White Hats/Black Hats

by digby

I think Florida Congressman Alan Grayson’s antipathy toward government corruption is pretty obvious. The man made his bones taking on corrupt military contractors. Accountability is his raison d’etre.

Needless to say, Republicans particularly loathe Grayson because he’s a progressive who plays outside the comfortable boundaries the Villagers of both parties all observe when it comes to sacred cows like the Big Money Institutions and the Military Industrial Complex. So, they are naturally kvetching about an earmark he made for some civil rights group in his Republican-leaning district. (You know how that stuff works — get the conservative locals all riled up about the blacks.)

But what I don’t get is why the government watchdog CREW went after him with everything they have. The man is a muckraking, crusading lawyer who took on the corrupt practices in military procurement. You’d think they’d give him an award too. Instead they have joined with the Republicans in staging a minor hissy fit over this earmark which they are saying is some sort of quid pro quo, which frankly, I don’t even understand. I guess they think Grayson is illegitimately spending taxpayer money because a civil rights group, (which is headed by some guy who is a showboating, self dealer) gave him a plaque? I see the quid, but where’s the quo? If politicians can’t accept political support from people who also receive government funding, they can’t actually function at all. Grayson can be criticized for consorting with a goofball, if that’s what the guy is, but that doesn’t make him corrupt.

CREW’s criticism makes no sense to me and it is really short sighted. Grayson is one of the only credible people in congress who has the guts and audacity to go after the biggest, most corrupt practitioners in DC, including the Temple itself, the Fed. He’s the last public official that a watchdog group should be castigating on such thin evidence and with such inexplicable illogic — particularly when it’s clear to anyone that its genesis is typically offensive GOP racist smear tactics.

Liberals often behave badly this way and I don’t know exactly why. They get protective of their turf and lost in the minutia of their own hype and lose sight of the big picture. It’s a sign of political immaturity and shallow self-interest, I’m sorry to say, and it’s sort of embarrassing.

Grayson’s one of the good guys who is fighting a courageous battle for the transparency and accountability agenda. Like CREW — I thought. He shouldn’t have to fight off his left on something like this.

.