Demagogue

Democrats should slam the president if he chooses to ignore the lobbying and influence-peddling scandals in his SOTU address. And the buzz suggests that this is precisely what Bush will do. According to ABC News' preview of the SOTU:

... [Bush] is not expected to endorse any specific lobbying reforms, according to Republican sources. Nor is he expected to discuss recent allegations involving David Safavian, the Bush administration's former procurement offical who was arrested in September as part of a corruption probe; Scooter Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff who was indicted in October ... or Jack Abramoff, the former GOP lobbyist who pleaded guilty in early January to defrauding some of his former clients.

But my favorite part was this self-serving (and self-deluding) statement by a GOP insider:

"Lobbying reform is not on the American people's tongues as far as what they want in action," National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds of New York said on Friday. "They're looking for the Congress to keep doing the kinds of things that matter to them."

In other words, Reynolds thinks it doesn't matter to the American people whether congressmen are bribed by defense contractors, or bought and sold in tribal-lobbying schemes.

This reveals just how arrogant and profoundly corrupt the Republican hierarchy has become.