This morning on Meet the Press, Tim Russert welcomed congressguys Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Barney Frank (D-MA) for a "blunt and frank" (ha ha) discussion of certain controversies involving Tom DeLay's ethics, or the lack thereof. The quick summary would go something like this: Frank asserted that Republicans keep changing the rules so as to make it impossible for a complaint in this area to be seriously pursued. Blunt insisted that the changes are necessary because without them, your political opponents could keep a meritless investigation alive in an effort to smear you. Neither said this but it seemed to me they were jointly making a strong argument that Congress cannot set and enforce its own codes of conduct. But of course, this will never change.
George W. Bush's approval ratings are way down, but America's opinion of Congress is even lower. Does anyone wonder why that is?
As we've all come to expect, Russert did not ask any questions which really challenged his guests on their interpretations of reality. One I'd have put to Blunt involved his insistence that DeLay has done nothing wrong. Is it that he has really done nothing wrong? Or is it that he has artfully navigated (and Congress has amended) the rules so that conduct which should be against the rules is not, by some technicality, illegal? And I'd have asked Frank if he was prepared to say that no Democrats have engaged in similar transgressions. But those questions might have made his guests a wee bit uncomfortable and we can't have that on television's oldest news/interview program, can we?