The Media's New Rock Star

"It doesn't seem to work that way for Dems, though. In the latest example, the good people of Louisiana's second district have resoundingly re-elected their corrupt Democratic representative William Jefferson. His margin in the run-off election with fellow Democrat Karen Carter was 57-43.

"Jefferson is the subject of a bribery investigation. When the FBI raided his congressional office, it found $90,000 in $100 bills believed to have been paid as part of a bribe to help a Kentucky firm expand its business in Nigeria. A Louisville businessman has pleaded guilty to paying Jefferson $400,000. A former Jefferson aide has also pleaded guilty in the bribe scheme."

Josh Marshall isn't happy about Jefferson, but still:

"The Dems yanked Jefferson's plum spot on the Ways and Means Committee back in June. That was the right thing to do then and I certainly expect they won't undo it now. That's the big privilege they give him as a member of the Democratic caucus. And they took it away.

"But now Jefferson's constituents have reelected him with full knowledge of the apparent evidence against him. I wish they hadn't. But they did. And the election wasn't even close.

"At this point, I don't think you can sanction Jefferson or his constituents any further before there's even been an indictment. I think Jefferson's crooked. I'm embarrassed he was reelected. But as clear as the evidence looks, the Feds still haven't seen fit to indict him. And none of it has been scrutinized in court."

Kos says Mitt Romney is toast over his '94 gay-rights letter:

"I'm not sure how Romney thought he was going to overcome his past support for abortion and gay rights. But while many social conservatives flirted with him, fact is, someone who promises to support gay rights even more so than Ted Kennedy ain't going too far."

Tom DeLay is now blogging.

The NYT's David Carr does a very upbeat column on WashPost chief executive Don Graham, but includes this sentence: ""Newsroom layoffs of an unspecified number are in the offing." Which prompts this response from Post Editor Len Downie:

"We want to quash any stupid, false rumors like this one."

By the time I went to post this item, Carr's story had already been corrected online: "Cuts through attrition in the newsroom have been announced, but no number has been set."