Parliament of Whores?

Humorist and libertarian P. J. O’Rourke wrote his satirical book “Parliament of Whores” back in 1991 in an effort to try to explain the workings of the government. Now it's deja-vu all over again:

A Committee Post and a Pledge Drive
By Charles Babington and Brian Faler, December 18, 2004, The Washington Post

Do I hear $16 million?

Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY), seeking the powerful post of House Appropriations Committee chairman, wrote to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert this month pledging to shrink the deficit, impose discipline on congressional appropriators and, oh, by the way, raise $15 million every two years from committee Republicans for GOP campaigns.

"I believe appropriators must help maintain our Republican majority through aggressive fundraising," Rogers said in his two-page letter to Hastert (R-Ill.). "On my watch, members of the committee will raise, at a minimum, $15 million per [election] cycle towards that goal. As I've proven -- raising and giving over $5 million to our candidates -- I am ready to lead by example." …

… The letter "makes it look like the job is for sale," said Scott Lilly, top Democratic aide on the Appropriations Committee the past decade and now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. …

Gosh, you don’t think?