A New York Post column this week expressed grave concerned about the “ruthless” Obama administration and its willingness to use “every trick” in the book to get health care reform passed. The mob-like tactics remind the (fragile) Post of The Sopranos.

That's certainly been a GOP Noise Machine favorite in recent week and months; that the WH is using extraordinary arm-twisting measures, including illegal maneuvers, to get its own members of Congress to sign off on a high-profile and controversial bill. Conservative partisans express outrage and gasp that they're certain they've never seen anything like the horse-trading now on display inside the Beltway.

Except we have. And worse.

I noted this a couple month ago, but with the incessant right-wing rhetoric about the supposedly corrupt health care vote, it's worth repeating: In 2004, a conservative member of Congress accused Republican colleagues of trying to bribe him by offering a six-figure campaign donation in exchange for his 'yes' vote on the controversial (and costly) Bush Medicare bill.

Funny, back then I don't remember hearing much caterwauling from the Post opinion page, or from Michelle Malkin, who appears to be working her way through the alphabet and denouncing every member of the Obama administration as corrupt. She's never seen this kind twisted vote-getting, she insists.

Except, of course, when it reportedly happened in plain sight in 2003.

From CBS/AP, at the time [emphasis added]:

The House ethics committee said Wednesday it will begin an investigation to determine whether Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., was offered a bribe to vote for the Medicare drug bill.

...

Smith was among several lawmakers lobbied heavily by GOP leaders last November to vote for the measure. It narrowly passed but Smith voted against it because he said it was too expensive.

After the vote, Smith told a radio station that Republican colleagues had offered $100,000 in campaign cash for his son, Brad, if he voted for the bill. The younger Smith is running to replace his father, who is retiring.

And what was the GOP's reaction to the allegations?

And Republicans were mounting a defense, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich telling C-SPAN on Friday that Smith was “a disgruntled retiring member” who was the victim of nothing more than the usual treatment in a close vote.

“I just think this is one of those occasional Washington mountains that's being built out of less than a molehill,” Gingrich said.