Diverting Attention from Abramoff
From an article in Time:
Bracing for the worst, Administration officials obtained from the Secret Service a list of all the times Abramoff entered the White House complex, and they scrambled to determine the reason for each visit. Bush aides are also trying to identify all the photos that may exist of the two men together. Abramoff attended Hanukkah and holiday events at the White House, according to an aide who has seen the list. Press secretary Scott McClellan said Abramoff might have attended large gatherings with Bush but added, "The President does not know him, nor does the President recall ever meeting him."
Republican officials say they are so worried about the Abramoff problem that they are now inclined to stoke a fight with Democrats over the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court in an effort to turn the page from the lobbying investigation. Outside groups plan to spend heavily, and the White House will engage in some tit for tat with Democrats as the hearings heat up.
posted by storiesinamerica @ 6:33 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/01/40-0f-45-democratic-senators-took.html
Nice Try, but your GOP talking points won't fly. Abramoff is a Republican who bought off Republicans. Remember, Dems control nothing, including K Street. Do your research before your post talking points (lies). Dems have little to no influence these days. Funny how Republicans do whatever they can to wash their hands of scandals. The court system will make the final decision. The Republicans involved in this scandal are through. Period.
It's not a Republican vs. Democrat issue.
I don't think you really understand how this lobbying buisness works. The Democratic spin is that no Democrat received Abramoff's personal political donations, and that he's personally a Republcian.
Well, yeah, and? Those come in scary-huge sizes of $1000 or $2000 per election cycle. And so he supported, with his personal donations, candidates whose policies he agreed with.
But a lobbyist does not lobby -- or bribe -- Congressmen by passing out his own money. See, were that the case, lobbyists would be bankrupted in a relatively short period of time. And it wouldn't be a lucrative job-- quite the opposite.
Lobbyists funnel money from interested parties to politicians in order to advance their clients' business interests, not their own personal political preferences.
And Abramoff's money-- the money from his clients, from his lobbying firm's accounts, from the affiliated organizations he controlled -- went to Democrats in large amounts. The Democratic national senatorial committee, for example, received 97% of the money the Republican senatorial campaign committee did.
So, when Howard Dean trots out his talking point about no Democrats ever receiving Abramoff's money, bear in mind that is a small amount of Abramoff's personal funds he's talking about, not the millions that he took from Indian casino interests to buy off polticians in payments of $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 or more at a shot.
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