Paul McLeary at CJR Desk wonders why the corporate media virtually ignored the K Street Project until the Abramoff revelations forced it into the limelight, yet are suddenly vigilant:

After that innocuous mention in November 2004, it took Time well over a year — until two articles ran in January 2006 — to get back to the story. One of the January pieces, by Michael Duffy, was a rundown of six proposals before Congress to reform the lobbying system in Washington, and was largely agnostic about the power dynamic, making it look like both parties were equally represented on K Street. The other piece, by Mike Allen and Perry Bacon Jr., was the magazine’s first serious look at the graft and corruption on K Street — more than three and a half years after the story broke.

But for some reason, a scant three weeks after control of Congress changed hands, we get a story looking at potential problems in store for Democrats who would cozy up to lobbyists.

All this isn’t to say that the incoming Democratic majority isn’t going to welcome with outstretched arms the money men (and women) of K Street. Of course they will. This is how our democracy works. And Nancy Pelosi’s statement on election night that she would lead “the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history” contained echoes of Gary Hart’s challenge to the press to “follow me.” But Time sure pounced — about three and a half years earlier than it did when the other guys were in power. Cursed liberal media.