At Jackfest this summer, the MOP was quite incensed about the Texas redistricting plan. I argued that while it might be short-sighted and wrong-headed to redistrict out of sequence, it was certainly not illegal since each state has the right to draw districts when and how it feels fit.

I was wrong.

Evidently the people who wrote the redistricting plan knew it was illegal and did it anyway.

Now, in all fairness, the courts have upheld the redistricting, so it isn’t actually illegal. What I find very disturbing is that the Republicans were told by their OWN justice department that the plan was illegal and put it in place anyway. That the courts have subseuently upheld it doesn’t absolve the earlier partisan and unethical decision.

Cunningham’s confession of bribery revealed personal greed. He ought to go to jail, but it is not something that shakes my confidence in the ruling party - there will always be a few bad apples.

DeLay’s fundraising - whether it actually tripped over the legal line or not - is more disturbing because the obvious intent was to get around election laws (and the desire to avoid laws rather than change them is a separate issue from whether the election laws are a good idea or not).

The Abramoff scandal makes one think the systemn needs to be reformed as revelations are coming out about the unprecedently incestuous relationship between the GOP and lobbyists.

The Libby/Rove/Plame thing - once again it is questionable whether a law was actually broken - shows officials purposefully skirting the law and, at the very minimum, obstructing an investigation by not coming clean with the prosecutor.

Come on, conservatives, aren’t you becoming a little bit concerned about the morality of your leadership?

Please don’t leave any comments about how Clinton and the Demoslimes were worse - I’m not interested in comparisons. When is it okay to call your own people out about their moral misconduct, regardless of what the other side does? As an aside, similar morally vacuous arguments about torture make me insane: “Well, they cut heads off so we can waterboard!”

In conclusion, I doff my seed corn hat to the Minister of Propaganda: he was right and I was wrong.