Monday, November 12, 2007
The Devil and Alaska's Republican Legislators
Venal politicians on the take are nothing new. They have always existed. The news about Republicans caught in a FBI sting in Alaska made me gloat because of the sham front they have a habit of putting on. If Democrats wielded power it could have been them taking bribes but it was unlikely that they would have gone around preaching moral values. That is a specialty of the Republicans. As the Queen said to Alice: "Off with their heads". (Lewis Carroll, The Mock Turtle Story) . But there might not be need for such drastic measures; they might self-destruct by mixing impotency drugs and sleeping pills.
The Washington Post (Karl Vick)
Excerpts:
- "On another tape, Pete Kott, the former Republican speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, crowed as he described beating back a tax bill opposed by oil companies. 'I had to cheat, steal, beg, borrow and lie," Kott said. "Exxon's happy. BP's happy. I'll sell my soul to the devil'."
- Officially, the scandal has remained confined to Juneau, where Alaska lawmakers had grown so accustomed to operating under the presumption of impropriety that several of them embroidered ball caps with the letters CBC, for "Corrupt Bastards Club." (An Anchorage coffeehouse now offers Corrupt Bastards Brew.) But with signs that the investigation is brushing against Alaska's lone congressman, Don Young (R), and its longtime and venerated senator Ted Stevens (R), residents of the Last Frontier are experiencing a rare spasm of soul-searching.
This is going to enliven many cocktail parties in Washington, DC, and elsewhere:
The probe has delivered low humor as well as bad behavior. In one exchange the FBI captured by wiretap, Allen handed a sexual potency pill and a sleeping pill to Kott -- who later phoned, confused and upset, after mixing them up. "Sometimes you try to come up with an exaggeration to make a point," said Les Gara, an Anchorage Democrat. "It's hard to do that here." |
Ah, the travails of the Grand Old Party!
