Ethics is about the people as well as the process

Marilyn Musgrave wants people to believe "earmark reform" is the same as ethics reform. That's supposed to keep us from talking about the Tom DeLay corruption machine. Marilyn was an enthusiastic cog, and don't let anyone tell you any differently.

Have you visited House of Scandal yet? You'll see what I mean . . . .

Denver Post is on the case

The Denver Post deigns to "report" on the Republicanized Marines story. It doesn't occur to them that it might be important enough to actually do some work on. "Honoring" or "using"? Big difference.

Props or patriots?

Next time Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave sees a photographer, she'd better check who's standing behind her.

The Fort Collins Coloradoan recently ran a picture of Musgrave that had left-wing bloggers panting for days. The photo was of Musgrave introducing a uniformed Marine at the Larimer County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner.

It was a nice photo - campaign brochure quality, in fact. And that had
some bloggers seeing red. Military regulations strictly limit the participation of active, uniformed military personnel at partisan events. Some saw it as just another example of Republicans using military vets as props.

But a Marine Corps spokeswoman told the Coloradoan that just being
honored at an event isn't against regulations, and organizations from both parties have sought to honor returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans - as they should.

The Larimer County GOP pulled its Marine photo from its website, but it can still be found in the www.talkingpointsmemo.com archives.

Bender speaks

Confirming the point of all the criticism, ousted Larimer County Commissioner Tom "Run On Sentence" Bender has a letter to the editor defending the Republicanization of the military.