{bader's bauhaus}

Dear God, Please help...

DeLay said the allegation he conspired to launder corporate campaign donations was a "political witch-hunt," but Democrats tied DeLay to a series of recent ethical problems facing prominent Republicans and said they formed a pattern of corruption.

They promised to make the ethical questions dogging DeLay, Senate Republican leader Bill Frist, White House political adviser Karl Rove, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft and lobbyist Jack Abramoff a major issue in the 2006 campaign.

"Tom DeLay and Bill Frist are not alone in their shady style of governing -- it is a systemic problem in the Republican Party that goes far beyond these two men," John Lapp, executive director of the Democratic House campaign arm, said in a fund-raising appeal sent to donors within hours of the indictment.

The charge against DeLay comes as public approval ratings for Republican President George W. Bush and the Republican-led Congress drop to new lows, and polls show declining support for the Iraq war and growing pessimism about the country and the economy.

Analysts said the sense of public unease, combined with the broadening scandals, was beginning to resemble the conditions that led Republicans to reclaim control of Congress in 1994 and could give Democrats a powerful argument in next year's congressional elections.

"Voters are primed right now to be angry at Congress. You don't have to work very hard to convince voters that something is wrong in Congress," said Amy Walter, an analyst for the independent Cook Political Report

posted by Scott Bader @ 11:43 AM