P. J. O'Rourke Quotes

Tom DeLay ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence.

Almost every day, you see an article in the papers about someone violating a campaign finance law.

Actually criminal sanctions that are given could be up to five years for violating the rules and regulations under the campaign finance reform. This is like the Alien and Sedition Act of years and years ago, decades ago.

Let's not overlook, though, what we do know about the campaign finance scandal, and the fact the Chinese were involved in our presidential campaign and our congressional campaigns.

The investigation has shown, let us hope, privilege at its worst. The trail is one of dishonesty, greed, violation of law, secrecy, concealment, evasion, falsehood, and cunning. It is a trail of betrayals by trusted and presumably honorable men--betrayals of a government, of certain business interests and the people who trusted and honored them; it is a trail showing a flagrant degree of the exercise of political power and influence, and the power and influence of great wealth upon individuals and political parties; it is the trail of despoilers and schemers, far more dangerous to the well-being of our Nation and our democracy than all those who have been deported

The Trump administration is shaping up to be one of the most corrupt since the Gilded Age.

The sordid story of IRS corruption and political dirty tricks during the Obama years is widely known thanks to numerous documents and emails forced out of the government under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

To be sure, the Trump administration is shot through with corruption.

Right here at home, we have seen what happens when a politician breaks that public trust, when they are dishonest and corrupt.

Today, to allege corruption seems to be the pastime of most people. All kinds of allegations are leveled. I think it is self-defeating.

During the 1937 congressional election campaign, Johnson's group probably paid $5,000 to Elliott Roosevelt, one of Franklin Roosevelt's sons, for a telegram in which Elliott suggested that the Roosevelt family favored Lyndon Johnson.

It is true that power corrupts. The hope at the polling stations and the actions of the elected representatives, unfortunately, often turn to be opposite. The power of ballot turns into the power of wallet. Some law-makers become law-breakers.

The American people might have a criminal syndicate running their government.

Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.

There's an awful lot of corruption in Japanese business and politics, corruption of the sort that can make for great setting for a spy story.

If Mr. Bush and Mr. Forbes don't get most of the votes, they should be arrested for wasting money.

Campaign finance and ethics reform only works if it curtails all special interest groups equally and does not carve out any exceptions to benefit one party or another. 'Pay to play' reform was passed to limit the influence of big spending contractors over the public officials from whom they are trying to obtain work.

My last comment was, though, that Congress has cooked the books.

So often the seeds of a Congressional ethics scandal are sown by the reforms of the last ethics scandal.

Corruption is a very lucrative business.

Tom Delay is a bag man for cigarette companies.

The Reagan people want four more years, but the way they're going some of them will get ten to twenty.

Political scandal has become devalued. There are so many of them.

For every corporation convicted of bribery there are thousands of more who have had their bribes made legal by the campaign finance law.

The Capitol Building should have a sign saying, “Warning!! You are now Entering an Ethics-Free Zone!”