Abramoff was always there for his party, with sound bites as well as money. In a May 2, 2001, article in the Hill newspaper (it ran under a wonderful headline: "Lobbyists Approve of Bush's Businesslike Style"), reporter Melanie Fonder noted that "Abramoff said the Bush team's careful and deliberate approach to leadership is the exact opposite of the Clinton team."
She quoted Abramoff directly: "The feeding frenzy which started even before Clinton was inaugurated, and continued to the final pardon, was perhaps best exemplified by the reckless and unprofessional handling of his responsibility to appoint honorable public servants."
This careful judge of what it means to be an "honorable public servant" had reason to prefer the Bush administration's taste in appointees. After the 2000 election, Abramoff was named to the Bush transition team for the Interior Department, which regulates the Indian casinos that paid Abramoff his inflated fees.
"What the Republicans need is 50 Jack Abramoffs," his friend Grover Norquist told National Journal in 1995. "Then this becomes a different town." Norquist got his different town. It's why the place so badly needs cleaning up.
Well, there you go.
3 comments:
Norquist = major league asshole.
My number 1 most hated Republican is Tom DeLay. Number 2? Norquist...that smarmy, know-it-all, self-righteous asshole whose only motivation is his own power and cutting taxes, regardless of the cost to society so long as it benefits him and his ilk. Norquist has some ties to Abramoff too, and if he's brought down in shame I swear to God I'll hang a banner outside my window proclaiming victory at his defeat.
That would be funny. Despite the power he wields, how many people do you think have ever heard his name? I mean everybody knows Dick Cheney, but how many average people know Norquist? Anyway, it would be a beautiful thing to see him go down too. And while we're wishing for things, let's hope every last neo-con was involved in the SunCruz deal illegally.
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