Wednesday, September 28, 2005

"Culture of Corruption"

Tom DeLay was indicted today by a Texas Grand Jury on a single charge related to money rasing in the 2002 state legislature races. DeLay has stepped down as majority leader, as Republican ethics rules require, but argues that this will turn out to be another "baseless" charge... evidently equating being punished by a slap on the hands -- as the House ethics committee has done three times -- with being "not guilty."

Howard Dean is using the opportunity to tour his "Culture of Corruption" frame around the block again, and it looks like this time more people are willing to pay attention.

I'm going to pencil in a B for this frame and reserve the right to see how it performs on the road test. Here's why:

Dean is treading on thin ice here. Just a scant decade ago, Republicans raised public ire over "dirty politics" and used that anger to fuel a coup, wresting the federal government away from 40 years of Democratic control. If Dean can steer this one carefully, he may be able to keep "Culture of Corruption" from applying to Dems as well as Republicans, but this is going to be a fast ride on a curvy track.

On the other hand, this may be the best encapsulation of a network of suspicious trends... no-bid contracts, secret energy meetings, crony appointments, buried reports, the outing of Valarie Plame, gaming on Indian lands, trumped up Iraqii intellegence, a military unprepared for the moral obligations of invasion and occupation, rewarding the incompetent, and all the rest. All these things exist, and they are outrageous, but they exist in isolation in the American mind. Since I don't care about ANWR, and I've been suspicious of Saddam for awhile, and lower oil prices would help me get through the month, I don't want to think about the whole thing.

The Whole Thing needs a name. "Crooks and Liars" hasn't stuck. Neither has "Lying Liars". "Yellow Elephants" is amusing, but not general enough for a national audience. "Who Let the Dogs In?" doesn't capture national attention. All of these stoke the passion of people who are on to the man behind the curtain, but we need a way to get enough people to care to raise the curtain.

I think "Culture of Corruption" is a promising start.

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