People around the office can’t stop talking about this amazing image, which ran on the front page of The New York Times and The Seattle Times today.

The brilliance of the photo, I think, is in the cropping. It turns the microphones into snakes, which makes DeLay look like the most prominent head of a creepy Hyrda. It’s the perfect image for this political moment, in which the larger Hydra — the three Republican-controlled branches of government — faces damaging investigations and potential indictments on three fronts: In the House it’s Delay being indicted for allegedly illegal campaign financing, in the Senate it’s Frist being investigated for fishy stock deals, and at the White House it’s Karl Rove and others being investigated for leaking the name of a covert CIA agent.

But don’t get too excited, Democrats. As the dictionary reminds us, when you cut off one head of a Hydra, two more grow back in its place.