The New Reformers

"You don't have to be a soothsayer to imagine the unintended consequences of such a rule.

"Members will be forced to tap the federal treasury every time they want to investigate new endive-growing techniques in Kuala Lumpur or sweatshops in Bangkok. And demagogic critics will loudly complain that taxpayers foot the bill for congressional globe-trotting.

"Stung by the new globe-trotting scandal, congressmen will stay in Washington. And they will become even more insulated and out-of-touch than those same demagogic critics say they already are. Demands will be heard for congressmen to break free of the 'Washington cocoon.' Technical exemptions will have to be made to the old rule. The ethics jungle will thicken in keeping with a universal truth: Rules beget more rules."

Will all this help the Dems? ABC's Jake Tapper doesn't think so:

"To anyone who worked on Capitol Hill in 1993 and 1994 who was in any way attuned to the pulse of the people, you could feel the Republican revolution coming.

"The clueless entrenched leadership of former Speaker Tom Foley, D-WA. . . . the issue after issue he and then-Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-MO, handed over to the brilliant brigands led by Newt Gingrich, R-GA. . . . the percolation of Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio . . . those fumbling first years of President Clinton, who had yet to find his sea legs. . . .

"These were the days just before the internet, but vox populi was loud and clear. When the GOP stomped the Democrats in November it didn't surprise me one bit.

"I bring this up, because I don't detect the same thing in the air against the Republicans. For all the accusations (and incontrovertible evidence) that many of those reformers have become part of the problem, Blobbed by the sleaze they decried 12 years ago, Abramoffed, as I travel throughout the country -- to states red, blue, and purple -- I don't sense that the Public is outraged as it was in 94. I also don't sense that the Democrats are doing a particularly good job in capitalizing on the issues their counterparts have gifted them."

The administration took plenty of grief over the Sago mine disaster, but it turns out the Hill hasn't been wild about stepped-up enforcement either:

"The Mine Safety and Health Administration wants the authority to impose $220,000 fines, up from the present maximum of $60,000," says USA Today.

"The administration has sought the higher fines in the past three years but got little support in Congress. Rep. Don Sherwood, a Republican from a coal-mining region in Pennsylvania, told Labor Secretary Elaine Chao in March that high fines 'would put most of my people out of business.' "

Laura Bush takes on Hillary in this story in the Los Angeles Times:

"Sen. Hillary Clinton's controversial description of the Republican-dominated House of Representatives as a 'plantation' continued making political waves today, as First Lady Laura Bush joined the fray from Africa.

" 'I think it's ridiculous,' Bush said of her White House predecessor. 'It's a ridiculous comment. That's what I think,' she told reporters aboard her airplane over Nigeria when asked about Clinton's remarks."

My story on the questioning of Jack Murtha's medals continues to reverberate in opinion land. The NYT runs an op-ed from someone who's not exactly a screaming left-winger: James Webb, the Reagan administration's Navy secretary:

"Now the Cybercast News Service, a supposedly independent organization with deep ties to the Republican Party, has dusted off the Swift Boat Veterans playbook, questioning whether Mr. Murtha deserved his two Purple Hearts. The article also implied that Mr. Murtha did not deserve the Bronze Star he received, and that the combat-distinguishing 'V' on it was questionable. It then called on Mr. Murtha to open up his military records.

"Cybercast News Service is run by David Thibault, who formerly worked as the senior producer for 'Rising Tide,' the televised weekly news magazine produced by the Republican National Committee. One of the authors of the Murtha article was Marc Morano, a long-time writer and producer for Rush Limbaugh."

Morano responds in a statement: "So I guess all news reporting by ABC News's George Stephanopoulos, who worked for the Clinton administration, and NBC News's Tim Russert, who once worked for former Democratic Sen. Patrick Monahan, should all be disregarded because they have a Democratic Party background.

"Questioning a politician's war record has always been a legitimate role of journalists. . . . Why do so many believe Rep. John Murtha's war record should be above scrutiny?"