can't anyone here play this game?

Today's big news is, of course, the election of John Boehner of Ohio as new House majority leader. Analysts chalk up his surprising election over Roy Blunt to the perception that Blunt, like DeLay, could be, shall we say, ethically challenged.

As Adam "Big Time Asshole"* Nagourney writes in the New York Times:

[Republican consultant Rich Galen believes] Mr. Boehner's success [may be due to] offering a contrast to Mr. Blunt, who is married to a tobacco lobbyist. "It makes a difference: I think Blunt's background— his marriage— really counted," Galen said. [Emphasis added.]

Well, yeah, that would seem to be a problem. So in Boehner, they found someone with a clean slate, right?

But Mr. Boehner was an active member of the lobbying-governing culture that has taken hold here, and Democrats were quick to try to pierce his claim of virtue with e-mailed newspaper articles detailing his ties to lobbyists.

I don't know what's more frustrating: all of this corruption, or knowing that it will inevitable go largely unpunished and continue. Even though DeLay has taken heat for his actions, there's nothing to really suggest that the culture will really change in Washington once this blows over.

Being a Democrat right now feels a lot like rooting for the Knicks. Even when it seems like things are going well, you know it's only a matter of time before they blow the lead. Even though it feels like the Dems hold a winning hand right now, with Katrina, Abramoff, Delay and Plame--not to mention that little war that's still going on--all hurting the perception of the party in power, it seems like a safe bet that by the time the midterm elections roll around in November, Bush's approval ratings will be back up and the public will have forgotten all the mini-scandals that are now rattling around D.C.

But maybe I'm being pessimistic. I have, after all, been watching a lot of the Knicks lately.

In other news... there's an interesting article (also in the Times) about the decaying Rolling Stones, who are playing the halftime show on Sunday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/03/sports/football/03halftime.html?_r=1&8hpib&oref=slogin

The article points out that on the day of the first Super Bowl, in 1967, the Stones played the Ed Sullivan show (while college marching bands played the halftime show). The Stones wanted to play "Let's Spend the Night Together," but Sullivan insisted that they change the lyrics to "Let's Spend Some Time Together."

Ah, how things change. Nowadays we'll be lucky if Kieth Richards doesn't suffer from a "wardrobe malfunction." (Shudder.)

* nickname courtesy Dick Cheney