The whole barrel

Ezra Klein worries that the DeLay scandal is in danger of cresting too early.

This moment is as good as it gets, with the press already nailing Delay for transgressions, they're as likely as they'll ever be to pick up on stories implicating the whole caucus and it's way of doing business. The front room lobbyists, the corporate cronyism, the breathtaking shamelessness with which industry shills form legislation -- those are the real scandals, it's not just one bad apple, it's a caucus that's disgustingly bold in allowing and enlarging the nexus between cash and Congress. In the ideal hierarchy of things, what the Republicans do today is infinitely worse than what Nixon did during Watergate. His actions were just aimed at screwing his enemies, the Republicans have turned their sights towards their constituents. But the way the press works, you can't indict business as usual, you can only nail individuals for the unusual. DeLay's carelessness has thus opened the door for these stories, are job now it to push the larger issues into the front yard.

What Ezra doesn't say is how we're supposed to push that door open further. The Washington press corps is what it is. The Post and the Times are at their best on cases like DeLay's, because they have the ability and the resources to dig up the dirty, often tiny details ("follow the money") that can accumulate and create a maelstrom of press so foul that even the most loyal GOP hack has to turn his back on his former inspirational leader. But without that coppery taste in the water, the Washington press corps -- or their editors -- are not all that interested in uncovering how Republicans regularly ignore their constituents' interests on behalf of their corporate keepers, or the way in which the GOP is trying to "adjust" or ignore congressional rules to cement Republican power (which, after all, is the ultimate goal of ARMPAC, DeLay's deodorant-like named political action committee).