Frank Foer says that Bandow lied to his face about his financial relationship with Abramoff. That’s helpful to know in evaluating Bandow’s conduct.

Foer also says that Abramoff corrupted the whole conservative movement. I think the movement is more corrupt than it was 10 years ago. Some think tanks and a few op-ed writers have taken positions on issues, or dwelt on issues in ways, that make me suspicious. On the other hand, if you look at the whole universe of conservative journalism–the op-ed writers at townhall, the writers for the Standard and NR, the editorialists at the Wall Street Journal–my guess is that the phenomenon of articles written to get money from someone with an interest in the issue being written about represents less than half of one percent of the total output. And it would represent a tenth of that if editors were omniscient.