Look Who's Talking - Jack Abramoff

[seemslikeadream]

Super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff talks with TIME about his relationship with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and investigations into his practice.
By ADAM ZAGORIN

Friday, Apr. 29, 2005
At the center of the national controversy over House Majority Leader Tom Delay's alleged ethics violations is Jack Abramoff. The super-lobbyist, who has charged up to $750 an hour, now faces a series of Congressional and Justice Department investigations into whether he misled Indian tribes whom he represented in order to win them gaming licenses, or improperly used charities to end run tax laws or restrictions on lobbying.

Abramoff hasn't been saying much — until now. He spoke with TIME's Adam Zagorin to discuss his relationship with DeLay and the investigation into his lobbying activities. Here's a small taste of the interview. For a longer version, check out next week's TIME magazine.:

TIME: A U.S. senate investigation showed that you charged excessive amounts to certain Native American tribes and delivered little or nothing in return. Did you?

ABRAMOFF: The return on investment for these tribes, and all my clients, is far better than anything they or we could have imagined. The Native Americans I served are sophisticated business people. They are running a multi-billion dollar industry. They realize that spending millions to save billions is just good business.
more
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1055884,00.html

[Erika]

1. He called his Indian clients dolts, morons, and idiots

as he collected millions of dollars from them for his "services". Just a good-ole-boy friend of DeLay.

[WhiteTara]

2. we're supposed to forget all of that!

move along, nothing to see.

[MontageOfFreedom]

3. Let me translate for the dominionist theory puppet.

Jack Abramoff is basically saying this, on behalf of the good people of his extremist dominionist pathology:

"ABRAMOFF: We did nothing but rip off poor and very low-income tribes, as well as commodities in africa, in a way that was benefitting for them because they no longer had to be subjected to aethiest liberals. In a way, we saved them more money than the poor men and women could have managed on their own. They were going down the toilet anyway, and our preachers and pastors are re-building their whole economy.

Consider it a gift, a gift of good faith. God appreciates his followers."

Hmmmm.....

[central scrutinizer]

24. you don't even need to translate it

Here is what my local fishwrap printed on this story:

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/05/01/a3.nat.delay.0501.html

Lobbyist: Indian tribes got what they paid for

..........Abramoff said the tribes that hired him for help with casino licensing applications and paid him tens of millions of dollars got their money's worth.............

end excerpt - in today's climate in Washington, he doesn't even feel the need to dissemble - he is saying that "yes I used the tribes' money to bribe Congress, and it worked"

[anarchy1999]

4. Keep on talking Jack, tell us all everything, we so do want to know.

Now, about DeLay.......

[Judi Lynn]

5. He insults everyone in presuming anyone will forget what he has already

called his Native American clients behind their backs. Apparently if you run with the Republicans you imagine all that's needed is to tell a new lie and people will forget what you've done to them.

CanNOT believe he suddenly is complimenting his clients in the highest possible terms not all that long after calling them the names DU'er Erika earlier already mentioned. My God.



All-American Delay friend Abramoff.
Makes you proud, doesn't it? :eyes:

[MontageOfFreedom]

6. To him he's saving the Native Americans. n/t

[Moderator]

7. kick to combine

[WhiteTara]

8. Abramoff Breaks Silence About Investigations

Oh, yes, Abramoff is starting to squeal like a pig!

<snip>
In an interview with Time magazine, portions of which have been posted on the magazine's Web site in advance of tomorrow's publication date, Abramoff said the tribes that hired him for help with casino licensing applications and paid him tens of millions of dollars got their money's worth.
<snip>
Abramoff called his Indian clients "sophisticated business people" in the interview, which is in stark contrast to terms he used in private e-mails, first disclosed in The Washington Post in its ongoing examination of Abramoff, in which he called them "stupid" and "moronic." In other e-mails, released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, he referred to them as "idiots," "troglodytes" and "monkeys."


