The investigation into now-indicted Arizona Republican Congressman Rick Renzi's land swap deals is said to have gone on for years. You'd think someone would have told George W. Bush. That's the thing about hanging out with the wrong Republicans, their scumminess is more contagious than hep-A at a New York hot spot.

On October 4, 2006, at a Scottsdale, Arizona, breakfast—the scheme that would allegedly net Renzi $733,000 was already raging—Bush backed his fellow Republican for re-election and explained, "I say he deserves it because he's got a record." Prescient.

The indictment today basically alleges this: Renzi used his position on the House Natural Resources Committee to strong-arm companies who needed the committee's approval into buying land from a friend, James Sandlin. Then, through complicated transactions (hence money laundering charges), Sandlin would funnel thank-you cash back to Renzi. Or as Renzi put it in a note to investors seeking approval for copper mining in his district: "No Sandlin property, no bill."

Bush extolled the values he shared with Renzi that October morning, not the least of which were conservative economic ideals, or as he put it, "We strongly believe that the more you have in your pocket, the more likely it is somebody is going to be able to find work."