Like a Birthday, or a Pretty View...

I always enjoy those days when, if I'm dilligant and wade through the swamp that is the NYT Op-Ed page, I can spot an unusual, rare prize. In this case, It's a segment of David Brooks' spine.

I don't know what's more pathetic, Jack Abramoff's sleaze or Republican paralysis in the face of it. Abramoff walks out of a D.C. courthouse in his pseudo-Hasidic homburg, and all that leading Republicans can do is promise to return his money and remind everyone that some Democrats are involved in the scandal, too.

...

First, they need to hold new leadership elections. As Newt Gingrich and Vin Weber told me yesterday, Tom DeLay needs to take care of his own legal problems and give up the dream of returning as majority leader.

But Republicans need to do more than bump DeLay. They need to put the entire leadership team up for a re-vote. That's because the real problem wasn't DeLay, it was DeLayism, the whole culture that merged K Street with the Hill, and held that raising money is the most important way to contribute to the team.


David, welcome to the world of the vertibrates. Its nice to see you hold the party of your sympathy to the same standards you hold the party of your antipathy.