Oh, the Humility

As he comes from a political party and an administration that has given us the likes of Duke Cunningham, Custer-Battles, Tom DeLay, and Jack Abramoff, the fact that Claude Allen is a suspected crook is no surprise. What's surprising is the low stakes involved. These other guys were running scams that netted them millions; Allen is accused of defrauding department stores of about $5,000 through various fraudulent refunds. Couldn't somebody have taken Allen under their wing and shown him how these things are done in the Republican Party? Aside from the personal humiliation he must feel for having been caught in such a penny ante scheme, this degrades the hard-earned reputations of the Republicans and the Bush Administration for being world class crooks.