Culture of Corruption

In today's Times [behind subscription wall] Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America argues about how corruption is deeply entrenched in Republican culture and tradition. It looks as though we have just one more example. The Thuglicans supporting Rick Santorum have allegedly been forging signatures on the petitions to get the Green Party candidate on the ballot in Pennsylvania in order to syphon votes away from Santorum's Democratic challenger:

As part of their ongoing challenge of the signatures gathered for Green Senate candidate Carl Romanelli, the Pennsylvania Democrats are analyzing them for fraud. And William J. Ries, a forensic document examiner working for them, has found that a petition signed by John Michael Glick, a Santorum staffer (of duck costume fame), has four "questionable" signatures.

The signatures belong to family members of another fellow staffer, Julianne George, Santorum’s Deputy Director of Coalitions. You can see a side by side comparison of the signatures here.

“The writing expert’s findings raise serious questions, not only about the illegal financing of the petition drive paid for by Santorum backers but how he authorizes the use of campaign staff for apparent fraud," Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney said.

Democrats say that more than 69,000 of the approximately 100,000 signatures gathered by Santorum staffers and JSM, Inc., a private company hired by the Greens with Republican money, are fraudulent.

Of course, nothing will come of this because it's okay for Thuglicans to commit fraud. It's for a good purpose. If Democrats commit fraud, on the other hand, ...