What Dean said on Fox in the interest of truth.

[madfloridian]

"Wallace:Governor, it is certainly true that Republicans got twice as much money from Abramoff-related contributions than Democrats did, but Democrats aren't clean in this area either, are they?

DEAN: Yeah, they are pretty clean, Chris, and I'll tell you why. First of all, every dime of Jack Abramoff's money went to Republicans. Not one dime went to any Democrat or any Democratic organization — his personal money.

Secondly, he did direct contributions to mostly Republicans, but a few Democrats. But the Democrats, A, didn't know that he directed that — his clients to give them money and, B, they never produced anything for Abramoff.

The problem the Republicans have with this is that they actually did things. Senator Burns did a number of things for Jack Abramoff in exchange for a contribution. And the proximity of those contributions to the actual act of doing something for the lobbyist — that's what's illegal, and that's what's going to get them in trouble.

There's not one shred of evidence that any Democrat, A, knew that he was getting a contribution from Jack Abramoff and, B, did anything in exchange for it. And that's why this is a Republican finance scandal and not some sort of bipartisan scandal."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183120,00.html

[madfloridian]

1. Wow, this dropped fast with all the Drudge folks coming here.

Wow.

[Cronus Protagonist]

3. K & can't R

:)

[msongs]

4. hey mad, rumors will trump facts anytime...especially among people

who pay attention to things called sludge and tweety.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/dean2008.htm

[Debi]

2. I'm proud of his continued fight on this republican scandal

I think he took Wallace's bait a little (on the letter writing bullshit, Wallace knew he would and had the piece on Reid ready to read w/out Dean being able to respond). Just keep fighting Governor, this is not a bi-partisan scandal! It's ALL republican!

[madfloridian]

5. It may be that some have to start defending themselves,though.

He is trying, but they need to do some of it as well. I see the RNC is spinning it today. They have letters written by our Democrats and they say Dean is trying to hold fellow Democrats accountable.

Yeh, that'll endear him to the DC Dems. So his defense of them probably won't matter even though they did nothing wrong.

[Debi]

6. Reid already did, as did Dorgan and Harkin

MSM needs to be told to do their own damn research and quit logging on to the RNSC's web site for their info. They need to go back to pre-Abramoff times and forward to post-Abramoff times to see if those who received money had already been receiving money or are still receiving it. I think they'll find that Dems had been supported by contributors before they even knew Abramoff was alive. Only the GOP spin machine makes it look dirty.

Look at Stabenow - who received Michigan Tribe money (by the way SHE REPRESENTS THE STATE OF MICHIGAN). The GOP tries to establish an unethical relationship between her and Senator Conrad Burns who also received Michigan Tribe money (BUT HE'S FROM MONTANA AND SCREWED MONTANA TRIBES TO BENEFIT MICHIGAN TRIBES). So, who's dirty???

Maybe they forgot that Abramoff has already been convicted - maybe they forgot that Cunningham has already been convicted - maybe they forgot that Delay has already been indicted and Ney and Frist are being investigated. Yeah, they just forgot. :eyes:

[madfloridian]

8. I know they did. I agree with you.

But they are going to have to do it on TV, and keep doing it. Oh, I do agree with you definitely. The media will have a heyday with the RNC report today.

Remember Dean said yesterday on AAR the media is lazy.

I know Reid took a tour of midwestern states to defend himself. It is so sad what is happening.

[Debi]

11. If he were a first term Senator from New Mexico nobody would be paying any

attention. He's the Leader, so they attack (as IF they can compare him to Delay!)

The media isn't lazy, they want to keep the party who keeps them on the air happy. Democrats make people think, republicans just spoon-feed them their 'facts'. Katie wouldn't look half as perky if she had to actually look up information before she interviewed someone!

[mzmolly]

7. I love how clear/direct he is. I am surprised Fox allows him to speak.

:hi:

[Protagoras]

9. Dean did good

K&R. Keep this info alive.

[TheFarseer]

10. I still don't think he said it very well

This thread is most likely in response to my thread "Why did Dean Back down on Fox News Sunday?" This line of debate invites repukes to research every vote and see if a democrat ever did anything for an indian. And when they find it, they can say "Ah ha, I knew democrats were corrupt!" He's got to be firm in saying that indian tribes are not under the control of Jack Abramoff and than tribal donations actually went down while donations to republicans went up during their association with Abramoff. I've seen him debate this much better and was disappointed with his performance on a bigger stage.

[Debi]

12. I just think that he let Wallace lead him down that road

Wallace had it planned, Dean just followed where he should not have gone. Whether invited or not the GOP will be looking at every Democrat contribution received (we should be as well, so we can defend when attacked - and we will be attacked). I agree that the tribes were giving money long before Abramoff came along - the RNSC just doesn't want the public to know (and the MSM doesn't want to look that stuff up when it's all right there laid out by the GOP).

[madfloridian]

13. Not really a response to your post.

It is just because it is being spun so badly even here. It was really a good interview, and he was right to leave the door open. Then when the RNC report came out today, which it did, it leaves it open for the ones mentioned to step up and defend themselves from the false attacks.

[TheFarseer]

14. ha ha, I'll be less "full of myself" in the future n/t

[madfloridian]

16. But it figured in. LOL

:hi:

[madfloridian]

15. A little better explanation on Politically Direct, my transcript.

My transcription of one portion of Dean on AAR yesterday.

"Dean: "They (Republicans) are not doing anything about the K-Street project, which is where all the corruption came from in the first place. The idea was to run all the Democrats out of business, and allow people with a lot of money to have Republican access...(a little hard to catch because of some mumbling. ) That is really just blatant corruption. "

Host: But Governor, 82% said this is business as usual no matter who's in power. How do you change that perception?.

Dean: Well, we actually tell them the truth. Part of the problem is that the RNC is much better at propaganda than we are, and another problem frankly is the media is lazy as all get out. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the media write the Democrats were involved in taking Abramoff's money. That is simply a lie. Nor did he direct any money to any Democrats. Do you believe the mainstream newspapers that print that crap. It is astonishing to me that reporters won't get off their butts and look at the truth.

Host: I watched you with Wolf Blitzer, I don't know if you ever saw the footage of it.

Dean: I never did.

Host: He was remote. You told him flat out that he was wrong. Then there was a pause for a long period of time for television, he was frozen there. Unable to respond.

Dean: (intelligible) This is a Republican finance scandal, David. And I know everybody oh a pox on everybody's houses. I know Americans don't like politicians, but the truth is in this case this is a Republican scandal. Not one Democrat is implicated in it, not one.

Host: Well, I watched Tim Russert trying to do this again just a week ago. He said it was 3 million dollars in the Abramoff "related" money that went to Republicans and 1.5 million that went to Democrats. How is he slicing that up, how is he making that contention?

Dean: Because Abramoff has "some" clients who independently gave money to people like Reid and Dorgan because they're in their district. People give money to politicians for a variety of reasons. One, they're directed to for quid pro quo which is what Abramoff has pleaded guilty to. That's corrupt.

The other is they support who they like. Just like you and I would give a hundred dollars or a thousand dollars if we could afford it to a candidate whom we like. So the Indian tribes who gave money to Reid or Dorgan are giving to them because they like what they do.

Now it has nothing to do with Abramoff. As I've said before there's not any evidence whatsoever that Jack Abramoff directed a dime to any Democrat. We checked through every FEC report he did not give a dime to any Democrat. Gave thousands of dollars to Republicans. This is a Republican finance scandal.

And the media is lazy."

There must be others on TV explaining this as well. I think he is doing a good job, but they are centering on this to deflect from their own problems in the GOP.