Republicans Scramble To Clean Up Their Act

It's good to see Republicans getting serious on this issue below - which, frankly, should be SOP if you believe in good government, no? But it's only half the battle. There's little point to cleaning up a ship if it doesn't have a well-charted course. I'm not piling on, this is a good start. But Republicans also need to craft a strong, positive agenda for 2008 around their eventual nominee, or their newly de-barnacled ship will still be left tied up to the minority dock.

According to details in a Weekly Standard piece by Fred Barnes, there's a significant on going effort to purge the House and Senate of scandal-plagued Republicans before the 2008 elections. And the leadership appears prepared to play hardball.

If all else fails, the ultimate tool to force a retirement or resignation is to inform the House member or senator that the national party will provide no campaign funds and perhaps even will finance a primary opponent. This tactic was used against Craig, along with the threat that Senate Republican leaders would, publicly and noisily, demand he resign.

In the House, Republicans have an informal watch list of members who've been reported to be under investigation but haven't been raided. These include Gary Miller of California and Don Young of Alaska, both in trouble over earmarks that aided backers or business associates.

Comments

[Fred Beloit]

OK, OK. But what ever happened to the distinguished gentleman with all that cold cash in the freezer? I guess he must have resigned already. No? Well what about that distinguished gentleman who left that girl dead in the water? He's gone, right? No? How about that distinguished gentleman whose live-in boyfriend was pimping from the gentleman's apartment. He's got to be out of there right? He's still there? Yes, but what about that distinguished gentleman who screwed a young female intern so thoroughly his Party colleagues cheered him for it? Now I know he is gone. Resigned in disgrace? One could go on. Yes, a good house cleaning. That's the ticket.

[Conservativa]

And why can't Republicans pay more attention to their image? Look at the image of Craig that will forever sum up his career - the mug shot, complete with nasty glasses glare. What you do matters, and how you look matters. I _hope_ Republicans will start paying attention to _both_. (In that order. Careful image-making won't help you if you do stupid things).