GOP Legal Riverdancing

Please be sure that you're sitting down before reading this. I suspect that the shock might overcome some of you.

Republicans to alter rules making it harder to pursue ethics inquiries.

I'll give you a moment to grab the smelling salts and regain control of your senses.

Before I red line your sarcasm meters, obviously this is all being done in an effort to protect Tom "da hammer" DeLay. And the effort is coming on a number of fronts.

First, the House Republicans are trying to change the rules so that the Ethics Committee will require a majority of votes to even begin an investigation. There are an equal number of Dems and GOP on the committee, and under the current rules even a tie vote can see an investigation begun. If this rule change goes through, either party can shield their members by simply having all of their own team refuse to vote on the matter. In effect, this could be the end of any meaningful ethics investigation work in the future, much to the relief of Mr. DeLay.

Back home in Texas, there are two more efforts underway to ensure that The Hammer will never be held accountable for his actions.

In Texas, state Republican legislative leaders and party officials are considering some maneuvers of their own in light of the investigation. One proposal would take authority for prosecuting the campaign finance case away from the Democratic district attorney in Austin and give it to the state attorney general, a Republican. Another possible move would legalize corporate campaign contributions like those that figure into the state case.

Pretty sweet deal, eh? If you can't weasel your way out of trouble under the rules, keep changing the rules until you can. Hand off your investigation to a friendly AG who will simply drop the matter. Or, if that fails, make whatever illegal activity you were engaged in legal! Voila'. You're floating free and easy.

I had begun thinking that I couldn't possibly be any more embarrassed to be a Republican, and that there was no place to go but up from here. Apparently I was mistaken.