A crime is only a crime if you get caught

As the world and MSM have discovered, there is corruption in the Land of Lincoln. And in testament of moral compass, obama will lead us to salvation. blah blah blah. You wanna read some real crap? Try this feeble attempt of a corrupt politician to whitewash his crimes. It's the old "I'm not as a bad as this guy" blabber that shows no remorse. Our defender of his convicted convictions, ol' Rosty himself. He served Illinois from 1959 to 1995. He was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
Of course there is another chairman of that certain committee curently under investigation of the most ethical Congress of all time, Rep. Rangel. But that is a trivial matter (note sarcasm.)
Rosty defending himself,

During my career as a public official, I always tried to steer away from the minority of my colleagues who viewed public service as a potential commercial enterprise. They’ve always been there and can be found in state capitols and in Washington.

failed. Wait maybe remorse or sympathy will suffice ...

It is painful to recall my situation and, on a personal level, I can sympathize with the pain the governor’s family must feel and can uniquely understand their concerns about what comes next.

But I find his reported behavior troubling. There’s a big difference between running a sloppy office and staging a personally-beneficial auction to make policy and personnel decisions. That’s what disturbs the public. It bothers me, too.

failed.

Okay, maybe I'll admit I erred with contrite manner ... oh wait. My crimes,

Indicted for 17 counts of embezzling public and campaign funds, mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice.

+Abusing Congressional Payroll: Accused of placing on his Congressional payroll from July 1971 to July 1992 at least 14 people who did little or nor official work, but who performed a variety of personal services for him, his family, his family insurance businesses and his campaign organizations. Payments to these people exceeded $500,000.

+Trading Stamp Vouchers for Cash: Accused of taking cash on numerous occasions from 1978 to 1991 in exchange for vouchers that members of Congress use to buy stamps. Charged that he obtained at least $50,000 in cash by disguising transactions at the post office as stamp purchases.

+Misusing Office Expense Accounts: Accused of charging Congress more than $40,000 for items from the House stationery store, including hand-painted chairs, crystal sculptures, and fine china, which he gave as gifts to his friends.

+Misusing Personal Vehicles: Accused of buying seven vehicles from 1987 to 1992 for use by himself and his family and paying for them with more than $70,000 in official House funds, and $100,000 from his campaign funds.

+Obstruction of Justice: Charged that he had a House employee engrave brass plaques for him at no charge and then told the employee not to mention this to the grand jury investigating the case.

Not much of a mea culpa there Rosty. You were a criminal and typical corrupt scumbag politican. GO AWAY!