Enough, Already

When my father went to court to testify against a former employee of his accounting firm, he and I discussed the possibility that some good might come out of the trial. While it was certainly harmful to the firm that a former employee was found to be embezzling from his clients, surely the fact that the firm was swift in taking action and prosecuting the employee would tell the clientele that the firm was serious about it its ethical standards. Yet at the same time, it still an uphill battle to remove the taint from the firm that one of its employees was guilty of embezzling in the first place. At the same time, accountants are often stereotyped as crooked anyway, so this rogue former employee merely exacerbates an already difficult stigma.

I feel that this Mark Foley scandal is a parody of what my father went through with his firm, only blown up to national proportions. The GOP is responding exactly as my father did. Mark Foley resigned, and the GOP is no looking into whether any criminal charges should be leveled. What is outrageous is the bickering between the GOP and the Democratic party. While a staunch Republican myself, I am embarrassed by my party's repeated references to Gerry Studds and Mel Reynolds.

I am embarrassed because when a Republican does something wrong, the GOP should be concerned with finding all the facts, not pointing out hypocrisy of Democrats. Or at least, they should not be beating that issue to death. First of all, no matter how Republicans try to couch it, they come off as trying to cast blame on the other party, and no one can respect that. (It is the reason why we don't respect people who defended Bill Clinton by saying Ken Starr was starting a witch hunt.)

Yes, I understand that when push comes to shove, the public should be aware of what people are saying and doing, especially if it is blatantly hypocritical. But at this moment, Republicans should be worried about discovering all the facts in the case. They should ignore any Democratic hoopla, and refuse to be baited into these "holier-than-thou" debates. Sean Hannity, that goes double for you.

When all the facts are in, then speak out. Don't descend to the Democrat's level. Tell the public that you are ashamed of Foley's actions, and that you are doing everything you can to reach the bottom of the case. But don't point fingers at the Democrats. At least, withhold doing that until you have something worthwhile to accuse them of. We all know that Democrats have a double standard. That doesn't mean Republicans should have one, as well.