WP's E. J. Dionne Jr.: Abramoff and His Vanishing Friends

[Pirate Smile]

Abramoff and His Vanishing Friends

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Friday, January 6, 2006; Page A19

It almost makes you feel sorry for Jack Abramoff.

Republicans once fell all over themselves to get his "moolah," the term used famously by the disgraced superlobbyist, and to get his advice on dealing with that warm and cuddly entity known as "the lobbying community."

-snip-
Roll Call reported on March 12, 2001, that "GOP leaders on and off Capitol Hill are organizing a new drive to lean on major corporations and trade associations to hire Republicans for their top lobbying jobs." The article spoke of a "Who's Who of Republican lobbyists" who had held a meeting on the subject the week before. At the top of the list was Jack Abramoff.

-snip-
This careful judge of what it means to be an "honorable public servant" had reason to prefer the Bush administration's taste in appointees. After the 2000 election, Abramoff was named to the Bush transition team for the Interior Department, which regulates the Indian casinos that paid Abramoff his inflated fees.

"What the Republicans need is 50 Jack Abramoffs," his friend Grover Norquist told National Journal in 1995. "Then this becomes a different town." Norquist got his different town. It's why the place so badly needs cleaning up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/05/AR2006010501903.html

[senseandsensibility]

1. kick

That's it, tie it to the republicans. I am so sick of the dems who won't even call it what it is: a REPUBLICAN scandal.

[Pirate Smile]

3. That Grover Norquist quote is begging to be in a commercial.

[sandnsea]

4. It's been called that

Harry Reid said it point blank. Culture of corruption, haven't you heard a bunch of Dems say that? The only ones who aren't repeating it are the corporate media, go figure.

[orleans]

5. that's because the corporate media is part corporate, part

media and part republican. it's a heredity thing. they can't seem to help themselves.

[spooky3]

2. No wonder John Edwards wanted so badly to change the system.