Here's a pundit making sense

Pundit Clarence Page has some words for the Congressional Black Caucus. They're words we should all hear:

Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus have raised the bloody shirt of racism in defense of their embattled colleague Rep. William Jefferson. I appreciate their sense of loyalty to a friend, but Jefferson hasn't given them much to work with.

Jefferson's friends say he deserves the presumption of innocence. Indeed, under our constitutional system of justice, as I once heard an embattled Chicago politician quoted, "Every man is innocent until his case has been through appeal."
But, the Court of Public Opinion in which all politics operate is quite another matter.

There is, for example, the embarrassing little question of the $90,000 in alleged bribery money that the FBI found in the Louisiana Democrat's freezer. […]

But, as Democratic leaders took the initial steps toward stripping Jefferson of his committee post last week, his fellow Congressional Black Caucus members issued a statement defending the right of the Louisiana sharecropper's son to be presumed innocent, at least until he is indicted.

Caucus Chairman Melvin Watt, a North Carolina Democrat, raised the specter of black voters wondering with great suspicion why "a black member of Congress" is the first to be stripped so swiftly of his committee post. "It's about to blow up in your face," he warned party leaders.

In other words, Watt and others want Jefferson to be treated the same as Republicans recently have treated their leaders.

Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay temporarily resigned his post only after his indictment late last year on criminal charges of conspiracy. Pressured by fellow Republicans, he later announced that he would not try to return to the job and would resign Congress on June 9. […]

The donkeys hope to turn (the corruption theme) against the elephants this year. The scandals surrounding DeLay and other congressional friends of Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff have helped. The scandal surrounding Jefferson does not help.

If Jefferson had any sense of personal honor or true loyalty to his friends, I think he would voluntarily step aside pending the completion of the investigation against him.

At a time when voters are looking for alternatives to the corruption that we see boiling through Congress, it sends a weak message for Jefferson's Democratic defenders to say that they're no worse than their rival party. Voters aren't looking for "no worse." We want better.

When House Republicans rewrote their ethics rules last November so DeLay would not have to resign if indicted, I chastised Republicans with President John F. Kennedy's declaration that sometimes loyalty to party demands too much. As a black voter looking at the small-but-mighty rally around William Jefferson, I can only conclude that sometimes loyalty to race demands too much, too.

I don’t know if the Congressional Black Caucus will take to heart Page's words.

But I hope the rest of us do, and apply them to both parties and public office holders regardless of race.

Remember when not too long ago Republican House Speaker Hastert and Democratic Minority Leader Pelosi stood side-by-side endorsing a joint statement condemning the FBI’s warranted search of Jefferson’s House office?

Remember how outraged they were and how quickly that had come together and agreed on their statement which was also supported by just about every member of the two parties’ leadership teams?

How did you feel as you listened to them?

I felt disgusted.

After years of the two parties not being able to work together they were now reaching out to each other. But it wasn’t to help assure our national security or seek agreement on illegal immigration legislation that most American’s could endorse.

No, it was to protect one of their own.

I don’t want to say too much more for now. I want to think some more about what I’ll do with my congressional vote come November.

Do you have any thoughts?

No, no, wait a minute!! Of course you have thoughts.

What I meant to ask was: “Do you have any thoughts about Page’s column and my comments that you want to share here at JinC?”

Now that’s better.