Ney day, Ney day

After news surface this past weekend that Tom DeLay's office -- not Tom DeLay, of course -- knew that Abramoff had directly paid for the now infamous golf trip to Scotland, we now have the latest word that another of the congressional flies buzzing around the stinking heap of corruption otherwise known as the Abramoff scandal, has been brought further under the glare of indictment. Ohio Republican Bob Ney's former chief of staff, Neil Volz, has just agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges stemming from the investigation and seems to be fingering Ney. And not in a friendly way.

Ney's defense, like that of DeLay himself, has been to claim that Abramoff "duped" him into taking the lavish, all-expense paid trip because, Bob Ney is, after all, just doing the work of the people; an innocent representative unaware that creatures called lobbyists, for heaven's sake, try to exert influence in Congress through a process known as wining and dining, which may also include trips to far away lands and may further include nutting a few balls on the links of St. Andrews. No, Bob Ney knows nothing of this world. Nothing at all. His chief of staff, though, was clearly protecting the innocent Ney from such gross manipulation. And, need it be said, doing a heckuva job, too. At least until he got caught.

I wonder how much Ney is sweating at this point.