The House Republicans, Wearing Concrete Boots

I've been away for awhile taking a much needed break from the world, and I picked a good time to take a break. There has not been much to report over the past week, or maybe it is just that I have had my news antennae down so low that I have missed everything.
However, one story has caught my attention recently, and I am genuinely surprised that it has caught so little press. I am talking about the potential bribery of Republican Congressmas Nick Smith of Michigan. It turns out that during the long three-hour hold over that the Republicans forced in order to pass their Medicare bill in the house, they were strong arming any and all Republicans that planned to vote against the bill. It seems Smith was against the bill, and is also retiring his seat after this term. So, How could the Republicans threaten a politician who is retiring? Well, lucky for the GOP Smith's son is planning to take over his seat in next year's election. So, the Republican leadership used his son's campaign as leverage when they were threatening the Congressman.
Here is Timothy Noah's take from Slate:

"Smith said that somebody—he wouldn't specify who, but an Associated Press report said it was 'House GOP leaders,' and a Smith press release issued the day after the vote seemed to hint it was House Speaker Dennis Hastert or Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson —'made offers of extensive financial campaign support and endorsements for my son Brad who is running for my seat.' Smith, a fiscal conservative, resisted the offer (or offers) and voted against the Medicare bill. A few days later, Robert Novak wrote—in a column that Smith, speaking via his chief of staff, told Chatterbox was 'basically accurate'—that Smith had been told Brad's campaign would receive $100,000 from 'business interests' if Smith voted yes. If that really happened, then Smith was the recipient of an unambiguous attempted bribe, punishable under federal law."

So, why is the media not covering this story? It certainly has the essentials: crime and politics. You would think that the news channels would be all salivating over this(all but Fox News, of course, I am talking about actual news channels, not make believe ones.).
Nevertheless, if this did happen, and it sounds as if it did, then laws have actually been broken. I have heard rumors that Sen. John McCain, who didn't like the Medicare bill in the first place, is calling on AG Ashcroft to investigate. We'll see how quickly Ashcroft puts someone on the case. He is probably still too busy trying to find out who the White House leaker was in the Plame case.
Anyway, Terry McAuliffe, DNC chairman, has also written a letter to Ashcroft, demanding an investigation into the Smith matter. In the letter he writes, "Not only was this bribe offered to a member of Congress, but it was offered on the floor of the House of Representatives by another member of Congress." Well, Terry let us not get too sacred about government facilities. We Democrats spent a lot of time time trying to remove the holy aura of the White House after a certain incident a few years back. Still, it doesn't matter where the bribe took place, it matters that it took place at all.
This story should have legs, and if it did it would run, but if the media doesn't cover it then it will die just as the CIA leak has died. The media is our fourth level of government in this country now and it dictates to the public what will get done and what won't get done, what is a scandal and what isn't. If Hastert was diddling his wiener at Smith during the bribe, well, then CNN would have 24 hour coverage on the subject.

Posted by Paul Hina at December 7, 2003 11:08 PM