The Stevens indictment may very well cost the Republican Party dearly. Not for the first time, Republicans give people the impression that when it comes to corruption, etc. they are not only not better than Democrats but possibly even worse.
Will the Republican Party as a whole be held responsible for the crimes of one individual? Or will voters consider Stevens to be a crooked politician and not specifically a crooked Republican?
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Hard to say. I think there is a great deal of ‘Bush Fatigue,’ and that will probably carry over in the form of Democratic gains. But general condemnation of the GOP as corrupt? Well, the Dems have plenty of their own to worry about. "Freezer" Jefferson’s penchant for cold cash comes to mind. I’d say the big question will be how his party colleagues treat him if he is convicted - if they drop him, the party may not have too much to worry about.
Don’t forget Freezer Jefferson’s long list of relatives being indicted for swindling federal grant money.
I think Orson says it well; it depends on how the Republicans treat it. What’s gotten them in the past (and lost them control in 2006) is that for past scandals, they had a tendency to try and cover it up. I also think indictments of people like Tom Delay have also hurt, as well as Katrina et. al., but I’d say the cover-ups probably did the most damage, as it showed corruption within the Republican ranks.
In the U.S. more than in some other countries, an individual scandal doesn’t necessarily mean woes for the entire party, but I have observed a noticeable trend (at least since I’ve started following politics closely) of people correlating individual scandals with behavior from the entire party. For example, failure of the Democratic leaders to pass their mandated agenda will eventually end up hurting the party as a whole.
So, yes, an indictment can end up hurting the party as a whole, but it all depends on how the Republicans deal with it, and any knowledge the leaders may of had of what he’s being charged on. While an indictment is not a conviction, I’d suggest Republicans start distancing themselves now.
Lets face it; three months to election day is not the time you want to start sticking up for somebody who may eventually be convicted of a crime.
OK, it should look like this
Unfortunately everyone is being polite right now. It seems a good opportunity for McCain to bring out his "anti-pork" shtik. He probably won’t because he’s on that tightrope of not upsetting the Republican base and also appealing to independents.
yeah depends how they play it. The media doesn’t care much about the Democrats corruption - and probably wont for a bit longer.