"I regret that in the heat of the locker room atmosphere of the lobbying world, I sometimes, rarely -- but sometimes -- I resorted to language more common to a drill sergeant or a football coach," Abramoff told Time. "Many of my e-mails have been maliciously taken out of context, another effort by those assaulting my career. As a result, I've been portrayed as a cynical barbarian preying on the very clients I was charged to defend."
<snip>
The Times article goes on to characterize Abramoff's life as "in shambles." A Washington delicatessen he opened in 2002 has closed. A private religious school he founded in 2001 in Columbia also has closed, and some of its teachers are suing him for unpaid wages. He also is being sued by a Louisiana tribe he represented, which seeks the return of $32 million it paid Abramoff and a business partner, public relations consultant Michael Scanlon.

As they say, Karma's gonna get you!
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/30/AR2005043000783.html?nav=hcmodule

[merwin]

9. How can you take "idiots," "troglodytes" and "monkeys" out of context?

[MissB]

10. "It isn't my fault"

- Standard Republican reply, showing how much any of them seem to want to take responsiblity nowadays.

[rkc3]

15. "They're out to get me."

- Secondary reply to accusations of bad behavior.

[Plaid Adder]

18. Well, if the original context were...

"Look, DeLay, once and for all: referring to my Native American clients as idiots, troglodytes, and monkeys is racist, offensive, and RIGHT OUT! Now stop doing it! I'm not gonna tell you again!"

then you could say that the words were taken out of context. Otherwise, well, the most likely explanation is that he's a racist pig who got caught with his snout in the trough.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[merwin]

19. Well that's a good point. He could have been telling people to stop saying

those particular words. He's such a nice guy!

[yellowcanine]

20. Maybe he said, "Some people might call them idiots, etc." But it would be

wrong." You know, kind of like Nixon on the tapes.

My Favorite Nixon Quote
© Copyright 1997, Jim Loy

President Richard M. Nixon had his "Enemies List". This was a list of people that were out to prevent him from being re-elected. On the White House Tapes, Nixon and his advisors were discussing what they should do about one of these enemies, I think the enemy was Daniel Ellsberg. And Nixon said, "We could kill him." During the David Frost - Richard Nixon interviews, Nixon complained bitterly that we didn't get to listen to what he said next, presumably because it had been accidentally erased. What he claimed to have said next was, "But that would be wrong."

I like that. It's a much better quote, that way: "We could kill him, but that would be wrong."

[blm]

11. Ralph Reed should be held responsible for his part in these scams.

.

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. Our old friend Roger Stone

was up to his ears in Indian Gaming too. So was the Dept of the Interior and Gale Norten. It will be interesting to see were this story leads. Hopefully to the WH.

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. A crook and a fraud.

If there is any justice left in this world, that bastard will rot in prison.

[PunkPop]

13. But is there?

That's the question.

[Rob H.]

14. "maliciously taken out of context"

Shyeah. No Republigoon caught making offensive statements has ever said that before. :eyes:

[lyonn]

22. Cheney on Senate floor

to D. Senator, "Go f--k yourself." This crowd has a history I failed to recognize in my younger days, example ---

Per an article in Consortium news online:
In the trenches at the CIA, however, Casey’s bluster often was amplified by the new senior managers who had risen to power under Casey and Gates, according to several CIA analysts whom I interviewed. Some analysts were verbally berated until they agreed to change their findings; some faced job threats; others experienced confrontations with supervisors who literally threw papers around the office and sometimes into the analysts' faces. The scars left on the CIA’s tradition of objective analysis ran deep and affected later intelligence failures, the analysts said.

“The politicization that took place during the Casey-Gates era is directly responsible for the CIA’s loss of its ethical compass and the erosion of its credibility,” said Mel Goodman in his Senate testimony in 1991. “The fact that the CIA missed the most important historical development in its history – the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the Soviet Union itself – is due in large measure to the culture and process that Gates established in his directorate.”

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[no_to_war_economy]

16. Instant Karma

Instant Karma's gonna get you,
Gonna look you right in the face,
Better get yourself together darlin',
Join the human race,
How in the world you gonna see,
Laughin' at fools like me,
Who on earth d'you think you are,
A super star,
Well, right you are.

[AlCzervik]

21. Oh he's sorry alright, sorry someone connected the dots!

[entanglement]

23. What a disgusting creature Abramoff is!

This subhuman is not just corrupt but racist as well. :puke: :puke: