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Are we just at the point where “politician” and “corrupt” go hand in hand?

Look at the following examples:

• Chris Dodd – In trouble again over a gift of a house in Ireland that came suspiciously after securing a Presidential pardon. (The Associated Press)
• Senator Burris is not as clean as he made himself out to be. (The Sun Times)
• Speaker Pelosi continues to lie about what she knew about water boarding (Judicial Watch)
• Republican Senators and Congressmen who still do not get it about earmarks (RealClear Politics)

Clearly, these are not men and women who are morally competent to be elected. Yet, statistics show that House members have above a 90% re-election rate since 1974. Senators have a 80-90% chance of retaking their office. (Center for Responsive Politics).

The question then becomes – why do we keep reelecting them? The country clamored for a change in November, yet sent the same people back to Washington. No wonder we are still in a mess, still in gridlock, and still hearing about corruption scandals and unsubstantiated claims of falsehood. These people were corrupt before the elections – by sending them back we have in fact affirmed them in their dishonesty.

The mess that we see in Washington is OUR fault – we keep giving power to those whose irresponsibility has led us to this point. Imagine if we the people decided to always vote against the incumbent for the next 6 elections – that the time of the career politician is over? Imagine the fear that would be struck into the hearts and minds of our representatives. I think a little fear would do them good.

Yesterday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi accused the Central Intelligence Agency of lying to Congress about the use of waterboarding.  In an extraordinarily disjointed press conference, she adamantly denied having any knowledge that the technique was in use, just that the Bush administration was thinking of using it.

Speaker Pelosi is lying.  You can tell – because the liberal press – which has supported her for these last two years – are pouncing on her like sharks on a wounded California seal.   Some excerpts from the “Big Three”:

Pelosi says she was only briefed once about harsh interrogation methods and was not told waterboarding was being used against top al Qaeda detainees. But the the CIA pointed to recently released documents that raise questions about Pelosi’s account, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. (CBS News)

A report released last week directly contradicted Pelosi’s recollections of the briefing. The Director of National Intelligence’s report indicated that the speaker was in fact briefed about such techniques used on Zubaydah — one of three terrorist suspects subjected to waterboarding, an interrogation tactic that simulates drowning. (ABC News)

The speaker’s discomfort was evident yesterday as she was grilled by reporters for the first time since the CIA issued information suggesting that she and others were told about the use of the techniques, including waterboarding, at a classified briefing on Sept. 4, 2002. Pelosi was then the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee. (NBC News)

So, file the papers.  Either bring the felony case agains the members of the CIA who lied to congress, or file the papers to commit the Speaker to intense psychological counseling.  Hopefully, the citizens of her district will demand the latter.