As the scandal around Jack Abramoff developed, Republicans should have forced those members most directly implicated -- Reps. Tom DeLay and Bob Ney, along with just-defeated Sen. Conrad Burns -- to step aside expeditiously. They didn't, partly for understandable reasons -- delivering bad news to friends and colleagues is always hard. That's why reformers must be zealous. It takes zeal to break through the natural barriers to staying clean. Unfortunately, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was the opposite of zealous, refusing to force his members to purge themselves and adopt a wide-ranging, meaningful reform agenda.
Republicans just hoped they could hang on, without voters dwelling on the fact that all they seemed to care about was their own self-perpetuation. If there was ever any chance that strategy would work, it was eliminated by Florida Rep. Mark Foley's disgrace. The scandal again presented an image of a Republican Party resolutely unenergetic in policing itself and consumed with trying to shift the blame once misconduct came to light.
Exit polls show that more voters cited corruption as their top concern than even the Iraq War. Pundits are dismissing this number, but Republicans do so at their own peril. When given the chance to pass a verdict on a party disproportionately composed of fat and happy self-serving politicians, the public did a very American thing -- it gave them an unmistakable rebuke. Republicans now will have time in the minority to reacquire their reforming zeal. As for cleaning up their own ranks, it is no longer necessary. All elected Republicans in any way associated with scandal are now gone, courtesy of the American voter.