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Date published: 1/19/2006
If we newspaper readers had a chance to vote for a columnist to receive "the worst story of the month award," it would have to be Mark Shields ["In DeLay's America, pols flirt with corruption while miners perish," Jan. 17]. Corruption in Congress did not begin with the Republicans, and certainly not with Tom DeLay--as Sam Ervin, former Democratic senator, revealed during the Iran-Contra hearings, when he admitted past wrongdoing and ended with "the statute of limitations had long expired" (for any particular sin, whether it was lining his own pockets, sexual misconduct, other tempting misdeeds, or malfeasance). Having said that, corruption in politics began even before the days of Sam Ervin. Unlike Shields, I am not going to malign the Democrats as being the party of corruption, or pick a particular Democrat as the scapegoat for all corruption. However, where there is politics, there is corruption, and that is a fact of government. Equating the Abramoff corruption scandal with the death of the West Virginia miners is just plain stupid, but Shields has been "stuck on stupid" for as long as I can remember. While it is not known exactly where the blame should lie for the miners' death, we do know that their deaths are not the work of Tom DeLay, nor is all political corruption. Neither are Republicans in toto responsible. Both Republicans and Democrats have been cited as involved in the Abramoff scandal, so where is Shields' sense of "fair and balanced"? If, in Shields' mind, Tom DeLay is responsible for the miners' death and political corruption, aren't Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, Bryan Dorgan, Charles Schumer, and others receiving support from Abramoff and/or his associates just as corrupt and responsible as those Republicans? I suggest Shields clear out the drifting flotsam from his cranium and cerebrum before he blathers more blither. Mildred M. Fischer Fredericksburg
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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