Now that the Democrats are predominant in Washington, what happens to progressive media organizations like TPM who have been making their names exposing Republican scandals? Well, they go right ahead and smack around Democrats who are being shady. Good for them (and for Adam). It will be very tempting for progressives to become complacent about corruption now that their agenda is the one being enacted, just as the conservatives did with the GOP, but it is imperative that we continue to push against the live-and-let-live attitude that allowed William Jefferson to remain in office as long as he did, or that lets Charlie Rangel keep his committee chair while under investigation by the House Ethics committee, or John Murtha his subcommittee chair. (There was a smarter reaction to allegations against Bill Richardson and Rod Blagojevich.) The only good news is that this is a lesson that Republicans certainly haven't learned, as they spend money trying to protect the almost-certainly corrupt former Senator Norm Coleman's seat. The Democratic scandals don't matter on a larger level, yet, as Eve Fairbanks notes, but for that trend to continue the Democrats -- and the progressives who urge their agenda along -- can't tolerate influence peddling.
-- Tim Fernholz
