Rethinking the Jefferson Raid

As did many of us around here, I agreed with the sentiment that, "Oh, poor Congress!  How do they like getting a taste of the privacy violation medicine," when William Jefferson's office was raided.

Randi Rhodes has made me re-think this.  Hear me out on the flip.

Randi's point, and I think it is valid, is that this was yet another power-grab by the administration.  Although Jefferson is obviously guilty, the Bushies saw this as an opportunity to make an example of its supreme power, that it has more power than Congress when, as we all know, it is actually a co-equal branch of government.  Had the FBI cleared this with the House leadership, it would not have been an overreach.  As is, the executive branch is saying it has authority over the official papers of the legislative branch.  Randi asked her listeners to imagine if the roles were reversed and Congress had sent its police branch into the White House to grab Bush's papers (however much we might somewhat like this).  Those that would have tried to go into the White House would have been shot.

She also asked the question I hadn't considered before - why didn't they raid Duke Cunningham's office?  Tom Delay's?  Bob Ney's?  Were they just waiting for a Democrat to go after?

One other point that she raised that I hadn't heard was that Democrats in the House were the ones that requested the investigation of Jefferson.

And, does anyone else suspect Republicans take a bit of glee in this guy's name?  I know when I first heard his name, what came first to my mind wasn't William Jefferson, but William Jefferson.....Clinton - the great demon of the left.

I have no problem with this guy being censured and asked to resign.  The evidence against him seems pretty overwhelming.  I have just now been made rather suspicious of the motives.