CNN’s headline online as I write this “Near tears, crooked congressman resigns“

The true face of today’s Republican Party is now coming to light. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The entire Abramoff scandal has yet to really hit home but there may very well be more than a few involuntary Republican vacancies in the House and Senate before too long.

[edited to add the following]

You know, as I look through the statement read by Cunningham I’m especially struck by the second and third paragraphs: [emphasis mine]

When I announced several months ago that I would not seek re-election, I publicly declared my innocence because I was not strong enough to face the truth. So, I misled my family, staff, friends, colleagues, the public — even myself. For all of this, I am deeply sorry.

The truth is — I broke the law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my high office. I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions,

Think about that for a minute or two. This is a Republican politician in 2005 telling us that he doesn’t have the character to face the truth. Now think…George Bush…and realize just how screwed we are because he does not have the character to make a similar statement about his decisions that have cost the lives of tens of thousands of people and destabilized an entire region of the Globe while costing this country many thousands of dead and wounded servicepeople who keep right on dying because he can’t say “I invaded Iraq in 2003 and publicly declared the nation of Iraq an overwhelming threat to our nation. I have maintained that fiction ever since because I was not strong enough to face the truth. The truth is I broke the law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my high office. I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions,…”

Never happen.

That of course would require that Bush actually have character but apparently even a bribe-taking, influence-peddling, crooked Congressman headed to prison has more character than our Great Leader.