The Postmoral Art of Tom DeLay: Don forwards an interesting essay by Crispin Sartwell that unwinds the "Escher-like" corruption of Tom DeLay. Some snippets:

That's why all art lovers admire Tom DeLay, the spearhead of postmoralist art. Tom DeLay not only peddles influence proudly and continuously, but when caught, he raises his defense fund by peddling more influence to the same people to whom he's being accused of peddling his influence...

---snip---

...DeLay's true artistry gleams forth here, as everywhere in his oeuvre. Those faced with judging DeLay are paying him for the privilege of exonerating him. In fact, they will pay him for the privilege of exonerating him of the very corruption constituted by those payments themselves. Their payment is a dereliction; their exoneration of him on the charge of accepting such payments is a dereliction; the mere existence of Congress -- to say nothing of its actual composition -- begins to emerge as a dereliction as it is illuminated by DeLay's quasi-divine effulgence.