"When faced with evidence of corruption and sleaze by such Republican stalwarts as Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay, conservatives have responded in three ways.

The first is to deny the accusations altogether. The second is to concede them, but insist the rot is confined to a few bad apples. The third, favored by the most independent-minded conservatives, is to declare that power has made Republicans just as corrupt as Democrats. The Weekly Standard's Andrew Ferguson, articulating this latter response, wrote that the 'closed, parasitic culture of convenience — with its revolving doors, front groups, pay-offs, expense-account comfort and ideological cover stories — is as essential to the way Republican Washington works, ten years after the [Republican] Revolution, as ever it was to Democratic Washington.'

Sorry, but this won't do either. The influence of corporate lobbyists over government is not just as bad under the GOP as it ever was under Democrats. It's far worse."

Get the Story:
Jonathan Chait: Hustling on K Street (The Los Angeles Times 6/24)
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