VANITY FAIR: Ex Lobbyist ABRAMOFF DISHES ON EX-FRIENDS!

[kpete]

VF: Ex-Lobbyist Abramoff Dishes on Ex-Friends
By Justin Rood - March 8, 2006, 10:46 AM

Opening with a double-page bleed-to-the-edge photo of a smiling Jack Abramoff golfing with Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), the April issue of Vanity Fair (hitting next week) devotes nine pages to the disgraced lobbyist and his attempts to set the record straight. Paticularly on all those who have forsaken him:

President Bush, who claims not to remember meeting Abramoff - the lobbyist says Bush once joked with him, "What are you benching, big guy?"

RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, who said he didn't really know Abramoff - it turns out he had Sabbath dinner at Abramoff's house, did him political favors, and even offered to pay Abramoff's tab at Signatures, the lobbyist's restaurant.

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), who says Abramoff never influenced him - "Every appropriation we wanted we got. Our staffs were as close as they could be. They practically used Signatures as their cafeteria."

Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose spokesman says Newt wouldn't have known Abramoff "if he fell across him" - "I have more pictures of than I have of my wife."


http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000057.php

edit to include pdf-whole article:
http://www.vanityfair.com/pdf/pressroom/advance_Abramoff.pdf

[mod mom]

1. Cool. Give that man protection!

[Greeby]

2. Sing, Jackie-boy, sing!

:bounce:

[kpete]

3. A little More

Abramoff On How He Did Business

From Vanity Fair: "Most lobbyists meet with a committee chairman, staff, a few members. We’d meet with the whole leadership of the House and Senate, the entire committee on both sides, then create a roster of who might ideologically support the idea and get them in the war.... We'd get people firing constantly on the decision-makers. And we'd outwork everyone in the media.... Most Washington lobbyists are lazy, people of limits, people who move glacially slow. I felt my job was to go out there and save the world.... I thought it was immoral to take someone’s money and not win for them. And we basically didn't lose."



http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/03/abramoff_on_how.html

[mzmolly]

4. I'm curious about this statement?

"And we'd outwork everyone in the media"

[Pithy Cherub]

15. it's not exactly hard to out work the media...we do it daily.

;)

[mzmolly]

17. I thought "outwork" might be a cover term for something more sinister?

Like, paying Chris Matthews to blather in a favorable manner? ;)

Goodness, my deceased grandmother outworks our MSM.

[Pithy Cherub]

20. We know they paid big money for postive press propaganda.

It was a global republican growth industry. Yep, we just need to add to the list - Abramoff's pressitutes.

Matthews is paid on the volume of spit he produces.

[FreedomAngel82]

27. I thought he was tied to this too?

Didn't he get paid by Abramoff too? I thought I read he did. I might be wrong though.

[boobooday]

5. Has more pictures of Newt than he has of his wife?

Yikes.

:crazy:

[FreedomAngel82]

28. Wow he must be obsessed

What about his kids? :shrug: More pics of Newt than them? Maybe he's behind the 1994 "Contract on America." :shrug:

[kpete]

6. More (Sorry its Drudge) But Juicy

ABRAMOFF: 'I WAS A KILLER'
Wed Mar 08 2006 10:36:14 ET

"You're really no one in this town unless you haven't met me," Jack Abramoff tells Vanity Fair contributing editor David Margolick. Such lies are not just lies, but dumb to boot-"This is not an age when you can run away from facts. I had to deal with my records, and others will have to deal with theirs."

An insider tells Margolick that Abramoff blames competing Republican lobbyists and Arizona Senator John McCain-with whom Abramoff says he's had a contentious relationship-for his downfall. Abramoff tells Margolick that McCain staffers deliberately humiliated him, doling out embarrassing e-mails to the press.

.....................
Abramoff is well aware of his peril: "In a different era I'd be killed on the street or have poison poured into my coffee," he tells Margolick.

.............

