The Charlie Rangel scandal is said to raise the stench of a corrupt congress, for which people may hold the Democrats responsible. So we're told. In fact, this is the stench of a system working as it should be.
Under the Republicans, the Ethics Committee was kaput. The committee rarely met, and almost never actually investigated anyone for anything. The Congressional scandals of those days — and there were many — were primarily uncovered and/or pursued by the press.
The way the system is working now is pretty close to how it should — complaints are filed, investigated, and can result in charges. Even for someone who is the Chair of a major committee, or more precisely, who was the Chair. Rangel isn't the Chair because he was pushed aside months ago by Pelosi due to the scandal.
This is what happens when you let corruption investigation proceed instead of suppressing them — corruption gets exposed. This is not a black eye for the Democrats. It shows that they are far more determined to run a clean ship. Because In a corrupt regime you don't get investigations, except whitewashes.
So when the press is all bent out of shape about this you have to ask — what would they like to be happening? Only in some fantasy are there no serious charges of corruption to investigate, and only in some fantasy's fantasy would there be no valid charges. So if there are charges to investigate, wouldn't the Ethics Committee's actions be the ones you'd want to see?