The airfare to London and Scotland in 2000 for then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist at the center of a federal criminal and tax probe, according to two sources who know Abramoff's credit card account number and to a copy of a travel invoice displaying that number.

Uh oh. I think this one is actually against the rules.

Multiple sources, including DeLay's then-chief of staff Susan Hirschmann, have confirmed that DeLay's congressional office was in direct contact with Preston Gates about the trip itinerary before DeLay's departure, to work out details of his travel. These contacts raise questions about DeLay's statement that he had no way of knowing about the financial and logistical support provided by Abramoff and his firm.

Texas voters should be quite upset with Rep. DeLay's behavior; he was voted into office railing against corrupt Washington politics and pledged, like many of his Republican colleagues, to being honor and dignity back to the U.S. Capitol.

While it is fun to poke at the delicious irony and to ask snarky questions comparing President Clinton's non-profit oral sex with DeLay's very-much for-profit suckling, I find the whole situation depressing.

Depressing because Americans still seem to believe that politicians are not, in fact, people; that they are cut from some other cloth that shields them from lapses in judgment. How else could we muster such outrage, from either left or right, when someone in Washington has yet another transgression.

Depressing because we, politicians and constituents together, are willing to put scandal before country.