Put Up or Shut Up

No doubt anybody interested enough in politics to be perusing this blog has heard of the 90+ page indictment of William Jefferson, the Democrat congressman from Louisiana. What you probably haven't heard is the outcry from Democrats over the corruption of this guy that is similar to their outrage when Tom Delay was indicted. That is because their is none. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but the hypocrisy is so thick, you could cut it with a knife.
After all of the outrage Democrats expressed over even the hint of charges being brought against Delay and Duke Cunningham, followed up by their pledge to drain the swamp of political corruption in Washington, they are surprisingly mute on this issue. True, Pelosi didn't appoint Jefferson to the Homeland Security committee, but his fellow Democrat congressmen, bullied by the congressional black caucus, voted overwhelmingly to put him on that committee. This after authorities had already found the $90,000 of cold hard cash in his freezer. You may also remember Jefferson as the congressman who forced rescue workers after Katrina to reroute vehicles and men specifically to take him to his house so that he could pick up a few things. This was obviously more important than rescuing people.
You might think that, to show good faith on their pledge to fight corruption, the Democrats would have been the ones to refer his actions to the House ethics committee. And you would be wrong again. John Boehner had to do that. At least they complied and voted for the resolution, unlike their facilitation of the actions of serial ethics violator Congressman Murtha.
So let me get this straight. Tom Delay was indicted on charges less serious by a blatantly partisan prosecutor, and Democrats became hysterical, demanding he resign from Congress. Jefferson gets indicted on so many charges that they could potentially put him away for over 200 years, and they call for patience to let justice prevail.