I heard Congressman Steve Israel, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on television this morning talking about the real scandal.

His point was that the real scandal wasn’t Anthony Weiner. The real scandal was the fact that Republicans are cutting the kind of government spending that he likes.

He is wrong on a couple of levels.

First, Weinergate was a real scandal. It wasn’t a huge scandal, and it wasn’t a kind of government conspiracy. But by Washington standards, it was nice little summer scandal. It involved lying, a cover-up, sex (kindof), a stripper (always good for Washington scandals), the Clintons (so many scandals), a loudmouth, infidelity and embarrassing photographs. Throw in contact with a minor, and you have yourself a real scandal.

But if you want to talk about bigger policy scandals, Republicans cutting spending is not a scandal. The biggest scandal would be if Republicans didn’t cut spending. They promised in the last campaign to do exactly what they are doing this month.

Somebody once said that a Washington gaffe is when somebody accidentally tells the truth. That may be true, but accidentally sticking with your campaign promises is not a scandal.  Read more...