> As you said in your first post, this game of comparing criminals as to which
> was worse is a bit odd. ... it's all of a piece.
All of a piece is certainly right.
But I think some of us are still stuck, perhaps not quite consciously, in a way of thinking about Republicans and Democrats that really isn't accurate (I don't mean you, Carrol, of course). That picture being that the Republicans are the real bad guys and the problem with the Democrats is that they're a weak or irresolute or unprincipled opposition. So demonstrating that the Dem is actually often *worse* than the Republican has a certain pedagogical value, I find.
Since I seem to have cast myself, without intending to, as Ike's defense attorney, I'll close my speech to the jury by observing that Ike had eight years to pile up nefarious deeds, Kennedy less than three. And a comparison of the campaigns the two conducted is instructive too: 'I will go to Korea' vs. 'missile gap'.
Over to the prosecution now. Pile on con brio, and I won't say a word.