Republican Bagman Abramoff Pleads Guilty

[rotorwash]

James you are correct about the confessions, but here is the way it works: slimeball sits at a table; in front of him and slimeball's #1 liar, er, lawyer, is a paper, an indictment that tells slimeball exactly what the government has on him, and in no uncertain terms. Slimeball and liar discuss the paper and decide if they can handle the shot when it comes. Deciding against taking the shot, they ask for a plea agreement. In said plea agreement, slimeball agrees to plead guilty to defrauding his clients, actually taking money before it even got to the firm that he worked for. The money came from Indian gaming interests to pay for lobbying efforts on their behalf. Bribing a public official is a little harder to prove - but - as busy as slimeball was, someone is going to turn and slimeball knows it.

There is no plea bargain to tax evasion and if you admit to having more money then you reported on your taxes the IRS is not pleased (well, maybe they are happy). If you are stupid enough to defraud people and take money that is not yours, that is one thing; but to get caught taking someone elses money and not reporting it to the IRS puts slimeball's short hairs in a real vise. That is an interesting connundrum; if you defraud someone and report it on your taxes, at least your not in trouble with the IRS! Go figure.

Personally, I hope slimeball goes down for the count as well as everyone that had illegal dealings with slimeball. So far, Bush has told the Justice Dept. to follow the evidence where ever it goes. The wheels of justice grind slow but they grind very fine indeed.

I seem to remember in 1996 a fellow named John Huang was involved in a campaign-finance scandal involving money from China to DNC and to WJC himself. It was just before the election so WJC did the logical thing and immediately called for campaign-finance reform. But while he was talking reform, Janet Reno was doing everything in her power to block the campaign-finance investigation and Democrats connected to Johnny were taking the Fifth or taking a fifth and leaving the country so they wouldn't have to talk to investigators.

And then there was the Keating Five, all Dems who tried to rope in John McCain as the "token Republican." Wonder if the Republicans are going to rope in a "token 'crat" for this occasion, or if one will fall out of the tree on his own, there are plenty up there.

Slimeball in question gave the RNC 1.2 mil and the DNC 900K, not a significant difference when you are buying votes and most of the Dems are already for Indian Gaming so you don't have to spend money in that direction.

I greatly admire your underwater firing position, it looks like you have incredible fields of fire. I'll bet an astute individual like yourself even has a place to keep his beer cold, am I right?

Rotor

[SuperScout]

"Sen. Patty Murray [Dem, Wash.] said Friday that returning contributions from Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff would 'taint' the tribes."

I am filled with admiration for her nobility in preserving their untainted status, not to mention the sheer nobility of her self-righteousness!

[SuperScout]

While national Democrats are calling the Jack Abramoff lobbying imbroglio a "Republican scandal," top Vermont Democrat, Sen. Pat Leahy, is being labeled an "Abramoff Democrat" by home state critics.

The Vermont Guardian has uncovered thousands of dollars in contributions to Leahy by lawfirms linked to Abramoff - though the senator's spokesman says that any suggestion of a relationship to the disgraced Republican is ridiculous. [OK, here's a better question: what did Leahy do to earn or deserve the $$ thousands from the law firms?]

"It?s preposterous to even think that Jack Abramoff would do anything to support a progressive Democratic leader like Patrick Leahy," Ed Pagano, Leahy?s chief of staff, told the paper. [Translation: Leahy has stolen enough money that he doesn't need any more?]

However, the Guardian says it has discovered that Leahy "received thousands of dollars from attorneys at Preston, Gates, Ellis, Meeds and Rouvelas, and Greenberg Traurig, the two high-powered legal firms where Abramoff hung his hat."

While Pagano said the donations were coincidental, [how quaint!]Jim Barnett, executive director of the Vermont Republican Party, told the paper: "Everyone knows that this is a process called bundling, and that Abramoff would walk into the firm and ask attorneys to donate $1,000, $500, or $250 to a campaign. This is Abramoff money and this is just an example of the utter hypocrisy that this issue only affects Republicans."

[SuperScout]

Howard Dean Implicates Harry Reid in Abramoff Scandal

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Sunday that Democrats who took money from Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff and who did something on behalf of those tribes have "a big problem."

Dean made the statement apparently unaware that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has reportedly done exactly that.

Under questioning by "Fox News Sunday's" Chris Wallace, Dean claimed that Democrats did no favors for Abramoff's Indian tribe clients:

"Nobody got anything out of the Democrats from Jack Abramoff," the top Democrat insisted. "No Democrat delivered anything and there's no accusation and no investigation that any Democrat ever delivered anything to Jack Abramoff. And that's not true of the Republicans." [Lessee: I thought the way things worked was a congressman received a contribution, then performed some type of work in return. But according to Dean, the Democrats just take the money, and don't do anything useful in return. Wow! Sounds a lot like welfare, now doesn't it?!!]

But Wallace countered: "So if we find that there were some Democrats who wrote letters on behalf of some of the Indian tribes that Abramoff represented, then what do you say, sir?"

Dean's response: "That's a big problem. And those Democrats are in trouble. And they should be in trouble." [Hey Reid, your panties in a knot yet??]

In November 2005 the Associated Press reported that Senate Minority Leader Reid had accepted tens of thousands of dollars from an Abramoff client, the Coushatta Indian tribe, after interceding with Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton over a casino dispute with a rival tribe.

Reid "sent a letter to Norton on March 5, 2002," the AP said. "The next day, the Coushattas issued a $5,000 check to Reid's tax-exempt political group, the Searchlight Leadership Fund. A second tribe represented by Abramoff sent an additional $5,000 to Reid's group. Reid ultimately received more than $66,000 in Abramoff-related donations between 2001 and 2004."

Questioned about the donations in December by "Fox News Sunday's" Wallace, Reid immediately turned testy.

"Don't try to say I received money from Abramoff. I've never met the man, don't know anything," he claimed. [Uhh, does the term "bagman" not also apply to Democrats? Does Reid think we're so pathetiically naive that we have to see Abramoff himself deliver the $$ before our eyebrows get raised?]

The full exchange between Dean and Wallace went like this:

DEAN: It is possible that some of Jack Abramoff's clients may have decided on their own to give Democrats some money. The key is . . .

WALLACE: I'm sorry. Did you say that you're sure that Abramoff didn't direct them to give that money?

DEAN: No, what I said was that it is possible that some Democrats got money from someone he [represented]. What I'm saying is that Abramoff may not have directed some of this money to Democrats.

WALLACE: In fact, he did. We have evidence of that.

DEAN: But the point is not one Democrat either knew it or acted on it. Nobody got anything out of the Democrats from Jack Abramoff. No Democrat delivered anything and there's no accusation and no investigation that any Democrat ever delivered anything to Jack Abramoff. And that's not true of the Republicans.

WALLACE: So if we find - and we have to wrap this up - so if we find that there were some Democrats who wrote letters on behalf of some of the Indian tribes that Abramoff represented, then what do you say, sir?

DEAN: That's a big problem. And those Democrats are in trouble. And they should be in trouble.

[Advisor]

Awww Scout...dontcha know that this is just a diversion on the part of the dreaded vast right wing conspiracy..the dems didn't do anything..we know that the only evil politicians are those wascalwy wepublicans and their evil leader Darth Bush.

[SuperScout]

And I note that Reid has steadfastly refused to give back any of the thousands of $$ he got from Abramoff's toadies. Let the investigations begin!

[Advisor]

There it is!!