CULTURE OF CORRUPTION UPDATE: “Here’s how the Democrats “drained the swamp” and ended the Republicans’ ‘culture of corruption’ on Capitol Hill: Roll Call recently reported that three top Democrats on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee got more than $100 million in earmarks for clients of the PMA Group, an Arlington-based lobbying shop run by their former chiefs of staff. The earmark recipients coincidentally (we are supposed to believe) donated $542,350 during the first half of this year to the ethically challenged trio.”

I believe that my modest hopes for the Democratic congress — that it wouldn’t be any worse than the crooked GOP congress we had before — were nonetheless too extravagant for reality.