Petty President

I know I have noted it before, but it never fails to fascinate me: the Republicans truly believe that “the democrats do it too,” is a defence for corrupt behaviour.
This time it was no less a personage than the President of the United States of America, George W Bush. Now I don’t follow Fox news particularly, preferring ‘real’ news, but just sometimes even they hit the mark.
A Bloomberg article, Lobbyist Abramoff's `Equal Money' Went Mostly to Republicans, pontificates on Georges appearance on Fox where he is said to assert that; indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is, “an equal money dispenser” who helped politicians of both parties.
He could be right, although the article suggests otherwise; “Bush's comment about Abramoff in a Dec. 14 Fox News interview was aimed at countering Democratic accusations that Republicans have brought a “culture of corruption” to Washington. Even so, the numbers show that ``Abramoff's big connections were with the Republicans,'' said Larry Noble, the former top lawyer for the Federal Election Commission, who directs the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics.
“Between 2001 and 2004, Abramoff gave more than $127,000 to Republican candidates and committees and nothing to Democrats, federal records show. At the same time, his Indian clients were the only ones among the top 10 tribal donors in the U.S. to donate more money to Republicans than Democrats.”

Do we really have a ‘disconnect’ here? Can it be that these people who administer the world’s most powerful country can’t determine basic ethical concepts?
“They did it too!” is not a reasonable justification, and certainly doesn’t lead to the moral high ground the president would like to claim. That he even made this assertion should send waves of concern throughout his subject people.
This is schoolyard justification is not the behaviour of a world leader. Still, in the end, I doubt that anyone will remember George W administered a crooked and corrupt government. There will be far too much angst over the lies and distortions which led the country into a war.
The focus will be, not on the criminal elements in his government, but on the degree his government took the country towards totalitarian type rule. Perhaps that is also about schoolyard behaviour, the bullies who believe they can get away with anything.