And The Winner For Dumbest Statement of the Week

Excuse me? Patty Murray, the senior Senator from Washington, thinks it's a bad idea to give back money contributed by Jack Abramoff, because it might hurt the tribes...

Sen. Patty Murray said Friday that returning contributions from Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff would "taint" the tribes.

The state's senior senator, a Seattle Democrat, said there was nothing wrong with accepting more than $40,000 in campaign donations from out-of-state tribes represented by the disgraced lobbyist.

Frankly, I don't care if she wants to keep the money; maybe she can use it to help Osama build day care facilities and schools in the Middle East. But this has to be one of the weakest excuses I've ever heard. I'm pretty sure those tribes are reasonably tainted by their association with Abramoff -- giving back the money probably won't hurt anything. But hey, I'm not a U.S. Senator, so what do I know?