Christy surveys the ever-expanding list of GOP scandals and shakes her head in disbelief. We have truly gone through the Looking Glass.

We Democrats look at these scandals and assume the normal results will follow. For the individual politician, that means humiliation, resignation, and exile to oblivion. Then his closest colleagues are exposed and follow the same trajectory: humiliation, resignation, and exile. Then the party hangs its head in shame, removes all bad apples, and returns to the path of God.

But the GOP doesn't play by the rules: there is no shame at the GOP.

There is no shame over Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Mark Foley, or any of the other Republicans who have resigned in disgrace.

There is no shame over the coverup by Speaker Denny Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner, the two most powerful Republicans in the House.

There is no shame - only attacks on Democrats like Bill Clinton (Hannity lies again!) and long-forgotten former Rep. Gerry Studds.

There is a simple reason why shame has no place in Republican politics: that's because the GOP is a top-down corporation, not (like the Democratic Party) a franchise operation of individual politicians who rise or fall based on their character and accomplishments.

Take George W. Bush. What had he ever achieved before he became the GOP nominee for President? Less than nothing. He went AWOL from the National Guard, failed at several businesses, and was drunk until 40. But Bush Inc. (led by James Baker and Karl Rove) decided he had a winning personality (unlike his dull father) that would make him electable, so they made him Governor (an easy task in solidly red Texas) and got him through the Republican presidential primaries in South Carolina by accusing John McCain of having an illegitimate black child.

Of course Bush didn't win in 2000 or 2004. But Baker and Rove made sure he was declared the victor by their Republican Secretaries of State (and Bush-Cheney campaign chairs), first Katherine Harris and then Ken Blackwell. In 2000, Baker even had to get his 5 Republicans on the Supreme Court to throw out 175,000 never-counted ballots.

That's how the GOP works: it's a corporation and everyone in the GOP is a loyal employee who does whatever (s)he is told.

Mark Foley is a loyal employee. When Karl Rove told him to resign, he did so immediately.

Denny Hastert is a loyal employee. When Karl Rove told him to block an investigation of Foley and his enablers, he did so immediately. When Karl Rove tells him to resign over the Foley scandal to protect the rest of the GOP leaders (Boehner, Reynolds, Shimkus, etc.), he will do so immediately.

Republicans don't care if their actions are immoral or even criminal. They know the Corporation will take care of them, both through the propaganda system (a.k.a. The Media) and through the legal system.

For the first 4 years of the Bush Regime, both of these systems worked perfectly. But in 2005, reality began to bite back. Jeff Gannon was exposed as a rightwing gay prostitute who was placed as a mole in the White House press corps. Iraq turned into a debacle, and the Downing Street Memos exposed the deliberate lies that brought it about. Retired generals exposed Rumsfeld's massive failures and demanded his replacement. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald got sick of White House lies and put the most powerful officials under oath repeatedly to get the truth, finally indicting Scooter Libby on perjury and exposing the whole character-assassination game.

And Bob Woodward finally woke up and smelled the rotten fish in the Oval Office.

So one by one, top Republicans are being exposed for their most blatant crimes. And one by one, Republican voters are waking up to the corruption at the heart of the GOP.

But will that be enough to cost Republicans control of Congress? Not as long as Republicans control the counting of votes in key states like Florida and Ohio and in thousands of counties where votes are counted by Republican machines programmed by Diebold, ES&S, and Sequoia.

Republicans are in power for two reasons: they control the media and they count the votes. Progressives have broken the GOP monopoly on the media by creating our own - the blogs and Air America radio. But until we break the GOP monopoly on vote counting, Republicans will continue to control our government.

I'll offer solutions to this problem in the days and weeks to come...