Missing the Point

Politico's Ben Smith reports that the RNC has dropped a mountain of "oppo research" revealing that the DNC chairmen also live high on the hog, with plenty of private plane rides and swanky hotels

.

I've no doubt of it. But it couldn't matter less to me.

Here's the difference. Living high on the hog with other people's money is what Democrats do. Whether it's in government spending or party spending, they seem to have no objection to treating taxpayer -- or donor -- money as if it were their own.

Republicans are supposed to be about something better -- about respecting each and every hardworking, generous soul who donates even a dollar to its party coffers.

No, of course, no one expects Michael Steele to woo big donors from the Bargain Basement Inn. But one does expect the representative of the party standing for accountability and restraint in spending to show a little of it himself -- and to run a Committee with the kind of leadership that makes it

unthinkable for any employee even to contemplate reimbursement with donor money for a trip to a strip club.

Want arrogant, out-of-control leadership that wastes peoples' hard-earned money and then disdains even the pretense of accountability? Well, we've got that in Washington already.

The RNC is supposed to be about having higher standards.

UPDATE: Check out Hugh Hewitt's Washington Examiner column for more. I'd like to hear from Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin and John Thune, too. Somebody needs to get the RNC's house in order -- double quick.