More Laughs From Abramoff
I've been getting a lot of laughs reading the comments made to me over at the Fix about Abramoff being involved with Democrats.
Evidently if you type in all caps and scream that I only believe that because Limbaugh told me too you think you are intelligent.
It's funny, Chris asked for info on how deep Jack had dug, and was given the Open Secrets website links to the info, but the liberals still see it as "A GOP scandal", of course by their comments you can tell they didn't look at the list.
Atlas Shrugs has a very good list of who's been getting money from Abramoff on the Democratic side. It's not a small list, in fact it contains 40 of the 44 current Senators. They have all gotten money from him.
The other funny thing reading the blastings I've been getting are how many folks are clueless on what is in the indictments that he plead guilty on. Most of the folks who are on the left seem to be convinced that he was giving his own money away to guys like Ney and DeLay.
The truth is he was indicted for funnelling his client's money, mostly from indian tribes, to politicans, not his own money. Like any good lobbyist, any of his own cash that was given to politicians was given above board, and in compliance with the FEC rules on it. There is a reason they do that, because losing your lobbying card by violating FEC regs personally puts you out of business.
So if you need a laugh, head over to "The Fix" and read the comments in the Abramoff threads, and how clueless some of the folks there are.
Technorati Tags: GOP,Democrats,corruption, Abramoff
Evidently if you type in all caps and scream that I only believe that because Limbaugh told me too you think you are intelligent.
It's funny, Chris asked for info on how deep Jack had dug, and was given the Open Secrets website links to the info, but the liberals still see it as "A GOP scandal", of course by their comments you can tell they didn't look at the list.
Atlas Shrugs has a very good list of who's been getting money from Abramoff on the Democratic side. It's not a small list, in fact it contains 40 of the 44 current Senators. They have all gotten money from him.
The other funny thing reading the blastings I've been getting are how many folks are clueless on what is in the indictments that he plead guilty on. Most of the folks who are on the left seem to be convinced that he was giving his own money away to guys like Ney and DeLay.
The truth is he was indicted for funnelling his client's money, mostly from indian tribes, to politicans, not his own money. Like any good lobbyist, any of his own cash that was given to politicians was given above board, and in compliance with the FEC rules on it. There is a reason they do that, because losing your lobbying card by violating FEC regs personally puts you out of business.
So if you need a laugh, head over to "The Fix" and read the comments in the Abramoff threads, and how clueless some of the folks there are.
Technorati Tags: GOP,Democrats,corruption, Abramoff
posted by Crazy Politico at 8:13 AM
7Comments:
I posted on this today and linked to you. Your earlier post about the Newsweek article got me all fired up about the concept that this is just a GOP scandal. I do refer to Rush's comments on it but I think the 40 democrat senators who took $ from Abramoff and his associates speaks for itself :-).
More important than who got paid by Abramoff is the question of whether anyone got paid off. Which congressmen granted legislative favors for money? That's the real question. Obviously, the Bush administration itself accepted money from Abramoff, because the President ordered it donated to charity when he found out. That doesn't make him a crook, and it doesn't make Democrat or Republican congressmen crooks just because they accepted a lobbyist's money or gifts.
Matthew, I'm with you on taking the money doesn't make you a crook. Unless you are a Republican, and Nancy Pelosi is referring to you. Both Tom DeLay and Bob Ney have been convicted by the Democratic leadership without a trial. However, they don't think it should be an issue for Harry Reid, Patty Murray, Pat Kennedy, or the dozens of other Dem's who've received money from him.
LMC - Abramoff, like all good lobbyists, paid EVERYONE. Pick a lobbyist, any lobbyist, and check their records over at OpenSecrets.org. You'll see they donate to both sides all the time. It's called hedging your bets. Just in case someone comes out of power, you better have greased skids with the guy or gal coming in.
Two of the most powerful Democrats in Michigan, Jennifer Granholm and Carl Levin both took money from him. The Dems in Michigan better not be saying too much.
Everything I've heard and read suggests that Ney is in big trouble. The Ohio newspapers are really tearing into him; look at this Dayton article: Lobbyist's plea points to Ney. It just looks bad, and I know looks don't mean anything to the law, but appearance is everything in politics.
I don't think Republicans are going to be able to turn this into a "bi-partisan scandal" unless there is a big-name Democrat implicated in Abramoff's plea deal. Whomever he names as taking bribes is going to go down, regardless of party affiliation.
Newt Gingrich was on Hannity yesterday, and even he said that Republicans are in trouble over this because Republicans are the party in power. Just as Democrats took the heat for scandals in the early nineties that paved the way for 1994, so Republicans will take the fall on this scandal. Whether that translates into success for Dems remains to be seen. I'm not hopeful on that score.
Mathew,
I'm with you. They'll spin this to the hill but the GOP will take a hit for this. It is the party in power that gets tagged for things like this so they might as well bend over and take the butt whoopin' like a man.
But I'd like to see the entire system cleaned. But that's hard to do since the folks doing the cleaning are the ones that need cleaning.
James- We'd probably need to call in roto-rooter and then a septic service to clean up that town. Merry Maids would never touch the place!
Steven - The spin machines will be working overtime on both sides on this one to make sure everyone takes a hit on it.
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