“Just shut up,” the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol said on “Fox News Sunday” when asked what Republicans should do about Rangel. “There is a bipartisan ethics committee. Let the process go forward they don’t need jump on this — they will just get questioned. Believe me there are plenty of congressman in both parties who have been imperial and arrogant and who have centers named after them … The idea that republicans should go around throwing stones at Charlie Range; is just foolish on their part.”

Even before Kristol’s remarks, other Republicans exhibited caution too. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for one, was forced to sidestep questions about the various ethics scandals involving fellow Senate Republicans — notably John Ensign (R-N.V.) and David Vitter — during a sit down with “Fox News Sunday.”