Lefty Blogs Go Crazy Over WaPo's Statement That Dems Took Abramoff Money Too

Once again, they insist on the absurd talking point that Democrats didn't receive Abramoff's personal $1000 and $2000 donations, ignoring the fact that Democrats were all too happy to take the $30,000 and $60,000 donations Abramoff directed his clients to pay them.

Uhh, guys? A lobbyist lobbies on behalf of someone. It's his lobbying that stinks here, not his personal donations, which are tightly regulated and express only his personal political preference. Republicans weren't taking money from him to reduce government spending or get serious about nominating conservatives to the bench (though, if that works, perhaps some bribery would be useful).

Abramoff was lobbying on behalf of Indian casinos, and it is simply absurd to pretend that the millions of dollars flowing out from his clients, directed, once again, by lobbyist Abramoff, isn't the actual issue.

On one hand, lefty blogs seem to realize this when they discuss all the dirty casino money flowing around DC. But then, as soon as it's pointed out that Democrats received this same dirty casino money, they pretend the casino money doesn't matter and all that counts is Abramoff's personal political donations.

Refresh me once again: Is Abramoff in trouble because of his activities as a lobbyist or in his capacity as a perfectly private citizen? Is there anything on the record to indicate his $1000 and $2000 hard-money donations (tightly regulated) were anything but entirely proper?

Yeah, I thought it was the "lobbyist" thing too. I thought the problem were those tens of thousands of dollars his clients were doling out -- once again, at his direction; you don't pay a lobbyist in order to just throw money where you think it should go -- and all those golf junkets and gifts and such were the problem.

And the attendant requests for action on behalf of the hot-button very-ideological issue of Indian casino regulation, of course.

But Howard Dean has delivered the talking points, and the spin machine is obliged to repeat them endlessly.

posted by Ace at 01:43 PM

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