[Politics, Gambling]

Betting on American Ignorance

We may or may not have gotten lucky when the GOP selected John Boehner as House Majority Leadery yesterday. I had hoped for someone deeply corrupt, so that the GOP couldn't hide behind last-minute window dressing. Two of the three were, and we got the lesser-known of the corrupt pair. (It was too much to ask that the GOP select obviously evil Roy Blunt, whose appearance on a television screen screams "graft" in exactly the way Tom DeLay's colorless face did.) But whether this is evidence that the GOP are so hopelessly lost in their own spin that they can't recognize what a catastrophe Boehner is or the cunning cynicism they've heretofore brilliantly exploited, I can't say.

(Just for the record, he is really corrupt. A brief rap sheet:

• Received $100,000 from Sallie Mae, the student loan service, which was rewarded this week by a change in federal student loan programs. Also wined and dined by Sallie Mae's CEO.
• Distributed checks from tobacco PACs on the House floor to buy votes.
• Is a K Street Project heavyweight and deeply enmeshed with dozens of lobbyists.)

The machine can't be stopped. It is too far gone now, and Boehner, who has been embedded in the lobbyist-corporate donor-vote trading revolving door, is an old captain of the game. Republicans who demanded pay for votes, can't actually start cleaning things up now: their power is built on the corrupt cash.

But up the GOP's sleeve is a pretty hefty ace: the ability to perpetually play on American bigotry and fear. Will Americans actually care about this inside-dealing in the face of the "gay agenda" and terrorists? The GOP have been stealing billions for five years now, and so far the somnolent masses haven't raised an eyebrow. I figure it's a pretty good bet, cynical though it obviously is.

[Update: More dirt on Boehner. And, right on cue, Jonah makes the cyncism argument.]