So this is the Republican party.
Corrupt:
In 2002 Weller made his first official congressional trip to Nicaragua. Before the year was over, he had bought his first lot and eventually began looking for land he could subdivide into parcels that would attract buyers looking for prime ocean-view property at a relatively low price. It is an unusual investment for a member of Congress, and Weller's foreign land holdings seem far more extensive than any other House member's.
His investment got a boost from the narrowly passed Central America Free Trade Agreement, which Weller pitched in 2005 as a tool to enable businesses in his hard-pressed district to sell tractors and food to Latin America. CAFTA also includes additional legal protection for American investors, including those who have purchased lots from Weller.
What he didn't say was that, while he publicly pushed CAFTA, Weller privately was pursuing his land development, some 2,000 miles away. The House approved the trade pact in July 2005 by only two votes, 217-215.
Besides not mentioning his Nicaraguan investments during the CAFTA debate on the House floor, Weller did not give anywhere close to a complete accounting of them in his required 2005 financial disclosure statement. House ethics rules require representatives to disclose all property they own except for their personal residences. - Chicago Tribune
(And in hiding - Weller missed a week of votes during the period he was avoiding comment on the story.)
Corrupt and defiant:
California Rep. John Doolittle's defiant pronouncement that he will seek re-election to the House in 2008 has to send shivers down the spines of savvy Republican strategists.
For months, political operatives have been acting as though Doolittle's retirement is a foregone conclusion due to a series of ethics questions that continue to dog him.
(Oh, please, let him try to run again. That would be such a gift for Charlie Brown, and by extension a gift for all of us.)
And divided:
The frustrated response from Simpson, a longtime ally of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), also rekindles the embers of House-Senate tension that at times plagued Republicans during their time in the majority.
"If that’s how they treat their own," [ID-02 Republican Representative] Simpson said, referring to Senate GOP leaders’ quick push for Craig to resign, "that tells me they’re more interested in party than individuals, and the party is made up of individuals. How you treat them says a lot about your party."
Simpson pointed a finger at Craig’s leaders for staying mum on the legal and personal jeopardy facing other GOP senators, including Alaskan Ted Stevens, now under federal investigations, and Louisianan David Vitter, who has admitted contacting an escort service.
"They have people over there [in the Senate Republican Conference] in far worse trouble that they haven’t said a thing about," Simpson said.
Even Republicans are starting to realize that Republican leadership is comprised of not-very-nice people, and has a hypocrisy problem.
I wish the Democrats were holding stronger on Iraq, but it's no small thing to have the Republicans falling apart.