"I am sorry you have to be here today to see me in this situation," Brown said in her statement to the court. "I never imagined I would one day be in court asking people to speak on my behalf – never."

In a pathetic bid to escape accountability, Rep. Corrine Brown, a Florida Democrat thrown out of office in last year's primary after she was charged with corruption, pleaded for mercy from a court sentencing her after her conviction , suggesting she was so good that she never thought she'd need to:

It goes to show how inured she was to the idea of stealing as wrong, or why lining her pockets with the proceeds from a fake charity bothered her so little.

Now facing as much as nine years in prison, Brown had a lot of people coming forward and speaking up on her behalf, seeking leniency in sentencing:

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee provided a glowing character witness of Corrine Brown during her sentencing hearing Thursday. Jackson Lee described via telephone testimony it as her "privilege" to characterize Corrine Brown as a "loving person." She said Brown has had a "pointed and direct effort [in] helping others, not herself." The veterans' community loved Congresswoman Brown, Jackson Lee said, stating that Brown has helped those with PTSD and other issues following fighting overseas. She also stated Brown helped tremendously with relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. "That shows a character of giving to others unselfishly," Jackson Lee said.

In other words, she was adept at giving away other people's money, not forgetting to give away some of it to herself.

The prosecutor, Tysen Duva, saw things differently and pointed out other problems:

Duva said Brown was accustomed to receiving money she should not have received. She also lied about donations to colleges, churches and other entities. He also argued that Brown has made ludicrous comments during the investigation, including a comment where she essentially said that had investigators not been looking into her case, the Pulse shooting in Orlando would never have happened. She also referred to the charges as "bogus" and "racist," implying that she was targeted for her race in the case. Duva objected to that notion by saying, "She was targeted because she committed fraud, not because she was black or white."

So what we have here is a thief, a giver away of other people's money who engineers praise for it as if she had given it away herself, and someone so determined to wriggle out of efforts to hold herself accountable that she plays the race card any which way she can, almost as a protective talisman.

Any questions as to why her re-election effort to her thirteenth term last year, under a slogan of "Corrine Delivers" before a new electorate, pretty well went bust? Brown was defeated in her re-election bid by a fellow Democrat during the primary, Al Lawson.

Heck, forget the questions about going bust with voters. Is it any wonder that with people like this in high office, the public holds Congress is such low esteem?