ABRAMOFF ON WHETHER OR NOT HE HARMED THE COUNTRY:

"There were times when I helped the country and the causes that I love and obviously times when I hurt them. The exposure of my lobbying practice, the absurd amount of media coverage, and the focus-for the first time-on this sausage-making factory that we call Washington will ultimately help reformthe system, or at least so I hope. The only thing that a clever lobbyist cannot manipulate is the absence of something to lobby for or fight against

lots, lots more:
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash7.htm

[MelissaB]

9. That was good.

:smoke:

Thanks!

[spuddonna]

19. He'd better watch his back and keep the Kevlar undies on...

"In a different era I'd be killed on the street or have poison poured into my coffee," he tells Margolick.

Don't kid yourself, Jacky boy... You better watch your ass! :hide:

[Hutzpa]

36. Don't go to Starbucks, coz that waitress is out to get ya n/t

[RobertSeattle]

7. More More!!!

"Any important Republican who comes out and says they didn't know me is almost certainly lying."

"Mr. Abramoff flatters himself," Mark Salter, McCain's administrative assistant, tells Margolick. "Senator McCain was unaware of his existence until he read initial press accounts of Abramoff's abuses, and had never laid eyes on him until he appeared before the committee."

Abramoff says, "As best I can remember, when I met with him, he didn't have his eyes shut. I'm surprised that Senator McCain has joined the chorus of amnesiacs."
President Bush, who claims not to remember having his picture taken with Abramoff. According to Abramoff, at one time, the president joked with Abramoff about his weight lifting past: "What are you benching, buff guy?"

Ken Mehlman, who recently claimed he didn't really know Abramoff. According to documents obtained by Vanity Fair, Mehlman exchanged e-mail with Abramoff, and did him political favors (such as preventing Clinton administration alumnus Allen Stayman from keeping a State Department job), had Sabbath dinner at Abramoff's house, and offered to pick up Abramoff's tab at Signatures, Abramoff's own restaurant.

Newt Gingrich, whose spokesman Rick Tyler tells Margolick that "Before picture appeared on TV and in the newspapers, Newt wouldn't have known him if he fell across him. He hadn't seen him in 10 years." A rankled Abramoff says "I have more pictures of than I have of my wife." Abramoff shows Margolick numerous photographs: "Here's Newt. Newt. Newt. Newt. More Newt. Newt with Grover this time. But Newt never met me. Ollie North. Newt. Can't be Newt ... he never met me. Oh, Newt! What's he doing there? Must be a Newt look-alike.... Newt again! It's sick! I thought he never met me!"

[wordpix2]

23. hahahahaha--McCain, Bush, Mehlman, Gingrich--all "amnesiacs"

[RobertSeattle]

41. Picture of GOP Politician meeting with Abramoff

"I've never SEEN Abramoff"

[FreedomAngel82]

29. LOL

Newt's trying to deny it. Hm I wonder if McCain is involved? He doesn't seem too thrilled with Abramoff apparently. But of course they could be lying. :shrug:

[Career Prole]

8. This is why we're glad Bugboy won his primary.

We don't want any "sanitized" repuke running in November...we want the sleazeball himself.

[FreedomAngel82]

30. Yep

:popcorn: It'll be nice seeing this big jerk going off to jail crying like a baby.

[BuyingThyme]

10. Say it ain't so, KennyToy.

[deminks]

11. PDF file of VF article from Kos.

http://www.vanityfair.com/pdf/pressroom/advance_Abramoff.pdf

kos link

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/8/11633/33597

[wordpix2]

24. Boehner, Hatch, Allen....

[wordpix2]

33. Hayworth (AZ), Cochrane (MI), Hastert, Doolittle (CA) top recipient$

along with Interior Dept.'s J. Steven Griles (former mining lobbyist) described as Jackoff's "water carrier" in Interior.

:bounce: Keep singing, Jack!

