The Upside of Jack
The Hidden Columnists--Maureen Dowd Edition (04 Dec)

And MoDo points out this upside isn't just for the hungry Democrats in this coming mid-term election (here's the link to the full column for Times Select subscribers):

But just because this is a scale of amorality and blatant sale of government that astonishes even Washington cynics, why look on the dark side?

The Abramoff plea bargain may have left his former business partners and political pals panicking, wondering if the rat will rat them out. The Republican congressmen Tom DeLay and Bob Ney are among the sleazy solons caught up in the scandal, and the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, scrambled yesterday to launder $69,000 in dirty Abramoff contributions, donating the wad to charity. And then there's Ralph Reed, the choirboy Bible thumper who used his links to Christian groups to immorally play Indian tribes off against each other.

But looking at the big picture, in some ways the imperial presidency is working out quite well for everyone.

Think about it: all those congressmen don't really need to do their jobs anymore. With the president able to make war more or less as he chooses, treat the enemy as he sees fit and snoop on Americans at will, our representatives have more time for the duty many are clearly best suited to: playing golf gratis in Scotland. (Remember how the White House press used to give poor Bill Clinton such a hard time about mere mulligans?)

Now that Dick Cheney has freed Congress from the bother of advising and/or consenting, lawmakers can work on new ways to game the system and wallow in the G.O.P.'s culture of corruption - while tut-tutting about the decline in American moral values.

Since the Republican-run Capitol doesn't have to worry about holding the Bush White House accountable for excesses in torture and spying and the other myriad ways it has placed itself above the law, congressmen have more leisure hours for Abramoff successors to treat them to some Redskins games and steak dinners.

Checks and balances are now as quaint as the Geneva Conventions. Congress is complicit in putting its thumb on the scale for the executive branch.

The Post reported that W. had taken advantage of an innovation started years ago by Samuel Alito Jr. to shore up executive privilege. As a young Justice Department lawyer in the Reagan administration, Mr. Alito created a strategy that has the president declare what laws mean when he signs them. Mr. Alito wanted the courts to focus as much on the president's interpretation of a law as on what he called "legislative intent."

W. has issued at least 108 such statements, The Post said, rejecting "provisions in bills that the White House regarded as interfering with its powers in national security, intelligence policy and law enforcement."

And since the imperial presidency is run by the vice president, W. has a lot of free time to do the things he likes to do. Confined with his wife and mother-in-law at the Crawford ranch, he spent his Christmas vacation mountain-biking and clearing brush.

He left the ranch for a brief visit at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where he kidded in a way that again showed his jarring lack of empathy with the amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan: "As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself - not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch. As a matter of fact, the colonel asked if I needed first aid when she first saw me. I was able to avoid any major surgical operations here, but thanks for your compassion, colonel."

W. also used the occasion to defend the Nixonian eavesdropping program that even made John Ashcroft and his deputy, James Comey, skittish. As The Times reported, Andy Card and Alberto Gonzales had to make an emergency trip to see the reluctant Mr. Ashcroft in the hospital in March 2004 to get the program recertified because Mr. Comey had balked.

You know you're in trouble when John Ashcroft is worried about overreaching.

Speaking of the Abramoff plea deal, the WaPo editorial board weighs in:

Mr. Abramoff admitted to bilking his clients, deceiving his law firm, misusing charities and lying on his income taxes. He also admitted to bribing at least one member of Congress and his staff, plying them with perks and being more than amply thanked by their help for his clients. Now that the two biggest private-sector targets in this case have agreed to cooperate, prosecutors can concentrate on the public officials involved.

As outlined in the charges filed against Mr. Abramoff, he and Mr. Scanlon "provided a stream of things of value" to a member of Congress and his staff, "including but not limited to a lavish trip to Scotland to play golf on world-famous courses, tickets to sporting events and other entertainment, regular meals at defendant Abramoff's upscale restaurant, and campaign contributions for Representative #1, his political action committee, and other political committees on behalf of Representative #1." The public record makes clear that the unnamed representative is Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee.

If the allegations are true, Mr. Ney ought to be not only ashamed but also embarrassed at how cheaply he and his staff could be bought.

[...]

But Mr. Abramoff's cooperation -- he's been talking behind the scenes to prosecutors for months -- could expand prosecutors' knowledge about his entanglements with other officials. Notable among them are former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who took three overseas trips with Mr. Abramoff and received more than $70,000 from the lobbyist, his associates and tribal clients, and the former second-ranking official at the Interior Department, J. Steven Griles, the recipient of an Abramoff job offer and a target of numerous Abramoff-initiated lobbying contacts.

Mr. Abramoff's plea -- he agreed to pay $25 million in restitution and faces a lengthy prison term -- wouldn't have come about without enterprising journalism, the tenacity of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the skilled efforts of federal prosecutors. But one player remains notable for its absence: the House ethics committee, which has been silent and, for most of the past year, dysfunctional. It is critical that the panel -- and its Senate counterpart, if appropriate -- rouse itself to deal with the scandal in its midst.