A corrupt man was sentenced to a good stretch of time in the federal pen this week. That fact was only slightly overshadowed by all the grave pronouncements by the cable commentariat about a 17-year-old’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy.

And yet it was altogether fitting that on the same day John McCain stood before the Republican National Convention and made a vow to reform Washington - to cut out the corruption that festers within the Beltway like an open sore - Jack Abramoff was sentenced to four years in prison for raising influence-peddling to an art form.