I don't know if House Republicans are being genuinely or deliberately obtuse, but today's piece in the New York Times on House Ethics Committee changes tells me that they are either a little thick... or pretending to be.
According to the Times, "The House, on a vote of 220 to 195, enacted a change that would effectively dismiss a complaint in the event of a deadlock in the ethics committee, which is equally divided between Democrats and Republicans."
Apparently, votes in the Ethics Committee have deadlocked along party lines fairly frequently. The senior Democrat on the rules committee said in the article that no ethics complaints would have "seen the light of day" if this rule had been in place during the last session of Congress. Everyone voted along party lines which leads to the assumption of partisanship on both sides and obtuse statements like this one:
"I think it takes the politics off the table," said Representative Thomas M. Reynolds, Republican of New York.
The problem with that kind of thinking, is that it assumes that the only reason for a vote is partisanship. Democrats always and only vote with Democrats, and Republicans always and only vote with Republicans. Seems like a safe assumption. After all, don't all Republicans hold the same values? And all Democrats hold the same values, although different from Republicans. Right?
This assumption about partisanship is demeaning to the members of Congress. I can't believe that no one in Congress ever votes against their party because it's the right thing to do, and voting evidence shows that not all votes are divided strictly along party lines. Voting conscience rather than party is a reality, if not a common one.
Republicans are using the partisanship that they say is so problematic to their own advantage. In fact, they pretty much admit that they are changing the Ethics Committee rules to protect majority leader Tom DeLay from penalties for his alleged ethical infractions. Whether real or pretend, that's obtuse.
For another opinion, check out this Washington Post editorial.
