Washington's Taint

It had been a while since the last time I laughed so hard I started crying, that is, until last night. Jon Stuart and The Daily Show headlines covered the ever-growing Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in Congress that has triggered a race among Republicans to fill the House Majority Leader post recently vacated by Tom DeLay (R-TX). This past Sunday, Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday had guest appearances by all three Republicans vying for the position. John Shadegg (R-AZ) sought to distance himself from the competition:

SHADEGG: Neither of my opponents have returned all of that money. And indeed, you know, I believe my record in terms of the level of taint that's there is dramatically different from either of them.

WALLACE: You say the level of taint. Do you feel that they're tainted?

SHADEGG: Well, I think that if you look at some of the things you've
already raised in this show, the long practices that go on in the House that they've had a chance particularly to clean up and haven't cleaned up.

Hearing a Member of Congress discuss his "level of taint" was amusing enough, but what ensued was a hilarious, albeit not unpredictable, exchange between Jon and Daily Show Senior Political Correspondent Ed Helms. The discussion began with where the taint in Washington lies (not in the House, not in the Senate, but somewhere in between), reached a climax at a map of DC (picture Washington monument with Capitol Dome and Jefferson Memorial on one side, the Pentagon on the other, the taint is in the middle), and concluded with Helms displaying "the Shocker" as an instrument that could be used to cleanse DC's taint.

As of this morning the video has not been posted at TDS, but should be soon. If you happened to miss this insightful, double-entendre laced examination of DC's taint, I strongly recommend you catch the replay tonight.