OK For Me But Not For Thee

Sam Dealy reports at the USN&WR Site on Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel's tax evasion problems. It's a great article, and this is my favorite paragraph:

But even more galling is that the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee needed a white-collar criminal lawyer to explain the U.S. tax code to him. Rangel's fitness to serve notwithstanding, that says a good deal about the state of our tax system.

Yes indeed. This reminded me of other mortgage issues that have bubbled up recently. WaPo had a news report about how the Obamas got a sweetheart deal on their multi-million dollar mansion. They didn't do anything wrong of course; these special deals are commonly offered to the wealthy.

Then there is news that Democratic Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad may be involved in shady mortgage deals as well. Democratic party connections to the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Mortgage debacles round out the picture.

Seeing how we're in the election season, these guys are lucky. If they were Republicans this would be a full-blown scandal by now.