Partisanship: The House Loses Its Ethics

In retaliation for the House Ethics Committee's three admonitions to Tom DeLay for violations of the House's own ethics rule, the Republican "leadership" replaced the Ethics Committee's chairman and two other Republicans on the Committee. Then they attempted to reduce the Committee's power by rewriting the rules. This was too far for even some Republican members, and now there is an impasse.

The Wall Street Journal published an article today pointing out that Bush's Social Security reform is going nowhere because Democrats who are philosophically aligned with private accounts simply do not trust Bush after his highly partisan first term.

The price of the partisanship practiced by this administration is becoming increasingly steep for all Americans. The House "Ethics Free Zone" is just the latest example.