The End of the Road for Dan Rostenkowski?

It's difficult to view fallen U.S. Congressman Dan Rostenkowski and his ilk as "regular people," as a Chicago Tribune editorial recently called him, when Rosty and the rest of his buddies hardly consider themselves as such. I've never met a politician in office with more than three months of time under his belt who didn't consider him or herself above you and me, and therefore, above the laws of the land which we pay them generously to create and uphold. Of course, in the end, even a politician has to pay the piper. Just like regular people. Just like you and me.

Even the cockiest officeholders realize when it's time to give it up, walk out the door with hat in hand and admit to wrongdoing. After a lifetime of blatantly feeding off the public trough, one would think that even a prick like Rostenkowski would recognize the treachery of his dealings through his ego-induced brain fog. But not this guy; he has turned out to be even more defiant than most. And, therefore, will never be considered "one of us" as Mike Rokyo suggested in his April 10th column.

Whether one is a politician or the common, everyday citizen, we all commit our share of naughtiness over the course of our lives. Such white lies, however, pale in comparison to the conscious evil which has filled Dan Rostenkowski's daily agenda for 36 years; a modus operandi which has been a direct product of the insatiable greed which resides in his corrupt soul. Anyone seeing tragedy rather than justice in this final twist of the Rostenkowski story, anyone willing to excuse these "technical rules violations" as common offenses in the House, anyone who can't find a way to derive pleasure by what has turned out to be The Last Act Of Dan Rostenkowski, deserves to go to the pen with him.

The only tragedy is that the son of a bitch was able to get away with swindling the public for as long as he did.