Also, while there have been plenty of politicians in both parties accused of or even convicted of things like conflict of interest or other kinds of corruption or "inappropriate conduct," I don't recall the "mainstream media" ever being quite so quick to condemn Republicans in the past just on the basis of allegations (as with Waters) or to make such a point of the accused (or convicted) being Republicans, much less jumping so quickly to the prediction that their misbehavior would "mean trouble for the Republicans."
Did the media make such a big fuss over John Ensign's political affiliation & what implications his misconduct might have for the Republicans, for instance?