By the way, I watched CBS News last night and the story on Abramoff featured exactly zero Democrats. Brought out to comment were two retired GOP congressmen, Vin Weber and Newt Gingrich. Both tut-tutted on cue:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told CBS News that the Abramoff scandal is the latest signal of how unhealthy and dysfunctional the lobbying process in Washington, D.C. has become....

"Things were being done that are indefensible and where members and staff were engaged in things that I think you are going to find were clear and absolute violations of House rules," Gingrich said....

Lobbyist Vin Weber, once part of the House Repubican leadership, said it's up to the Republican majority to fix things -- fast.

"Are they going to seize this issue and become the reformers of the lobbying system, or are they going to simply sit back and let it happen to them?" Weber asked. "In which case it could cost them the control of the House."

In an astonishing coincidence, the same two guys show up in David Brooks's column today, the one that impressed Atrios so much:

First, [Republicans] need to hold new leadership elections. As Newt Gingrich and Vin Weber told me yesterday, Tom DeLay needs to take care of his own legal problems and give up the dream of returning as majority leader.

Clearly the Republicans have been rehearsing this dog-and-pony show for months. They had a plan for what to say and do when this scandal exploded. The Democrats didn't. Is the GOP finally going to get its comeuppance? Don't hold your breath.