Oh, Andrew Breitbart, you scamp, you’ve done it again.
This time, Breitbart sicced one of his “Big” editors on the scam of members of Congress using confidential information to engage in some pretty sweet and profitable inside trading in the financial markets. And that investigation was tremendously revealing.
Now, the first thing that should be noted is that none of this activity is illegal. When Congress wrote the laws about insider trading, they very carefully excluded themselves from its reach. If you’re as appalled at that as I am, then you, too, apparently forgot one of the most important laws about Washington: the most appalling things aren’t illegal, but what is legal.
Anyway, they found a lot of Congresscritters (past and present) who did quite well for themselves. And it was pretty evenly divided — more Democrats than Republicans, but plenty of both party were implicated. This is slightly unexpected, as there are more Republicans in Congress (both Houses), but it’s plausible. And giving credence to the impartial nature of the investigation is the fact that the leaders of both parties in the House — John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi — were named.
On the other side, though, it’s quite revealing how other outlets handled the story. For example, CBS News (who totally botched the debate Saturday night) featured it on “60 Minutes.” And they featured five members of Congress in their story — Nancy Pelosi and four Republicans. I’d be fascinated to know the reasoning that led to those five out of the seventy or so implicated members being singled out.
And then there’s the George Soros buttmonkeys at Media Matters For America. They, too, decided to get in on the scandal — and launched their pre-emptive strike on it, calling it a “smear campaign” against Pelosi. Just more affirmation that yeah, they’re whores, but they’re honest whores — once bought, they stay bought. It’s almost like they know that they are utterly unemployable outside the circle of left-wing smear artists, and do all they can to keep their jobs — because they know it’s the best they’ll ever have.
The core story, though, despite all the frantic spinning, is thoroughly disgusting. And if anything, it reaffirms my faith in the Tea Party principles: cut down on the power of the federal government, get rid of many of the professional politicians, and stop allowing our elected representatives to set themselves up as a privileged elite.
Hmm… time for an “Occupy DC” movement?
