No I’m not talking about the recent appearance of the Ringling Brothers circus in DC. Every so often a scandal erupts in this town that becomes nothing but a three ring circus full of colorful characters, saucy defense attorneys, and heartfelt apologies-turned-resignations.

The most recent one to engulf this town is the arrest and impending trial of alleged DC “madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey. This lady is accused of running a service that she claims was solely for providing “the fantasy of sex” and not the real thing to “a Bush administration economist, the head of a conservative think tank, a prominent CEO, several lobbyists, and a handful of military officials.”

Finding her assets frozen by the government, she now calls herself “indigent” and in need of money as well as defense witnesses. So what does she do? She hands over her records to ABC’s “20/20″ after stating that she’s going to have to start dropping names of who used her agency in order to “encourage” people to start contributing to her defense. This is necessary, she says, “since the government has placed me in the untenable position whereby I do not have sufficient monies to undertake this extraordinarily expensive task on my own.” No word on how name-dropping will provide incentive for clients to help her.

The first victim of the name-dropping was Randal L. Tobias, who was called by 20/20 to ask about his presence on the Madam’s lists at his State Department office where where he worked on foreign aid promoting Bush administration policies favoring abstinence and opposing prostitution. He claimed he got only massages from Palfrey’s service, but then suddenly resigned. Palfrey felt great sympathy for him, saying that “I unfortunately know firsthand the implication such a revelation can have upon one’s life.” I’m sure Mr. Tobias felt comforted by her sympathy.

The capital is now waiting with bated breath to see who will be the next name dropped, who will be the next to have his life and career ruined.

This “madam’s” gumption is breathtaking in its pomposity and self-righteousness, as she insists she’s the victim of a witch hunt. “Put aside the titillation of the who’s-who list — at least in part — and instead investigate the disturbing genesis, the confounding evolution and the equally alarming continuation of this matter,” she says. “I believe there is something very rotten at the core of my circumstance.”

In another DC tradition in one of these scandals, her first public defender has resigned–no doubt because she insists on giving press conferences after every court appearance. No word yet on who her replacement will be.

Every so often this city needs a circus to get it to lighten up a bit–God knows we need that in the wake of the unmitigated disaster that is the current occupant of the White House. It’s too bad that these little entertainment blitzes have to come at the expense of people’s reputations, but it’s hard to feel sorry for people like Mr. Tobias–the champion of Mr. Bush’s anti-prostitution policies abroad.