Scandal-ridden GOP tries to carry on

By: Carrie Budoff
The Politico

Senate Republicans might have thought they hit bottom when one of their own admitted to being on the phone list of the alleged "D.C. Madam."

But then the FBI raided the home of the longest-serving Republican in the chamber's history, Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska).

And this followed months of negative headlines about the Iraq war, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete V. Domenici's connection to the firing of federal prosecutors and recent conflict of interest allegations against Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on a land deal.

"I think it is wise to follow the Iraqi Parliament and go home, and maybe our attitude will improve," Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said this week.

Lott wondered aloud what Senate aides have grumbled in private for months: Just when you think it can't get any worse, it actually does.

Every time Republicans try to score points, perhaps on immigration or even Iraq (ironically, the war is the GOP's good-news story of the week, amid some suggestions that President Bush's surge policy is showing results), a scandal or a fresh Gonzales controversy or a presidential commutation gets in the way.

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