[glitch]

12. And what about Karl Rove? I thought those two went way back.

and what about his administrative assistant,

"...took the same position
with Rove at the White House, where Abramoff
met with Rove at least once. (An eyewitness
also recalls seeing Abramoff
emerge from a car near the White House
and have what looked like a pre-arranged,
street-corner meeting with Rove; Abramoff
says he can’t recall that.) Rove dined several
times at Signatures and was Abramoff
’s guest in the owner’s box at the
N.C.A.A. basketball playoffs a few years
ago, sitting for much of the game by Abramoff’s
side. Recently, three former associates
of Abramoff’s have told how he
frequently mentioned his strong ties to
Rove, and one described being present
when Abramoff took a phone call from
Rove’s office..."

[lonestarnot]

13. We've been discussing how many photos he's going to sell on

March 29. teehehehe

[FreedomAngel82]

32. So that's the day of doom?

I can't wait that long but I know it'll be worth it.

[lonestarnot]

43. Sentencing on the 28th and not a day later!

[madfloridian]

14. Mehlman says he doesn't know Jack, either. Wow!

"Just to cite one typical example, the
head of the Republican National Committee,
Ken Mehlman, said in an interview,
“Abramoff is someone who we don’t know
a lot about. We know what we read in the
paper,” even though, according to documents
obtained by Vanity Fair, Mehlman
exchanged e-mail with Abramoff, did him
political favors (such as blocking Clinton administration
alumnus Allen Stayman
from keeping a State Department job), had
Sabbath dinner at his house, and offered
to pick up his tab at Signatures. (According
to a spokesperson, Mehlman does not recall
the e-mail exchange, “because he was
often contacted by political supporters with
suggestions and ideas,” or the Sabbath dinner.)"

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. LOL! Spill the beans Baby! I will DEFINITELY pick up this issue.

I love this. Expose 'em all.

[wordpix2]

25. me, too---definitely one for posterity to hold onto

[Pithy Cherub]

18. Abramoff is gleefuly outing republicans.

Wow, can you just imagine what Jack is holding back? This is getting really good!

You have to be a bit sadistic to have more pictures of Newtberry than your beloved, but corrupt republicans do that type of disdaining moral family values until they get caught.

:popcorn:

[trudyco]

21. So can you subscribe to Vanity Fair from out of state? -nt

[Pithy Cherub]

22. Yes. Or read DU for links. : )

[FreedomAngel82]

26. This is going to be soooo good!

:popcorn: Isn't he supposed to sing at the end of the month? I'm sure his lawyers have him protected.

[progressoid]

31. WOW - that'll be tonight's reading for sure!!

[wordpix2]

34. "every apprpriation we wanted [from Burns' committee], we got"

page 3, Vanity Fair http://www.vanityfair.com/pdf/pressroom/advance_Abramoff.pdf

[wordpix2]

35. J. Steven Griles from Interior--point man---does this implicate Norton?

[sofa king]

40. Yes.

The cutout for Abramoff and Griles was http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701682_pf.html">Italia Federici, who co-created the http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/11/18/federici/index_np.html">astroturf group CREA with Gale Norton.

[Hutzpa]

37. Better put those pix in safety deposit box, otherwise one day

he will wake up dead, house burnt to the ground.

[MellowOne]

38. Just don't get it

Why Bush continues to get away with lying about everything? Does he ever tell the truth?

[sofa king]

39. That article is a fluff piece.

It doesn't once mention the enormous slush fund Abramoff was managing for the GOP. It doesn't mention the 9/11 terrorists showing up on his boat, nor does it mention his considerable ties with Israeli intelligence and Apartheid South Africa (there is, however, the briefest of nods in the direction of Iran-Contra, a mention of Abramoff's friendship with Oliver North). It doesn't mention his efforts to weaken the Homeland Security Act so that he could fleece tribes for still more lobbying money.

Abramoff is a powerful sociopath hung out to dry, and this article is obviously part of his counterattack. It's designed to soften his image while broadcasting a warning to his former friends that he still has some teeth.

[kpete]

42. pics

[Sparkle]

44. Sorry Abramoff.

You're going to prison and you can't talk your way out of it.

[mdmc]

45. peace and low stress