Democrats, double standards, and the Capitol riot committee

DEMOCRATS, DOUBLE STANDARDS, AND THE CAPITOL RIOT COMMITTEE. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she barred Representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Banks from the Capitol riot investigating committee because the two Republicans "had made statements and taken actions that I think would impact the integrity of the committee." Pelosi said Jordan and Banks also "made statements and took actions that just made it ridiculous to put them on such a committee seeking the truth."

But what about Pelosi's Democratic choices for the committee? Might some of their statements and actions in the past impact the integrity of the committee? And have some of them said and done things that were so at odds with the facts as to make it ridiculous to put them on a committee seeking the truth?

Start with Pelosi's pick for chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson. On a long-ago January 6 -- in 2005, when Congress met to certify President George W. Bush's victory in the 2004 presidential election -- Thompson challenged the certification of the results from Ohio. At the time, some progressive Democrats were promoting wild theories about alleged tampering with electronic voting machines in the state. The House Democrats who voted against certification for Ohio's results said they were simply protesting the result, and not trying to overturn the election. But the fact is, they focused their challenge on a single state, which just happened to be the decisive state in the 2004 contest. Had they gotten their way, and had Ohio been put in Democrat John Kerry's column instead of Bush's, Kerry would have been elected president.

In June 2008, Thompson voted to move forward articles of impeachment against President Bush.