Ralph, Andrew Sullivan was all over Paul Krugman a while back for just what you worried about:

From Jane Galt:

“Sullivan’s point, however, is well taken: for Krugman to criticize the administration for doing pretty much what it would have done anyway after taking money from Enron is the height of hypocrisy, the more so because Krugman admits straight out that he couldn’t figure out any legitimate reason for Enron to give him that $50K.”

Follow the links in her post to get the full, fascinating story.

The bottom line is that any politician who did what Krugman did would at best be out of a job, at worst in jail.