Little Mr. Mollohan Can't Be Wrong

The lastest piece coming from the Democrats spin doctors Daily Kos brings attention to the fact that Rep. Allan Mollohan has stepped down from his post on the House Ethics Committee because of ethics allegations. While I commend him for stepping down when under investigation, this Kos piece borders on laughability (surprise!) when defending Mollohan and deriding Republicans for not doing the same when in similar positions:

Republicans don't understand the greater good, the sense that politicians have an obligation to the institutions to which they are elected and the people that they serve. That's why the King of Corruption, Tom Delay, selfishly clung to his House seat even after he was indicted, resigning only when it was politically opportune for him to do so. That's why Republicans have stalled ethics reform. Because for the GOP, it's always party above principle.

Sorry, but they both put party before principle - and any decision made by Mollohan to step aside is occuring because he and his advisers felt it was an opportunity to show voters how principled they are and get some digs in at the GOP while their at it. That's what's known as acting politically, and not one member of Congress from either party is immune to it. Matt Stoller from the other major Dem-apologist site MyDD added this gem:

I know the press is going to report that a Democrat is under investigation, but that's not the real story. The real story is that faced with the perception of an ethics problem, Democrats chose to confront it directly and honorably even though they knew it would cost them politically.

Not the real story? Wow, that's a pretty sweet switcheroo you've pulled there, Matt. I'm pretty sure that it IS a fairly important part of the story. How exactly is taking the high road going to cost them more politically than not doing so?

Don't get me wrong, the GOP-apologist sites annoy me just as much with their Republicans-can-do-no-wrong and the Democrats-can-do-no-good shtick. So both sides, give me a break.