The most important story on the front page of yesterday's USA Today was not the shockingly out-of-date "Dewey defeats Truman" kind of headline proclaiming that the trapped miners in West Virginia were found alive - when in fact they were dead.
No, that was a tragic story with an important side lesson about the ability of the print media to compete with the 24 hour news cycle on a deadline, but it was not the most important story for the nation.
That would be the 2nd story, below the fold, about super lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleading guilty to lobbying fraud and giving up evidence to take down a lot of Congressmen with him. This is the story with long term national ramifications.
Why? Because this story will damage the nation long term for two reasons:
1. It will directly take down a lot of powerful Congressmen if it plays out to the extent that is possible. Key figures like Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R) and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D) are potentially on the hook for taking bribes.
2. It will further undermine American's faith in government if a large group of nationally known politicians are indicted for accepting bribes.
Hastert, as was noted, immediately "gave back" about $69,000. Sorry guys. You can't just give the money back. If you took bribes, you are going down.
This has enormous implications for the 2006 elections. Stay tuned.
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