Joe Conason: Why Mitch McConnell is worse than Charles Rangel

[democracy1st]

On the same day that the House Ethics Committee convicted Rep. Charles Rangel of nearly a dozen violations of congressional rules, Sen. Mitch McConnell announced that under pressure from fellow Republicans, he will surrender his beloved earmarks. This is a notable coincidence because, like Rangel, McConnell has rewarded corporate donors to an academic center named after him -- and used earmarks for that purpose. The top corporate recipient of earmarks from the Kentucky Republican in the 2010 budget not only happens to be a donor to the McConnell Center for Political Leadership at the University of Louisville, but one of the largest and most corrupt defense contractors in the world.

Topping the list of Rangel's transgressions was the misuse of his congressional clout to raise money for a vanity academic "center" named after him at the City University of New York from private donors. Yet somehow McConnell got away with the same kind of dubious dealings at the University of Louisville -- and was allowed to reward BAE Systems, donor of $500,000 to the McConnell Center, with $17 million worth of defense earmarks.


Read more:
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joe_conason/2010/11/16/mcconnell

[madmax]

1. Tell'em Joe

The old Republican double standard. :mad:

[JamesA1102]

2. Yet Jon Stewart called Rangel a bad man nt

[senseandsensibility]

3. k and r

eom

[postulater]

4. Didn't Boner hand out tobacco checks on the house floor?

How legal is that?

[madmax]

5. That too has been written here and elsewhere but,

doesn't go anywhere. I get the feeling that they're all dirty so it's hard to call the kettle black. Forget about the pot and the kettle, imagine the Pandora's box that would open for both Dems and Pugs.

'Kill 'em all, let God sort'em out'. Marine saying, I believe from the Vietnam era. No, I don't really feel that way.

[democracy1st]

6. +1