AP Photo

Jaded China watchers observe the fall of Chongqing's "Red Leader" Bo Xilai and see little more than the disposal of another corrupt Communist sociopath who crossed multiple red lines - not of reckless criminality, but of naked ambition, of disobedience to the Center, and of unseemly and embarrassing behavior involving foreigners - and got slapped down by the party leadership.

Score one for the Chinese Communist Party, in other words, for the efficient use of party...