Talking Points Memo reader: You've sort of hinted at this, but what's truly amazing about the attempts to paint this corruption as equally applicable to both parties is this: The essence of the K Street strategy pioneered by DeLay and Norquist and run today by Blount and Santorum is to deny Democratic politicians the chance to be dealmakers and players on the Hill - or to put it another way, to deny them access to the sort of "honest graft," policy horsetrading, and borderline bribery that brings in campaign donations and keeps a political party flush and strong. That's why they try to pass everything on narrow party-line votes; why they muck up legislation so that even centrist Dems can't stomach voting for it; why they pressure trade associations not to hire Democrats. They can argue either that the sort of influence peddling that has nabbed Ney, the Duke, and others is rare and they shouldn't be tarred with it, or they can argue that it's so common it's unremarkable and not worthy of notice. That's their choice. But they themselves have made clear that they want to own the racket outright.
Tags: corruption, GOP
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