Former Christian Coalition leader and current Georgia GOP head Ralph Reed volunteered to get "faith-based groups" and conservative talk shows to support energy deregulation -- on Enron's behalf -- for $380,000. The "values-based" network that people like Reed and Robertson spent the 80s and 90s building is exposed as nothing but a modern Tammany Hall, a political machine designed to help those in power screw those without it.

As a MetaFilter thread said, is it possible for comments on this to be too cynical?

My biggest problem with conservatives (mostly Republicans) is that they think rules are for other people (mostly Democrats). I still remember well how California governor Pete Wilson used campaign finance rules to shut down fund-raising for his opponent in 1994. Kathleen Brown was the state treasurer, and she had done a bang-up job of keeping the state on sound fiscal footing, but Wilson used the rules to keep virtually any financial institution that knew how good she was from contributing to her campaign since she was the state treasurer and therefore had authority over them. Brown raised much less money than Wilson, who won in a landslide.

Two years later, Wilson petitioned the FEC to have the same rules waived for his presidential campaign on the grounds they were irrelevant and didn't apply to him. The FEC refused, and Wilson withdrew within a month.

Now the appointed President is appearing in TV ads in five states against weak Democratic senators, complaining that because they're against his agenda, they're hurting America. Bush has demonstrated throughout his terms as governor and President that "bipartisanship" means Democrats roll over for Republicans. Republican attacks on Democrats are "the nation's business."