The Mahablog: Shameless Hussies

Just when you thought the GOP couldn't get more shameless--Massimo Calabresi writes in Time that some are desperately searching for bodies in New Orleans--bodies of rich people, mind you--to prove that New Orleans is being hurt by the estate tax.

"If legislative ambulance chasing looks like a desperate measure, for the backers of repealing the estate tax, these are desperate times. Just three weeks ago, their long-sought goal of repeal seemed within reach, but Katrina dashed their hopes when Republican leaders put off an expected vote. After hearing from [Alabama Senator Jeff] Sessions, [Harold] Apolinsky, an estate tax lawyer who says his firm includes three multi-billionaires among its clients, mobilized the American Family Business Institute, a Washington-based group devoted to estate tax repeal. They reached out to members along the Gulf Coast to hunt for the dead.