Diane Roberts: 'Republicans are in tumult and the Democrats are in hiding'

"Let's review: On the Hill, Tom DeLay, erstwhile majority leader of the House, has been indicted for alleged money laundering. Bill Frist, majority leader of the Senate, may have had a Martha moment; the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the mysteriously prescient sale of stock in a hospital company his family founded, just before the price went south.

At 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby are up to their Brooks Brothers collars in the Valerie Plame affair, though the White House spent months denying they had anything to do with the certainly spiteful, possibly felonious, outing of her as a covert CIA operative. David Safavian, procurement officer for the White House Office of Management and Budget, has been busted for lying about his ties with lobbyists, such as Jack Abramoff.

Over on K Street, Abramoff - who is so tight with Tom DeLay that he took the Hammer on a posh golfing trip to Scotland - has been charged with fraud.

Out in Iraq (you remember Iraq: the place where weapons of mass destruction aren't) civilians and soldiers keep dying in bomb blasts. The "democracy" we've installed there keeps changing the rules on voting. Clearly they've studied the 2000 Florida elections.

In New Orleans, survivors of Hurricane Katrina are still wondering, over a month later, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency will help them. Yep, "Brownie" did "a heck of a job."

And everywhere, George W. Bush's approval ratings are in the tank.

For the loyal opposition, this panoply of Republican incompetence, arrogance and criminality ought to be Christmas every day, the political gift that just keeps on giving. So where are the Democrats? Under the bed? Hiding in a hotel in Oklahoma? Windsurfing?

Sure, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi muttered something about the Republican Party "crumbling," and party chief Howard Dean has called the Republicans "corrupt." The usual suspects of punditry show up on the usual cable news shows, clucking, carping and sniping. The "blame game" hasn't been this fun since Iran-Contra."-from the op-ed in St, Petersburg Times (FL), via The Smirking Chimp.