Different Rules for Different Fools

On the very day that Republican Representative Tom DeLay left Congress to face charges by a politically motivated district attorney in Texas, Democratic Representative William Jefferson refused to step down from his powerful position on the House Ways and Means Committee. Republicans have a rule that they must resign their leadership posts if they come under indictment. Democrats apparently do not feel the need for such a rule. So, all a Democrat has to do is CHARGE a Republican with wrong-doing, and they've already won the battle. Although two of Jefferson's aides have confessed to brokering hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, although $90,000 was found in his freezer, although he was recorded in an FBI sting taking a bribe, the Congressional Black Caucus say Jefferson is entitled to the presumption of innocence. In a statement, the CBC said blacks in Congress, "perhaps have a unique appreciation of our nation's constitutional guarantee of the 'presumption of innocence.' " Here's the problem. If black Congressmen truly had a unique appreciation of our nation's constitutional guarantees, they would not be Democrats. NONE of those guarantees would exist if Republicans had not fought for them, both politically and on the battlefield.