Coddling Criminals - A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Is it just me or have defenders of the Bush administration and Republicans in the House of Representatives suddenly become staunch civil libertarians? When I listen to C-Span and read message boards, I keep hearing a lot of “innocent until proven guilty.” I mean, sure, I agree. But I thought it was the Democrats who were supposed to be soft on crime.

Talking Point’s Memo’s Grand Old Docket is a great resource for keeping track of the ever-growing list of national (and Ohio) Republicans caught up in indictments and investigations.

Among others:

Jack Abramoff – super-lobbyist for GOP interests. Bribery.

Claude Allen – #2 at Bush admin’s Dept. of Health & Human Services. Shoplifting.

Ed Buckham – Former Chief of Staff to House Republican leader Tom DeLay. Money laundering.

John Colyandro – Executive Director of DeLay’s political action committee. Money laundering

Duke Cunningham – Republican Representative from California. Bribery.

Tom DeLay – Republican Representative from Texas, former House Majority Leader. Money laundering.

Brian Doyle – press secretary at Bush admin’s Dept. of Homeland Security. Attempting to seduce a 14 year old girl.

Scooter Libby – V.P. Cheney’s chief of staff. Perjury, obstruction of justice.

Bob Ney – Republican Representative from Ohio. Bribery.

That site does not mention:

Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) under investigation for possible security violations.

Head of Tampa Immigration and Customs Enforcement (a branch of DHS) Frank Figueroa was caught exposing himself to a girl in a mall food court. (There’s a third DHS official in addition to Doyle and Figueroa caught up child sex allegations)

And of course, you have ongoing questions about whether President Bush himself did anything wrong by authorizing warrantless domestic wiretaps of U.S. citizens in apparent violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and by apparently authorizing the Vice President’s office to leak the name of a covert CIA agent in an effort discredit a political enemy of the Bush administration.

So I can see why they would be sensitive to the rights of the accused just about now. I’ve heard it said that a Republican is a Democrat who was mugged and a Democrat is a Republican who has been arrested.

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