SOMEBODY NOTICED – AT 9:48 A.M. ET:  The Democratic Party is being overwhelmed with scandals.  Even The New York Times is noticing:

WASHINGTON — The ethical woes facing Democrats are piling up, with barely a day passing in recent weeks without headlines from Washington to New York and beyond filled with word of scandal or allegations of wrongdoing.

The troubles of Gov. David A. Paterson of New York, followed by those of two of the state’s congressmen, Charles B. Rangel and Eric J. Massa, have added to the ranks of episodes involving prominent Democrats like Eliot Spitzer, Rod R. Blagojevich and John Edwards.

And don't forget all those guys in the Obama administration, with all the questions about their backgrounds.  We have a secretary of the treasury who didn't pay some taxes; we had Van Jones, the 9-11 truther; we almost had Tom Daschle, whose tax problems derailed him; and we've got an attorney general who urged the pardon of Marc Rich to satisfy his boss at the time, Bill Clinton.

The National Dishonor Society.

Taken together, the cases have opened the party to the same lines of criticism that Democrats, led by Representatives Nancy Pelosi, now the House speaker, and Rahm Emanuel, now White House chief of staff, used effectively against Republicans in winning control of the House and Senate four years ago.

The mix of power and the temptations of corruption can be a compelling political narrative at any time. But with voters appearing to be in an angry mood and many already inclined to view all things Washington with mistrust, the risks for Democrats could be that much greater this year.

With Election Day still eight months away, there is time to avert a history-is-repeating-itself storyline. But Democrats, who are already on the defensive over the economy, health care and federal spending and are facing a re-energized conservative movement, suddenly have a set of ethical issues to deflect as well. “Speaker Pelosi famously promised the most open, honest and ethical Congress in history,” Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said Thursday. “Yet here we go again.”

COMMENT:  Look, you can be sure there are liberal journalists who are probing potential Republican scandals, and they're bound to find some.  Dems are especially vulnerable because they control the White House and Congress.  But the GOP has to be careful in exploiting the corruption issue.  Proposing a new, very public code of ethics, and demanding that the Dems sign onto it, would be one good idea.  The GOP has a tendency only to react to things rather than initiate ideas, and that has to stop.  Simply saying, "Here we go again," is far from enough.

March 5, 2010