From Russia with Cash.

Sorry, GOP’ers, you really should have dropped him when you had the chance. The WP unearths yet another lobbyist-financed boondoggle taken by the Hammer in recent years, while the NYT finds that Boss DeLay’s PAC has paid his wife and kid over $500,000 since 2001. Didn’t the 1994 Contract with America say something about restoring “accountability to Congress” and ending “its cycle of scandal and disgrace“? Well, if the Republican Party had any shred of credibility left, they’d start working on phasing out Tom DeLay immediately. But, sadly, no.

Update: DeLay’s response? “[I]t’s just another seedy attempt by the liberal media to embarrass me.” Nice. Liberal media or no, I’d say you’re doing a pretty bang-up job of embarrassing yourself, Tom. Unfortunately, you’re bringing down the country with you…so it’s time to go.

Expect DeLays.

Speaking of the GOP pyramid, and in a move that should leave principled conservatives aghast, the right-wing base begins to organize behind Boss DeLay. The more you tighten your grip around a corrupt and hypocritical goon like the Hammer, y’all, the more voters will slip through your fingers.

Puppets of Industry.

“Fortune 500 companies that invested millions of dollars in electing Republicans are emerging as the earliest beneficiaries of a government controlled by President Bush and the largest GOP House and Senate majority in a half century…Bush and his congressional allies are looking to pass legal protections for drug companies, doctors, gun manufacturers and asbestos makers, as well as tax breaks for all companies and energy-related assistance sought by the oil and gas industry.” In the stating the obvious department, the Washington Post discovers the Republicans are in the thrall of corporate power.

Spin, Spin Sugar.

It’s been Extreme Makeover time lately for the GOP, with Antonin Scalia acting chummy in hopes of landing the Chief Justice spot, Boss DeLay dismissing the recent allegations of incessant boondogglery, Karen Hughes coming out of mothballs to sell the Islamic world on Dubya, and the administration trying to sell the rest of us on pre-packaged news. I’m not buying any of it.

Paper beats Hammer.

“‘We always knew Tom DeLay was involved…but we never realized the extent to which he was involved in fund-raising directly with corporations.'” There doesn’t seem to be a smoking gun just yet — still, documents unearthed in the Ceverha trial in Texas suggest Boss DeLay was more involved than his cronies suggest in the daily procuring of corporate contributions for TRMPAC. Who would’ve thunk it? Update: The Ceverha trial aside, DeLay now also seems to be in a spot of trouble regarding an all-expenses-paid boondoggle to South Korea in 2001.

Open War.

With the Social Security fight looming on the horizon, Dems and the GOP clash over ethics in the House and both abortion and the minimum wage in the Senate. (Salon‘s Tim Grieve exposed the fraudulence of the Santorum “alternative” minimum wage plan yesterday.) Speaking of Social Security, several prominent Dems — including James Carville, Stan Greenberg, and Harold Ickes — advise our side to produce an alternative reform plan to Dubya’s private accounts, and soon.

Class Dismissed.

“‘It’s a bill that’s going to significantly harm small consumers who want to hold large companies accountable for defrauding them,’ said Frank Clemente, director of the Congress Watch division of the consumer group Public Citizen.” So guess which side Dubya and the GOP were on? In the name of “tort reform” (and at the behest of their corporate overlords), the Senate GOP pass the Class Action Fairness Act, which moves state class action suits into the (less favorably disposed) federal court system. They did so after gunning down a series of Democratic amendments that tried to strike a more stable balance between private power and public accountability. Or would it have been too litigious to exempt cases brought by state attorneys general? We wouldn’t want some aspiring Mr. Smith cutting in to Old Man Potter’s profit margin, now, would we?

All the Hammer’s Men.

Just when it seemed the House GOP might be doing the right thing on the ethics question, the truth comes out — Boss DeLay’s boys have decided to work the system rather than explicitly subvert it. Case in point, the imminent ousting of DeLay opponent Joel Hefley (R-CO) from the House Ethics chair. “‘I’m not naive enough to not know that there are some folks that are very upset with me because they think we were too harsh with DeLay,’ Hefley said.”

Capitol Thunderdome.

No doubt anticipating some kickback-heavy sessions in 2005, Tom DeLay and the Congressional GOP aim to eliminate several House ethics rules, among them the procedures for investigating complaints and the restrictions on free trips for relatives. “Government watchdog groups called the proposals startling and unjustified. If the proposed rules are adopted next week as GOP leaders suggest, they would amount to ‘the biggest backtracking on House ethics rules that we have seen,’ said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21.” Update Sensing a PR nightmare on Day 1 of the new Congress, the GOP back down and void the recent Save-DeLay rule. Good for them.

A Storm is Coming.

“For years, the party has been led by elite Washington insiders who are closer to corporate lobbyists than they are to the Democratic base. But we can’t afford four more years of leadership by a consulting class of professional election losers.” While kicking Terry McAuliffe out the DNC door, MoveOn.org lays claim to the Democratic party. “We bought it, we own it, we’re going to take it back.”