Will they learn the lessons?

An AP piece (via Yahoo) earlier today strikes at one of the core issues that most concern me about both of the Big Two political parties and particularly the GOP. The article is about the recent events in the Zacarias Moussaoui death penalty trial.

As anyone who follows the news knows, one of the government attorneys broke the courts rules and essentially tampered with upcoming witnesses. What's interesting about these latest developments which the AP piece is really about is how or rather why Carla J. Martin, a Transportation Security Administration lawyer, attempted to tamper with the government's witnesses.

It turns out that the tact taken by the prosecutors in the Moussaoui case severely undercuts the case of two airlines being sued in civil court for damages related to 9/11. Ms. Martin is an aknowledged airline expert as a lawyer. But, even though she works for the United States government and despite the fact that she was assigned to be a government lawyer for the aviation witnesses called by both sides and to be a liaison between prosecutors and defense attorneys, she choose to interfere on behalf of private business in a way that no rational person could fail to understand was directly contrary to her own employer's best interests.

Lawyers Robert Clifford and Gregory Joseph, representing 9/11 victims who are suing two airlines for damages, wrote a letter to the judge in that case which I think sums my concerns up very accurately:

Clifford and Joseph said the developments represent "far more than appearance of impropriety" and asked Hellerstein to investigate "the mutual back-scratching relationship that appears to exist between the (airline) defendants and the TSA."

What does this have to do with Republicans? Simple: the current crop in power have demonstrated over and over and over that they are willing to go to bat for Big Business, even at the expense of private citizens. Their ideology is one thing. I don't disagree with all conservative ideology by any means. But, ideology is patently irrelevant when politicians are whoring for Big Business. And that whoring obviously has an effect on other government employees.

I can't for the life of me understand why more ideological conservatives aren't up in arms about this whoring. Because they're the ones who stand to lose the most when voters get fed up and decide to vote for non-Republicans who also happen to be promoting a different ideology. The dynamics at play aren't all that different from those in play when Hamas won the recent Palestinian parlimentary elections. Most pundits have been saying to anyone who would listen that they don't believe Palestinians voted in favor of Hamas' ideology. What they voted for... or rather against, was the corruption of the PLO.

Carla Martin is just the tip of the iceburg under the media's spotlight d'jour. But that tip's capacity to swing elections shouldn't be underestimated or dismissed by conservatives.