October 28, 2005 - It appears that the Republican campaign slogan for 2006 will be “Not Guilty”.  In a demonstration of the Constitutional principle of separation of powers the need to plead has struck both the Congress and the Executive branches.  It goes deeper an obscure White House aide in the dock who can’t decide what constitutes “doing business” when he is taken on junkets by a lobbyist with access to unlimited cash. 

A Texas District Attorney looks into a scheme to launder corporate money through the Republican National Committee to avoid the State’s ban on corporations contributing to State politicians.  When indictments are returned the cry is that it is a partisan witch hunt; its all political; I did nothing wrong!  And by the way – “Not Guilty”.

The SEC is looking into the suspicious stock sales of the Majority Leader of the United States Senate.  Senator Frist was just lucky when he unloaded his shares of the family business two weeks before his brother the CEO put out the public reports of faltering company earnings.  “I haven’t talked to my brother in six months. I’m not guilty of any wrong doing.”

The three weird sisters, Katrina, Rita and Wilma came calling.  The cronies who grabbed the patronage brass ring when FEMA came by on Bush campaign merry-go-round bungled badly.  In each case local official were complaining of lack of coordination, lack of leadership and insufficient supplies that arrived too late.  “Not Guilty” was the repeated plea from FEMA.  It was someone else that screwed up.  It was the Governor or the Mayor or the Cops but it wasn’t FEMA spending a half a million dollars hauling ice from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast and then to the storage depot in Maine that was responsible for the bungled relief efforts.  Governor Blanco was vilified for refusing to sign the Louisiana National Guard over to FEMA while Governor Barbour’s leadership was praised when he decided he would keep control of the Mississippi National Guard.  With local officials complaining of late arriving aid in South Florida it can’t be that State’s Governor.  It must be the locals.  Hell, they can’t even get elections right!

The President’s pick for the lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court can not muster enough support in the President’s own party to justify holding hearings on her nomination much less that treasured up or down vote that Conservatives say that they crave for judicial nominees.  More than 2,200 Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan in wars that this President thought were over years ago.  Scooter Libby is under indictment and Ken Rove isn’t out of the woods yet.  Pete Fitzgerald isn’t done with his investigation. .  If the speculation of the source of Libby’s knowledge is true then Dick Cheney may be the first Vice President under indictment since – well since Spiro Agnew.  Fitzgerald is the closest thing American has seen to Eliot Ness since – well, since Eliot Ness.  They can’t corrupt him. They can only fire him and issue pardons.