Happy Abramukkah!
Thanks to Jill for coining that term. I was wondering why the Kos folks hadn't coined a new holiday to commemorate Jack Abramoff's plea deal. I guess it's not as easy as "Fitzmas." "Abramoff...itz...mas..." or whatever doesn't exactly trip off the tongue, so "Abramukkah" it is.
In case you haven't been following the case, I'll summarize it for you, AP style: Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist (who is a Republican) copped a Republican guilty plea in a Republican corruption probe involving Republican lawmakers, many of whom are Republicans, and received money from Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist. (Did I mention Abramoff is a Republican?)
Snarkiness aside, I hope any congresscritter who's tainted by Abramoff's corruption gets his comeuppance. Regardless of party affiliation, we're all better off when crooked politicians are made to answer for their sins. I'm not optimistic that a scandal surrounding a single lobbyist, no matter how many "tentacles" he has, is enough to purify all of Congress, but perhaps it will at least serve as a cautionary tale if we bag a few of them.
Hang 'em high.
Comments
That's what I want too, since almost all of the Republicans are in Abramoff's or some other filthy corporate lobbyist's pocket.
Let's get rid of them all. Who would be left, McCain?
Posted by: Big Lib | January 4, 2006 10:00 AM
Both Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) and speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL) announced yesterday that they were giving whatever donations they had received from Abramoff to charity! Gotta love the timing!
I agree, Barry. I don't care which party is involved.
Byron York made a good point though about lobbyists in general when he asked if the was a single member of congress who ever paid for Redskin tickets.
This is more than Abramoff, however. This is about the pay to play lobby industry that has more clout on both sides of the aisle than most of us either know or would want to acknowledge.
Problem is, who oversees lobby reform?
The foxes in the henhouse?
Yeah, that'll work.
Posted by: mal | January 4, 2006 10:31 AM
"That's what I want too, since almost all of the Republicans are in Abramoff's or some other filthy corporate lobbyist's pocket." Bailey/BigLib)
You really did have your head up your A$$ until you lost that business of yours, didn't you?
EVERY SINGLE politician is "owned" (bought and paid for) by any number of lobbyists, Corporate, Union, or various Special Interest Lobbies....and it's been that way for eons.
Why do politicians ALWAYS sell out the voters for the money brokers?
Because they know, "People forget and money buys votes."
Works every time.
Is it disappointing to see the GOP, which took over Congress on a slew of Democratic ethics violations, built their majority on things like "Smaller government," "tranparency in government" and "term limits," become as corrupt and slimey as their democratic rivals?
Yeah, very.
But even now, Washington pales in comparison, in terms of corruption, to places like Albany & Trenton, where entrenched and hideously corrupt Democrats have ruled the roost for over half a century! Yup, when it comes to either "honest graft," or straight out corruption, the folks in D.C. are rank amateurs compared to those "parliments of whores" (to borrow P J O'Rourke's phrse) up in Albany and down in Trenton.
Posted by: JMK | January 4, 2006 03:00 PM
So when Clinton gets a blowjob, it is worth a $60 million investigation, but when it's a Republican, hey kid, don't be so naive! Everybody does it, and they always have!
Posted by: Big Lib | January 9, 2006 10:59 PM