Self-righteous GOPers who attacked Clinton are now mimes

I saw this on Bob Geiger's blog and I had to repost and comment. It seems that the following 25 self-righteous senators who saw fit to flog President Clinton like he was going to bring down the country haven't had much to say in the wake of Scooter Libby's pardon. Not one of these senators thus far have made a public statement:

Wayne Allard (R-CO)
Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Kit Bond (R-MO)
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Larry Craig (R-ID)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Pete Domenici (R-NM)
Mike Enzi (R-WY)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Dick Lugar (R-IN)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
George Voinovich (R-OH)

Not one. Like that's a surprise. But, they had plenty to say about Clinton. A trip down memory lane (again, from Geiger's Website)...

Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback (who's running for president):

By his words and deeds he chose to place himself above the law. By his words and deeds he has undermined the rule of law in America to the great harm of this nation," Brownback said. "By his own words and deeds, he has undermined the truth-finding function of the judiciary, at great harm to that branch of our government. By his words and deeds, he had done great harm to the notions of honesty and integrity that form the underpinnings of this great republic.

"We have lost many things over the past few months: trust in public officials, respect for the rule of law, confidence in the truth of the White House's public statements. But perhaps the most tragic loss has been the steady erosion of our societal standards."

As Geiger sagely opines, it's too bad that Brownback said this about President Clinton and not Scooter Libby. His silence on Libby is deafening. In fact, during the last Republican debate, I got a huge kick out of most of the candidates defending the decision on stage, but they largely sidestepped the question of whether they supported Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence. More Clinton flashbacks...

Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO):

"The Constitution is what preserves the rule of law, and guarantees that we remain a nation of laws, not of men.

"I hold the President to a higher standard because he is the chief law enforcement official of the nation [Editor's Note: I thought the attorney general is the highest law enforcement official in the United States, but maybe I'm wrong - PECAD]. If he is above the law, then we have a double standard; one for the powerful, and one for the rest.

"The sworn oath is central not only to our Constitution, but also to the administration of justice. Our legal system would not function without it."

One could easily substitute Scooter Libby in the above statement where you see "the president." It's not a stretch to call Libby "powerful" - he was Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

Judas John McCain seemed to think that truthfulness and the rule of law were both pretty important in 1999. What a difference eight years makes:

"All of my life, I have been instructed never to swear an oath to my country in vain. In my former profession, those who violated their sworn oath were punished severely and considered outcasts from our society. I do not hold the President to the same standard that I hold military officers to. I hold him to a higher standard."

I've nothing more to say about the soon-to-be-ex presidential candidate. He hitched his wagon to a falling star long ago. Maybe it's time for another stroll through a Baghdad Market.

Self-righteous Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) gave a statement about how "we should hope that history looks back kindly at how we observed the rule of law":

"I was reminded as well, however, that the laws of our country are applicable to us all, including the president, and they must be obeyed. The concept of equal justice under law and the importance of absolute truth in legal proceedings is the foundation of our justice system in the courts.

"A hundred years from now, when history looks back to this moment, we can hope for a conclusion that our Constitution has been applied fairly and survives, that we have come to principled judgments about matters of national importance, and that the rule of law in American has been sustained."

When I read this piece by Geiger, all I could do was shake my head and say out loud, "Hypocrites."

Hypocrites.

I know, I know - Bush has the power to pardon or commute sentences under the Constitution, and no one is disputing that, including me. What I do have a problem with is Bush pardoning someone who worked so closely to him and his vice president. I can't believe more people don't have a problem with it, but as with many important political debates in the U.S. today, it's not the right thing that's important, it's the right thing for someone's party. There are very few instances of a Republican standing up for a Democrat and a Democrat standing up for a Republican on anything more important than trivial matters.

Ideology over ethics is now the norm, not the exception.