So how do the Democrats respond when it is one of their own in a criminal investigation? Simple:

Add political banishment to the list of problems confronting Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), ensnared in a bribery scandal that fellow Democrats hope to turn to their election-year advantage.

“Democrats are determined to hold a high ethical standard,” the party’s leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), said Thursday night after engineering a 99-58 vote of the rank and file that stripped Jefferson of his seat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

“This isn’t about proof in the court of law. This is about an ethical standard,” Pelosi said. “I wish that the White House would do the same.”

So the Democrats believe in holding people to ethical standards? What is that. In a Republican led congress, we forget what ethics are. Think of how they circled the wagons to help protect Tom Delay. Remember Duke Cunningham? He was under investigation for over a year, numerous high level FBI raids were conducted in that investigation and people involved were being drug into court. Did the Republicans strip Cunningham from his position on the powerful Appropriations Committee? Hell no. They ignored the issue.

Make no mistake about it. Both parties share in having corrupt members, but what sets them apart is how the party acts. The Republicans are reactive while the Democrats are proactive. The Republicans ignore ethics and criminal investigations, and go as far as to defend the person being investigated, while the Democrats remove the person in question from power until either their name is cleared or they are convicted.

The Democrats need a new flier that emphasizes this and send it to every voter in the nation and have TV commercials about it. Let America know which party is of the higher ethical standard.