About to be eaten

I can see the feeding frenzy already.

William Jefferson (D-La) was caught in a FBI sting operation that filmed him accepting $100K in cash from an "investor," then raided his home and found the cash in the congressman's freezer. Apparently, Jefferson was demanding kickbacks in a Nigerian telecommunications deal. Jefferson has made some pretty stupid remarks, at one point claiming that the raid was

an outrageous intrusion of the separation of powers between the executive branch and the congressional branch.

Which leads one to believe that Jefferson thinks the FBI cannot investigate members of Congress. Is this guy serious? Despite the presence of tin foil wrapped bundles of cash in his freezer, Jefferson declaimed,

I have never, over all the years of my public service, accepted payment from anyone for the performance of any act or duty for which I have been elected.

It seems pretty clear that Mr. Jefferson, on his own, has just entirely neutralized the corruption issue. Jefferson will be held up against the widespread Abramoff scandal, the Cunningham scandal, the DeLay indictment and Frist investigation, and his singular case will be portrayed as evidence that corruption in Congress is "bi-partisan."

Single-handedly, Jefferson has diffused the corruption issue as something Democrats could use. Even before Jefferson's nonsense came on the radar, there was an effort already underway to dismiss the corruption issue as bi-partisan, even though it clearly was not. Jefferson's insistance that he is innocent after having been caught on tape accepting a pay-off and after those who bribed him have already pleaded guilty, will do nothing but help the Republicans in November. This is going to be a media feeding frenzy and only if it isn't will I be utterly amazed.

Nice work, dumb-ass.