Republicans are so principled and stuff.

As this Politico piece pointed out today, Republicans are seizing on the Blagojevich scandal, the Chambliss win in Georgia and the ethics problems for House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel to try to reclaim moral high ground in national politics. And Focus Action was not about be left out of the righteous chest-thumping, weighing in thus:

“House Republicans will rebuild our majority coalition by winning the issues one at a time,” he said, “and our committee ranking members will be on the front lines of this effort.

“I’m pleased with the slate of ranking members who will carry the Republican banner during the 111th Congress as we work for principled solutions to the challenges facing the American people.”

In the 110th Congress, Bachus successfully opposed efforts by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to bring back Internet gambling after Congress banned it under the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

“We expect Frank to try again to force Internet gambling on the country, so Bachus’ support on the Financial Services Committee will be important,” said Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst at Focus on the Family Action.

Yes, pick on that evil Barney Frank (pssst, who is a fag), Focus. Put on a little song-and-dance sleight of hand to make the country forget about all of this:

Jack Abramoff.

Hastert’s involvement in the Foley scandal.

Wiretaps. Guantanamo Bay. Abu Ghraib. The 2004 election. The 2000 election.

The Iraq War.

All of these took place only in the past eight years. This is a fraction of the list. So yeah, Focus, you keep selling the line that Republicans have such a record of ethical and moral certitude, and I’ll see you in 2008.

This isn’t to say that being a Democrat is an automatic stamp of honesty and virtue, because reality certainly shows us otherwise, and the Blagojevich meltdown, along with things like Gary Condit—and yes, Whitewater and Lewinsky—stand as a testament that politicians, regardless of stripe, tend to be corrupt, greedy, power-obsessed people. But when the central tenet of your party is that greed is the engine that powers America, it’s unsurprising when so many of your peers turn out to be greedy.

It might be that America is turning over a new leaf, with a leader that, by every account, is actually a pretty good guy. And right now, GOPers, the Democrats are the party of values. Which gives me an excuse to post this: