[tinyowl]

"Seems like a strange way for him to respond..."

There is 'Damning with faint praise' but there is also 'praising with faint damnation.' Then there is 'excusing with faint damnation.' This takes it all the way around to 'excusing oneself with faint self damnation.'

[Jamestown1630]

So, they consider corruption ‘common practice’?

That’s pretty damning; and not ‘faint’.