Matt's right. The DeLay scandals are cresting too quick, little would be worse than watching the right sacrifice their figurehead, install Roy Blunt Jr., and move forward untainted by ethical issues. On the other hand, I'm not sure this is in the power of "liberal advocacy groups" anymore -- the press smells the blood and I get the feeling that they're circling on their own, no one's having to herd them. The only thing liberal groups can do now is try and widen the attack, to demand that the press pay attention to the larger issues of Republican corruption and pay-to-play ethos.

Saul Bellow has died. Just a day or two after Prince Rainier of Monaco. Who passed just after the Pope. Who faded right after Terry Schiavo, whose feeding tube was pulled not long after a host of other luminaries and bright lights were extinguished. Maybe it's just me, but I can't remember so much death dotting the news ever before. I can't pull up the morning papers without seeing the Arthur Miller or Susan Sontag or Ronald Reagan have passed on. It's unbelievable. Why all the death?

Movement conservative Bruce Bartlett has penned one of those responsible Republican op-eds Democrats are coming to know and love; and he's written a real one, not a Brooksian poison pill. He argues that Republicans have neither the will nor the desire to seriously shrink government spending, in fact, they've proved themselves as bad as Democrats. With that known, he says, the idea of starving the beast is dead, the gig up, the game over; now we need to figure out how to deal with the coming health care crunch, mindful that politicians haven't the courage to slash health care. To that end, he recommends the Value Added Tax.

Is there a reason comments have been so dead the last two days? I mean, the hits are doing just fine, but you're all keeping silent. You guys take a vow or you just feeling quiet?