Jack in the Box

Salon's Michael Scherer examines the indictment:

"In his plea, Abramoff appeared to tighten the prosecutorial noose around Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, a one-time friend of Abramoff who has long since disavowed the relationship. Abramoff detailed the perks he provided Ney and his staff in exchange for political favors -- the golf trip to Scotland, the Super Bowl bash in Tampa, the free meals at Abramoff's Washington restaurant and the sports stadium box seats . . .

"The plea also claims that Abramoff corruptly influenced another unnamed congressional staffer by paying his wife's nonprofit company $50,000. The allegation matches press reports of a relationship Abramoff had with Tony Rudy, another aide to former majority leader DeLay, and Rudy's wife, Lisa."

As for public opinion, a USA Today/ CNN poll says that "49 percent of respondents said most members of Congress are corrupt." Most? Wow. It's not true, in my humble opinion, unless you count the legalized bribery of the campaign finance system, but speaks volume about public opinion.

But the GOP doesn't win the corruption sweepstakes: "Asked how many congressional Republicans are corrupt, 19 percent of respondents said 'almost all' and 28 percent said 'many.' The response was similar when people were asked about corruption among Democrats: 17 percent said 'almost all' and 27 percent said 'many.'"

Raw Story has the back story on the plea of Abramoff associate Michael Scanlon:

"Scanlon was implicated in the Abramoff scandal by his former thirtysomething fiancee, Emily J. Miller, whom he met in the late 1990s while working as communications director for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), three former associates who worked with Scanlon at DeLay's office said. Colleagues say Miller went to the FBI after Scanlon broke off their engagement and announced his intention to marry another woman."

Miller is the onetime State Department flack who tried to cut off Tim Russert's interview with Colin Powell, leaving NBC shooting palm trees for awhile.

Ankle Biting Pundits has no sympathy for Abramoff:

"I think it is time for conservatives to begin piling on the Abramoff thing for a couple of reasons. First, liberals are right in this instance. The fact that this hideous wretch climbed to the heights of power under GOP leadership in Washington, shoot, with the aid and comfort of the GOP leadership, is a scandal in and of itself. I was around in 1994 when we won the House and the Senate for the first time in forty years. I recall distinctly using the phrase "K Street fat cats" in mail pieces against Democrat incumbents who, while not breaking any laws by cozying up to these sleaze ball lobbyists, certainly violated common decency by allowing them to draft their legislation and fund their political operations. The GOP of the Abramoff era behaved no differently, sad to say."

The debate over eavesdropping is becoming a broader argument over presidential power. Andrew Sullivan connects the dots:

"In my view, this could turn out to be the big question of the new year: Do we have a president who refuses, in any matter tangentially related to the war on terror, to obey the law? We know he broke the FISA law and lied about it. We know he broke U.S. law against torturing detainees, and lied about it. Now we find that he is declaring himself unbound by the McCain Amendment. Marty Lederman is on the case. Money quote from the president's signing statement of the Amendment: