This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

When I read a column by Washington Post writer Paul Waldman, I almost laughed out loud.

As this blog headline indicates, so did Waldman as he was writing.

But, while laughing is understandable given the hypocrisy of U.S. House Republicans, it is not the right response.

Instead, using good words, Waldman scoffs at the Republican decision to move ahead to impeach President Joe Biden for “corruption.”  He calls Republicans incredibly hypocritical.  So do I.

In the Post, Waldman started his new column this way:

“If one tried to articulate the principle on which the Republican push to impeach President Biden is based, it would have to go something like this: Public officials shouldn’t be permitted to profit from their positions, and anyone who does should be removed from office.

“Like any principle, this one should apply to every public official regardless of party or ideology.”

But, no.  Republicans apply the test to Biden and not, to put a major point on it, to Donald Trump.

So, rather than say more about what Waldman wrote, let me provide these excerpts from a well-written column:

Error! Filename not specified.If one tried to articulate the principle on which the Republican push to impeach President Biden is based, it would have to go something like this: Public officials shouldn’t be permitted to profit from their positions, and anyone who does should be removed from office. Like any principle, this one should apply to every public official regardless of party or ideology.”But if any Republican said that out loud, the proper response would be to burst out laughing.

“This isn’t just because Republicans have found no evidence that Biden is guilty of wrongdoing, despite the tireless efforts of multiple House committees.  Nor is it because they have defended the relentless quest of the Trump family to profit from former president Donald Trump’s time in the White House.  

“Hypocrisy might be the tribute vice pays to virtue, but Republicans stopped paying any tribute to virtue long ago.  They sped right past hypocrisy to arrive at something entirely different.

“Republicans are not characterizing their impeachment push against Biden as an attempt to bring strict ethical standards back to government.  There’s no high-minded talk of integrity, moral rectitude or the solemn obligations of public service.  That’s because they are in the midst of a years-long crusade to convince the public to not care about corruption.

“That crusade is only partly about defending Trump, perhaps the most shamelessly corrupt president in U.S. history.  He installed his laughably unqualified family members in White House positions.  He spent a good amount of time in office at his various resorts, charging the Secret Service as much as $1,185 a night per room to stay there to protect him.

“His Washington hotel became a destination for anyone who wanted to put some money directly in his pocket; foreign governments spent millions of dollars there, as did a fleet of Republican candidates and party flunkies. Foreign governments also eagerly gave special favors to Trump’s businesses.

“His relentless advocacy for the government of Saudi Arabia while in office was followed by the Saudis giving son-in-law Jared Kushner $2 billion for his start-up private equity firm, even though the Saudis’ own investment advisers found Kushner’s operation ‘unsatisfactory in all aspects.’

“And that doesn’t even get into the litany of Trump associates with flexible ethics, including multiple Cabinet members and a raft of cronies who faced their own scandals and criminal charges.

“Were Republicans bothered by this orgy of self-dealing?  They were not. In fact, judging by the myriad ways they have decimated the legal and normative standards to which public officials must abide, they were perfectly sincere when they insisted that Trump’s actions were nothing worse than what voters should expect of anyone in high office.”

So, enough, except to say that Republicans are nothing if not duplicitous. 

To mount an impeachment charge against Biden is, itself, lawless and inane.  Which fits because that’s what they are — corrupt.

Look only as far as Trump and his minions to know the truth.  They are the corrupt ones.