Money Problems?! I, quite fortunately as it turns out, have not had much of an opportunity to watch the Thompson Committee hearings on campaign finance violations. I have tried to keep up with them in the papers, with limited success. After reading, day in and day out, about the apparent violations of Democrats, including the President and Vice President, I have found myself waiting for the other shoe to drop. No serious discussion can be held on campaign finances unless the whole system is looked into. But, partisan politics being what they are, and Republicans having control of the committee, tends to leave out one side of the debate. Now, that is not to lessen the crimes committed by McBill and Al. They are as guilty as henhouse foxes, regardless of their feeble attempts to explain away their missteps. Again, unfortunately, the very partisan nature of the investigation is unlikely to lead to a resolution, as Democrats fight the appointment of a special prosecutor, and Republicans seem willing to head off any effort to discuss their pimping. And speaking of pimps, the Mac Daddy of the House of Representatives, showed how it is possible for a politicians to talk out of both sides of his mouth in a single article. In a Friday Newsday article, Newt Gingrich said he thinks that the controversy surrounding the Democrats is so seemly that perhaps the President's election itself was illegitimate. But then he went on to say that he favors abolishing all limits on campaign contributions. Say what?! In other words, those guys are corrupt, because they took money, but we aren't and want to increase the amount of money we can take. Does this make sense to anybody? Well, as if that wasn't ridiculous enough, I actually got a moment to watch a few minutes of the hearings. I say "a few" because that was all I could tolerate. And it had nothing to do with the aforementioned points. It was, instead, a quick lesson in partisan stupidity. Now, I can understand the Republican interest in persecuting Democrats without calling their own excesses into question...that's human nature. But what I witnessed was, for want of a better word, just plain dumb. As I turned on the hearings, I was treated to a Democratic tirade, accusing Republicans of being racist because they were calling so many witnesses of Asian descent. Again, I have to ask, say what?! Now, there is absolutely no question that racism does exist in this country. But that doesn't mean that every act that involves a person of a specific ethnic group is race related. Members of the House include blacks, whites, American Indians, Asian Americans, and, heck, even women. Those self-same representatives take money from every ethnic group that wants a piece of the action...which, in fact, is every ethnic group. Especially, and including, white folk. But in the case of the Democratic fundraising, a lot of Asian money was involved, which means there will be a lot of Asian witnesses. To say that calling those related witnesses to the stand is racist is just plain dumb. The Democrats, however, lack a defense, so they must resort to such gutter-level politics. And for those Democrats, it should have a familiar ring to it. When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was enduring his confirmation hearing, complete with charges of sexual harassment, Republicans were not interested in the merits of the charges, only in discrediting his accuser. Mr. Thomas accused the Democratic-controlled committee of performing a high-tech lynching, a charge that was equally ridiculous. He was essentially saying, the only reason that you're persecuting me is because I'm Black. When, in fact, the Justice he was replacing (who, by the way, was also black) was one Justice near and dear to the hearts of Democrats. What he achieved, though, was backing the Democrats off, because they didn't want to be called racists on national television (especially since they have always relied on the black vote). Now they are attempting to do the same thing to the Republicans, though I doubt very seriously that it will have the same effect. If the Democrats are really serious about campaign finance reform, they should take their lumps, admit to their excesses, and push for the special prosecutor...to investigate the entire fundraising system. Then, and only then, will this issue be seriously addressed. Otherwise, as we can see from the wise words of the Speaker, the process will continue to become more and more beholden to money, and we will continue to elect pimps and whores to the legislature.