Doolittle Raid

TPMMuckraker is forwarding a report that the FBI raided Rep. John Doolittle's home in Northern California. Informed speculation is strongly suggesting that this is connected to the Abramoff scandal and that he is going down hard. His chief of staff resigned last week and Mr. Abramoff is getting a significant amount of time off for very good behavior which means Mr. Abramoff is squealing like a greased pig.

I am also betting that by the end of the Congressional term, more Republicans will be under federal indictment than Democrats for abuse of power. I am making this bet for three reasons. First, under the DeLay rules, the Democrats had minimal power to abuse and therefore they were not worth bribing. Corruption investigations have a long and variable lag from the act(s) of corruption. Secondly, unless a corrupt Democrat is completely incompetent to the degree of bringing $90,000 in alleged bribe cash to the office freezer, they just have not had enough time to be corrupt yet. And finally the US Attorneys will be extraordinarily cautious in pursuing marginal leads against Democrats in order to insulate themselves from the perception that the 85 non-fired USAs are political hacks. The first two reasons are good reasons to take my side of the bet, while the third reason does a disservice to the public good