It looks like Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is up to his pretty little ears in the Abramoff scandal. I wonder if Austin District Attorney Ronnie Earle might be interested in this, since he has already subpoenaed Jack Abramoff's records?

In his subpoenas, Earle asks for correspondence between the subpoenaed parties and TRMPAC; Americans for a Republican Majority, DeLay's national fundraising committee; David Safavian, the Bush administration's former chief procurement official indicted in the Abramoff case; Abramoff, former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed and DeLay's co-defendants.

Jane Hamsher is on the case (these are her words, not mine):

John Cornyn was the Texas Attorney General at the time Abramoff was taking money from the Cochetta Indians -- funneling it to Ralph Reed who then aimed his flock o' fundie freaks like a missile launcher to give cover to Cornyn as he did exactly what Abramoff wanted him to do -- shut down the competition.

Did Cornyn do this at Abramoff's and Reed's bidding? According to emails from Reed he did:

On November 12, 2001, Reed sent Abramoff an e-mail stating, "get me details so I can alert cornyn and let him know what we are doing to help him" [sic]. Similarly, on November 13, 2001, Reed wrote "I strongly suggest we start doing patch-throughs to perry and cornyn [sic]. We're getting killed on the phone." Also, on January 7, 2002, Reed sent Abramoff an e-mail stating "I think we should budget for an ataboy for cornyn" [sic].

Whatever fucking little dance of the seven veils Russert did with Cornyn today, it wasn't journalism. Either Cornyn is lying, or Reed -- currently running for Lieutenant Governor in Georgia -- is guilty of extorting money from Abramoff's clients based on making representations about being able to play Cornyn like a violin:

"Cornyn is getting a pass that he doesn't deserve," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, referring to the lack of attention to the senator's involvement.

"My concern is that he's working with Ralph Reed, who's being paid by Indian gaming interests," Sloan said.

I'm aware that the strictly Republican aspect of this whole Abramoff thing makes Wolf Blitzer and his Sunday morning brethren sigh like little girls at the sight of Aaron Carter, but eventually they might want to raise themselves to ask a few obvious questions.

Update: Cornyn's also been threatening Sean-Paul Kelly of the Agonist for delving into the Abramoff/Reed/Cornyn connection. Markos has more.

Update: Roger has more.