The Day After: There really is a nuclear option...

...and it may blow up the Republican majority.

The three things I get most out of the Abramoff scandal is that, one, it represents the worst of what Congress has become since the Gingrich Republican Revolution in 1994; two, how likely it is that the Republicans will use this debacle in a Rovian way to "clean up" Congress; and, three, how likely it is that three central figures, Grover Nyquist, Ralph Reed and Karl Rove, will slip through the legal net.

Before I get to the particulars, it pays to read the NYT for how shaken both the lobbying and Congressional worlds are. The NYT emphasizes how the Republicans will spin it, try to divert attention by reforming itself, but how this might not work. This somewhat fraudalent process will still be good for America as needed reform happens, in fact is already happening, as everyone ducks and covers.

The WaPo take is decidedly, well, Washingtonian. I used to admire Jeffrey Birnbaum's reporting but lately on this particular story he's been particularly centrist. I consider that a part of the New Normal in that reporters, not necessarily by their nature but rather by some insidious new understanding of objectivity, have fled to the center and gutted true reporting.

In Birnbaum's case, it's demonstrated by how he uses polls to make the Abramoff scandal appear to be a bipartisan affair when it's decidedly not. That's a disservice to the public because it confuses inside-the-beltway takes on voter confusion with actual news, which is that this is largely about Republican born-and-bred corruption. And what's more, Birnbaum - along with co-author Dan Balz - raise Newt Gingrich once again to elder statesman status when they report his take as valid criticism and sage advice, forgetting that he ushered in the Abramoff Era as leader of the 1994 coup, not to mention forgetting that Gingrich was forced out of Congress by his own corruption scandal involving his PAC!

This WaPo story today is better reporting. It emphasizes the six Republican figures deepest in trouble and why. It does it with facts, not polls or spin. It also tells us which way the affair is moving, with emphasis on how the FBI will follow every lead.