Where's Waldo?

Does your brain feel like an oversaturated sponge? Are you having a hard time concentrating when you read about the latest political scandal in the newspaper or hear about it on the network news? Does the name "Abramoff" trickle through your head like water through a collander?

You may be suffering from "scandal fatigue." But relief is at hand.

The best single source of information on the details of the Abramoff scandal is a Washington Post story from last Saturday, "The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail." You'll have to go through the free registration thingy to acess WaPo's pages.

The basics of the story aren't that complicated. Abramoff is an old-time influence pedlar who took money from clients, many of whom were casino-owning Indian tribes whom he referred to as "morons," laundered it through a fake foundation, the U.S. Family Network, then distributed it to Congresspersons who might be able to help his clients.

The U.S. Family Network was a shell operation with one full-time employee, a computer, and a cashbox, set up in the back room of a Washington townhouse.

The mainstream media is still your best source of non-partisan information. This Associated Press story tells how the prosecutor in the DeLay case, Ronnie Earle, has subpoenaed correspondence between Abramoff clients and DeLay's national fundraising committee, Americans for a Republican Majority.

I've noticed that the public's attention to this case is somewhat limited due to what might be called "scandal fatigue." It comes on top of the NSA illegal spying story, the DeLay indictment, Plamegate, the bungled response to Katrina ("Browniegate"), and Bush's veiled admission that he lied openly and blatantly in order to shoehorn an intimidated Congress and a baffled public into the Iraq War.

All these scandals coming one on top of another have produced what Bill Berkowitz, in an article called "Bush Scandalrama" calls a sort of "Where's Waldo?" effect.

There's no doubt in my mind the Democrats will be able to take advantage of all this. But have they done anything to deserve such an opportunity? And how serious will they be about cleaning out the plugged up sewer that Washington has become?