Criminal Idiocy #1: Taking bribes. #2: LYING ABOUT IT. The press is piling this scandal in with DeLay and Frist, which isn’t quite fair. But the culture of Michael Scanlon and Jack Abramoff, yes. Get clean or meet your electoral doom, guys. I wouldn’t care so much (about Republicans losing–taking bribes and lying about it we can all hate) if it weren’t ideas that are ultimately the casualties (and some pretty big ones when you consider some of the nonsense that goes on there and issues in the hopper). Numbers do sometimes matter. Even in the Senate. Nevermind honesty and responsibility in government.