Another Update on King Rat

Ana Marie Cox, Washington insider, editor of the Wonkette blog and author of the new novel "Dog Days," throws a big bucket of cold water on yours truly and others who are making a huge deal out of the plea bargain cut by super lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for squealing on congressfolk and others.

Herewith pertinent excerpts from an op-ed column by Cox headlined "Political Theater of the Absurd" in today's New York Times:

[D]espite predictions that Mr. Abramoff's deal is the beginning and not the end of the story, it's difficult to see if this one will end with the satisfying clink of handcuffs.

True, we are told, repeatedly, that the case has half of Washington's powerbrokers looking over their shoulder and the other half salivating for a parade of perp walks. And in Washington, a high body count gets everyone's attention (except maybe the president's). Mr. Abramoff's connections seem infinite; attempts to follow the money give you something looking less like a flow chart than like spaghetti. Delicious, felonious spaghetti.

. . . Sad to admit it, but most of what Jack Abramoff did with politicians (as opposed to his outright fraud with Indian tribes) wasn't criminal so much as extreme. The Hollywood arc would have a chain-gang of Congressmen breaking rocks by the final reel, but we are unlikely to get such satisfaction outside of celluloid.

Other modern Congressional kerfuffles have not been as flashy. Neither the Congressional check-kiting scandal, the Keating Five imbroglio nor Dan Rostenkowski's thrilling run-in over postal franking privileges are likely to be made into a mini-series any time soon. But these past episodes did have the advantage of being prosecutable.

With his casinos, phony charities and Scottish golfing trips, Jack Abramoff has drawn attention to Washington's fascinatingly filthy underbelly. One can only hope that the melodrama will keep people watching. While we should hesitate before defining corruption still further down ("No chiseler left behind!"), we don't need to pause before throwing the bums out. Ask any lawmaker: the harshest penalty one can receive isn't prison; it's losing.

Columnist Richard Cohen had this to say in the Washington Post:

What's stunning about Washington -- as opposed to, say, Las Vegas in the bad old Mafia days -- is how open the whole process was. Abramoff had his own restaurant, a place called Signatures, and supplied skyboxes for sporting events the way old-time political bosses used to send over coal in wintertime. Abramoff could send a cooperative and worthy congressman on a golfing trip to Scotland or to a day at the beach in Florida. He liked to quote from "The Godfather," but Don Corleone was a model of discretion compared with Abramoff. The Godfather's olive oil business was a front. Abramoff skipped that step. His fake business and his real business were one and the same -- influence peddling.

A number of media outlets are reporting that Rep. Tom Delay, the slimy Texas Republican and frequent Abramoff travel mate, is a cooked goose, at least insofar as his return as House majority leader is concerned.

The National Review, an influential conservative publication that has defended DeLay in his Texas court fight, encouraged him to give up the post, drawing a distinction between what it saw as a partisan state-level prosecution and the Justice Department inquiry that led to the Abramoff plea deal.

Yesterday, I accused so-called principled conservatives of going AWOL over the whole affair, but several have now spoken out.

Among them is Newt Gingrich, who ironically sent House Democrats packing in 1994 with corruption charges. Said the Newtmeister:

There are a series of behaviors, a series of attitudes, a series of crony-like activities that are not defensible, and no Republican should try to defend them.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported by way of Forbes.com that

In just the two days since Abramoff pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington to three federal felonies, more than 40 elected federal officials have given up Abramoff donations, joining a dozen who did so last year.

This week's list was headed by Republicans Bush, Frist, Hastert, House Majority Leader Blunt of Missouri and former House Majority Leader DeLay of Texas, who faces legal problems of his own. But some Democrats joined in, including Sen. Clinton of New York.

I'll give the last work to the redoubtable Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal:

There's a lot of talk among Republicans that since the Abramoff scandal involves politicians and staff on both sides of the aisle, the public will not punish the Republicans. This assertion is countered by the argument that while the public will likely see the story as one of government corruption, Congress and the White House are run by Republicans, so Republicans will pay the price. I think this is true, but I think it misses a larger point: In some rough way the public expects the party that loves big government to be pretty good at finagling government, playing with it, using it for its own ends. That's kind of what they do. They love the steamroller, of course they love the grease that makes it run. But the anti-big-government party isn't supposed to be so good at it, so enmeshed in it. The antigovernment party isn't supposed to be so good at oiling the steamroller's parts and pushing its levers. And so happy doing the oiling and pushing.

It isn't good to love the steamroller. In the end it can roll right over you, and all you stand for, or stood for.

Is there a way for Republicans to go? Stop trying to fit in. Stop being another atom in the steel. It does no good trying to run a better steamroller. It won't work. Steamrollers are not your friend.