Bob Ney Makes an Empty Gesture

I saw two great rows last night: the Orange Bowl and the Abramoff hearings. More on the football later.

The hearings, which will probably be broadcast and re-broadcast at different times, are worth hearing (check C-SPAN's schedule). Last night they showed McCain grilling Abramoff associate, Italia Federici, who ran the Council for Republican Environmental Advocacy ("Help build on our Republican tradition of conservation").

I know what you're thinking: Republican? Environment? What are those two words doing in the same sentence? Why is Federici a persona non grata to the Senate committee? The High Country News has a good background.

Bob Ney is up the creek. There is a record of quid pro quo between Ney and Abramoff, and the outlook is bleak for both. NPR reported this morning that Ohio Democrats are calling for Ney to resign (not sure how that would help the Dems, but whatever). Ney recently transferred some of his Abramoff money to a good cause, but it's such an empty, transparently self-serving gesture (and a pretty small one, at that) that I can't imagine it would help at all. It reminds me of the phrase "meets minimum requirements."