To expand on this whole Dean episode, well…this whole Democratic episode, where they are claiming this is just one big Republican scandal we have to look at what a lobbyist does. A lobbyist finds money from clients and then sends that money to a politician who will advance their agenda. That’s it in a nutshell.
Dean and his minions are chirping that Abramoff gave all of HIS money, meaning his personal money, to Republicans. Well no shit. He’s a Republican. But…..his job as a lobbyist is to have his clients send money to those who will advance their needs, say, like Indian tribes sending money to those Democrats who will make sure their casinos stay open and do well. Like Reid, Kerry and the rest of the gang.
Not too complicated huh?
Ace at Ace of Spades expounds on this much better then I:
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.
And this is why my dear moonbats, you will lose this one too. Sure, some crooked Republicans are going down as they should….but the crooked Democrats are going down as well, your party’s hands are not clean.
UPDATE
Gateway Pundit has much more on a few specific Democrats:
Senator Byron Dorgan, the Vice Chairman Of The Senate Panel Currently Investigating Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, received at least $79,300 from Abramoff and his associates and clients.
Dorgan even held a fundraiser in an Abramoff Skybox:
The Choctaw tribe, an Abramoff client that was a primary focus of the Senate hearings, sponsored a fundraiser on March 28, 2001, for Dorgan’s political group, the Great Plains Leadership Fund. The event treated Dorgan and his donors to a bird’s-eye view of a professional hockey game from a skybox Abramoff leased in Washington’s MCI Center, while lobbyists got the chance to bend his ear.
Dorgan says he will not step down from the investigating committee. (same article)That oh, so popular, MCI Skybox…
Tom Harkin paid the tribe for use of its Skybox and he failed to account properly for two fundraisers he held in lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s skybox at Washington??s MCI Center in 2002 and 2003.
Washington State Senator Patty Murray received $14,980 from 2002 to 2004 from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe in Michigan(?)
Harry Reid has declined to comment on whether he attended any functions there. But, between 2001 and 2004 Reid received $61,000 from donors with links to Abramoff, Reid’s office confirmed.
Man, it is just hilarious to see these lefties get themselves worked into a lather over something, and then to see their reaction when the rug is pulled from under them. Watch that rug dear lefties.
UPDATE II
Rob from Say Anything has a few things to say:
Abramoff was a go-between for major Indian gambling interests and politicians in Congress. On Abramoff?s directions those gambling interests made big-time donations to a lot of politicians. Mostly Republicans, sure, but a lot of Democrats as well.
To deny that this is a bi-partisan scandal is to ignore the problems at the heart of the issue. There needs to be lobbying reform, but if we allow the issue to be spun off as the corruption of one party and not the other – thus implying that replacing one party with the other will fix the problem – all we will do is sweep the problem under the rug until the next Jack Abramoff comes along, be he Democrat or Republican.
Congress is corrupt. Our politicians clearly cannot resist the temptations posed by big-money lobbyists, so we need to change some of the rules. But before we can do that we have to resolve that the problem resides within the system, not with one political ideology or the other.
Amen.
Dean and his minions are chirping that Abramoff gave all of HIS money, meaning his personal money, to Republicans. Well no s***. He’s a Republican. But…..his job as a lobbyist is to have his clients send money to those who will advance their needs, say, like Indian tribes sending money to those Democrats who will make sure their casinos stay open and do well. Like Reid, Kerry and the rest of the gang.
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