Cranky Bastard

New Scandal, Old Mistakes - New York Times: "The best result of this latest scandal, and the hypocrisy and finger-pointing exhibited on both sides, would be for voters to say, 'A pox on both your houses,' reject the scandal culture and gotcha politics of both parties and seek new politics of common cause, collegiality and the public interest. The alternative is that most people will conclude that in American politics today the only standard is the double standard, and the cycles of conflict and rancor will continue."

I saw him yesterday on a show saying much of the same, but it is right. It is important to read the whole article, because he really puts much of this in the proper perspective. Not only that, but he is not quite the partisan hack that we would have ordinarily expected him to be. It seems he is a thinker, much more so than is normally accepted in politics these days. Those that are gleeful or are denying the possible veracity of the indictments are not worth listening to. We need to hear the voices of reason. If Scooter did something wrong, we need to see to it that he is punished. If not, then let's get to the bottom of the leak scandal and be done with it. There is a ton still to know. Novak comes to mind. Reading the tea leaves is a favorite of fans of political games, but these are very complicated and secretive tea leaves. In fact, someone wisely pointed out yesterday that we may never know the real story on this. To Lanny, thank you for reminding us of the ridiculous hypocrisy that is far too common in politics these days!