MICKEY KAUS: BREITBART’S LEGACY? “Rasmussen’s latest poll finds, rather unbelievably, that voters say ‘government ethics and corruption’ is now a more important issue than ‘the economy.’ With unemployment at 9.8%! Hello? Is this all James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart’s doing? I can’t think of any big recent corruption-related events other than the ACORN and NEA scandals. … I doubt it is all liberals concerned about the power of the insurance lobby. … P.S.: This might explain why, while the MSM still gives the ACORN scandals restrained coverage, the pols are running for the hills. They have pollsters too.”

That MSM restraint ain’t worth what it used to be.

UPDATE: Reader Stan Brown writes:

Why does “government ethics and corruption” have to be considered a separate category from the economy? I think a lot of people are growing increasingly convinced that the cause of our economic woes is intrinsically linked to corruption and issues with government ethics.

As for Mickey’s contention that ACORN and NEA are the only recent corruption related events, I think he is forgetting the biggest one — “You lie!” A lot of Mickey’s friends may have focused on the impropriety of Wilson’s outburst, but he needs to realize that the average voter’s take on the whole thing was that Wilson was rude, but accurate.

Yes, “corruption” goes beyond individual scandals to encompass things like Geithner’s tax problems, as well as general cronyism and a sense that the Treasury is being looted for the benefit of special interests.