GOP Abandons Ethics Changes

Washington Post

Awww. All the really fun stuff happens while I'm at work. I was all set to come home and get C-Span hooked up to the VCR - I was even going to have my roommate change a tape for me.

To think of the sheer unadulterated fun that the American public has missed now that the Republicans saw the error of their ethics-loosening ways...is it going to be enough that the Republicans are still pressing ahead with one of the controversial measures?

Republicans voted to go ahead with another of their controversial ethics proposals and will ask the full House to approve a change that could curtail ethics committee investigations. Under the change, a Republican vote would be required before an inquiry can begin. The committee is evenly divided between the two parties, and under current rules a deadlock means an investigation begins automatically.

That's a little too obtuse to understand - the "Republican vote" required is a single Republican member of the ethics committee. In other words, ties no longer trigger an automatic investigation. A majority of the panel must agree.

So if the Republicans ban together against strong Democratic opposition to the latest ethics outrage, no investigation of said outrage will occur. How special.