So both your responses are "Well other people do it." Is that how America should be run - exacerbating the problem of corruption because everyone else is? Pathetic and disgusting at the same time. No wonder America is going down the drain.

My response is not that it's "okay because they all do it", my response it "You only get all hot and heated up about it when the party you don't like is caught doing it."

If you were all disgusted and upset about the last Republican administration doing the same thing, and vocal about it during the time it happened, then I would respect your criticism of the current administration. It is the fact that you only disapprove of things done by the Democratic Party, and either approve of or stand mute about equivalent things done by the Republican Party that I carry no respect for your complaint.

If it's "not okay", then it's not okay for everyone. When you start vocally acknowledging that, I'll shake your hand and agree with you, otherwise all I'm hearing is hypocrisy.

This particular issue isn't even a big deal.... there's no corruption involved, no "payoff" or bribe, no scandal... just a failure to fill out some paperwork promptly and correctly. Yawn. Sure; he should have declared this legitimate income. Naughty-naughty. Would you like to have the guy decapitated in a stadium full of blood-lusting Republicans for the terrible crime of bad paperwork? Think before you answer, because all the Publicans who don't fill out their papers perfectly will be subject to the same treatment.

You say America is "going down the drain". Well, I say it's Republican political philosophy and values that got it started circling the drain. Yelling and hollering about a non-issue like the one in this thread diverts time and energy away from fixing the very real problems created by the Republicans. We have an oil spill to fix now, a major disaster created by the "small government; less regulation; less taxes" school of thought that permitted egregious safety violations by oil drilling companies in order to boost profits. Why are you not screaming and hollering about THAT?

Why must you nitpick this minor paperwork non-issue.... is it to draw attention away from the enormous and varied crimes of the previous administration, which belonged to the political party you support unwaveringly?

When have I ever defended bribery? Sorry, you are completely full of crap. You go ahead and post where I defended bribery. Good luck with that. You are the hypocrite caught here.

The oil spill happened well into Obama's administration and he received more than his share of BP money and continued to LET them do what they wanted. And he barely noticed the spill for two weeks! And he has done nothing to remove his administration bureaucracy that is STALLING THE CLEANUP (to benefit the UNIONS by the way). I am mentioning it.

Why am I nitpicking? Why is he still receiving payouts WELL after he supposedly quit? According to the IRS forms that will be filed he will be paid as an employee while working for the White House, regardless of what they try and whitewash it with. Labor laws are quite clear when payouts of terminated employees must take place and it is not months or years later, it is a matter of days. Of course, maybe he colluded with the Union to delay his payment to evade taxes. That is the other option.

I read Helice's post with some care and nowhere in it does she suggest that you defend bribery. Neither the word defend nor the word bribery is even in her post.

What she suggested, and what I will repeat because you totally ignored it in your response, was that you are all lathered up about Democratic corruption, but haven't a word to say about the crimes, excesses and short-sighted selfishness of the Bush administration that led to the disaster you blame Obama for, and the policies of giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans (tax breaks!) in spite of the financial meltdown caused partly by the egregious amounts of money spent prosecuting Bush's war.

Let's say Bush hadn't been an asshole about Iraq. How much money would have been saved? More important, how many of your and my fellow Americans would still be alive?

What Helice said is that you are silent about the naked selfishness and horrendous cronyism of Bush in order to criticize Obama, and she asks where you were during the Bush years with your angry pejoratives?

First of all, I haven't been here that long. And second of all, I did lambast Bush for many things. I didn't like him at all. His spending was out of control and I would've thought that maybe Obama would tone it back, but NOOOO, what was crazy spending with Bush, Obama turned into lunatic spending. Bush dragged shit on for way too long, like the war (funny, the death counts are no longer reported by the media but they still continue), but Obama isn't changing that either. As far as corruption, he was corrupt as well and I was surprised that Obama, who ran on a campaign touting ethics and transparency, has proven just as blatantly corrupt. We simply lack a government that is in the business of managing the place honestly for the people.