Scandalous News: Politicians are Crooked

So, is it just me, or are the Abramoff "scandal" and the Delay debacle the very best things that could happen for the Republicans? They all seem to be on board, agreeing that--brace yourselves--corruption and bribe-taking are wrong. You don't say.

Even David Brooks agrees that corruption is wrong. Bold stance, Mr. Brooks.

So after some housecleaning (and discussion of "bipartisanship"), the Republicans can publically congratulate themselves on a job well done. Witness the recent charitable giving (back) of the money they took from Abramoff: "We sold the public good for 30 pieces of silver, but we're sorry and we gave Toys for Tots some Tickle-Me-Elmos to make it up. We're sweeties, really."

The great benefit of this, is that whatever scant focus the media and the people have been paying to the fact that the President is spying on us and that he has publically declared that he is not bound by law (even Nixon didn't go this far), this attention is now going to the lobbying scandal.

Certainly, K Street needs to get handed its ass, and rich lobbyists need to stop being the unacknowledged legislators of the world, but we also need to be mindful of our civil liberties. Congress SHOULD be doing some housecleaning--with a little less self-congratulation, please--but it should also start getting impeachy. And we need to encourage them to do so.