The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

Liberal blogger Kevin Drum sums up the Abramoff scandal:

One of the underreported stories of the past few years is the evolution of the Republican Party from being the party of capitalism and free enterprise to being merely the party of whichever business interests can help Republicans get reelected. There's a big difference between being pro-market and being pro-business—in fact, they're often diametrically opposed—but the difference isn't always obvious until something like the Abramoff affair shines a bright light on it.

I'm not convinced the GOP ever governed as the party of free enterprise, but there were moments, right after the elections of 1980 and 1994, when intelligent men and women believed that the true believers might wield some influence over policy. If you ever wondered who took that role instead, look to Abramoff and the K Street Project.