democrats believe that their people are innocent until proven guilty. (Because they can count.) But when it comes to Republicans, they're guilty until proven innocent. This is bad enough. But for Republicans like Fund or Libertarians like Glenn to help the Democrats increase their majority by throwing out Republicans each time they get a dirty look—well, I'm sorry, how dumb is that? It's going to be hard enough to regain a majority in either house next year. Why make it even tougher?

The odious Stevens stays until Jefferson goes. I'm tired of this.

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