"Rohrabacher And Abramoff: A Beautiful Friendship"

[in_cog_ni_to]

I knew Dana wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but....GEEZ, he's not very bright either.


Rohrabacher And Abramoff: A Beautiful Friendship
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has sprung to the defense of his college buddy, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, calling him “a good person.” In fact, Rohrbacher admitted he thought “a lot of other things that have been characterized as corruption on the part of Abramoff are actually standard operating procedures for lobbying in Washington, D.C. — arranging trips and things like that.”

Let’s take a look at the beautiful friendship between the two men:

– Rohrabacher enjoyed free dinners at Signatures, Abramoff’s high-end restaurant, once or twice a month.

– Rohrabacher took one of Abramoff’s “Standard Operating Procedure”-style trips, visiting the Northern Mariana Islands while Abramoff was working to convince Congress keep factories in a U.S. territory free from complying with fair labor laws.

– Rohrabacher helped Abramoff score a $60 million loan to buy the SunCruz fleet of casino boats in Florida by allowing the lobbyist to list him as a personal reference. (Abramoff added a faked $23 million wire transfer to Rohrabacher’s reference to close the sale.)

I guess for Rohrabacher, that’s standard operating procedure.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/10/rohrabacher-abramoff/

[Walt Starr]

1. I'll be glad to see that fuckwad go down in this scandal

I'm sure he's in it up to his eyebrows.

[Avalux]

2. Does he think Abramoff will spare him?

I read earlier today that ol' Jack is pissed no one is returning his phone calls and he's lonely. Maybe Dana thinks if he talks nice and kisses his butt, Jack won't name him.

[Marr]

3. Oh, PLEASE let Dana Rohrabacher go down with Abramofff.

That putz is my representative.

[oldtime dfl_er]

4. If this is SOP in DC

then it's TIME TO CHANGE THINGS.

http://www.cafepress.com/scarebaby/1097640

[blm]

5. Are the SoCal papers giving Rohrabaher (R-traitor) a pass on this?

.

[Bluestar]

6. OC Weekly Might Take It On

I am soooo hoping that Rohrabacher goes down with this sinking ship! I used to live in his district. He has been circling around some kind of fraud for years, but has been too slick to get caught. Also, this district would elect Elmer Fudd if he were Republican. I'm surprised that he's supporting Abramoff. It seems like he might be afraid to be named. The OC Weekly could dig on this. Maybe I'll write a short note to the editor.

[blm]

7. No LA Times? Daily Breeze? San Diego papers?

.

[Bluestar]

8. OC Weekly Will Have an Article on Thursday

Hi-

I just got a response email from the editor of the OC Weekly. They are running an article this Thursday regarding Rohrabacher's relationship with Jack Abramoff.

[blm]

9. Cool - snag it for us.

.

[Bluestar]

10. Here is a Blog Entry from OC Weekly in October

The blog editor (Matt Coker) just sent me this link to the OC Weekly blog. They are all over the poor "surfing Congressman" as Rohrabacher likes to refer to himself. They have an article coming out in Thursday's edition.

I don't know how to kick this as I am new to posting. I also hope I don't mess up the link. OC residents will like to see this blog entry.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/blogs/clockworkorange/foo-fighter/

[SoCalDem]

11. Dana was a "good friend" to the Mujahadeen (think Bin Laden)

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (right) in Afghanistan in 1988.


November/December 1996, page 8

Personality

http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/1196/9611008.htm

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher: An Expert on South and Central Asia

by Shirl McArthur

Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher from California’s 45th District (Huntington Beach), spent two weeks visiting Afghanistan, with stops in Italy, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan at the end of August and the beginning of September. With the fall of the Afghan capital, Kabul, to the Sunni Islamist Taliban militia, and considering Rohrabacher’s outspoken criticism of current U.S. policy toward Iraq at a recent House International Relations Committee hearing, we felt it would be interesting to our readers to interview him.

snip

En route to the Middle East, Rohrabacher stopped in Rome to meet with former Afghan King Zahir Shah. In Afghanistan, in addition to spending time in Kabul, Rohrabacher visited with Gen. Abdul Rasheed Dostam at his headquarters at Mazar-e Sharif, in the north. Dostam is now in a position to play a key role in Afghanistan. Although Dostam collaborated with the Communist government in the past, Rohrabacher believes that he wants to put the past behind him and be an important part of Afghanistan’s future.


A Disciplined Afghanistan

The potential rise to power of the Taliban does not alarm Rohrabacher, because the Taliban could provide stability in an area where chaos was creating a real threat to the U.S. Rohrabacher says that under the previous situation Afghanistan was becoming a major source of drugs and a haven for terrorists “an anarchistic state of narco-terrorism.” In contrast, the Taliban leaders have already shown that they intend to establish a disciplined, moral society.

Rohrabacher calls the sensational media reporting of the “harsh” imposition of strict Islamic behavior, with the underlying implication that this somehow threatens the West, “nonsense.” He says the Taliban are devout traditionalists, not terrorists or revolutionaries, and, in contrast to the Iranians, they do not seem intent on exporting their beliefs. Rohrabacher would have preferred to see a negotiated compromise among the various factions (but with no role for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar) rather than a bloody confrontation. But in the absence of such a compromise, he believes a Taliban takeover would be a positive development.

An interesting speculation that we have not seen elsewhere was Rohrabacher’s pointing out that the Taliban are mostly Pushtuns from the Khandahar region of Afghanistan, and King Zahir Shah is also a Pushtun from Khandahar. Rohrabacher says that there is a major faction among the Taliban that supports the return of Zahir Shah, and Rohrbacher would not be surprised to see him return at some point if the Taliban establishes full control over the country. In this regard, during his meeting with Rohrabacher, General Dostam spoke in favor of the return of the King, and he has since made similar comments publicly.

snip


and other reports

Dana Rohrabacher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dana Rohrabacher (born June 21, 1947) in Coronado, California, is an American
... Prior to his election to Congress in 1988, Rohrabacher served as Special ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Rohrabacher - 40k - Cached - Similar pages

Dana Rohrabacher
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (right) in Afghanistan in 1988. Congressman Dana
Rohrabacher (R), who has long experience in Afghanistan and even fought with ...
www.cooperativeresearch.org/ entity.jsp?entity=dana_rohrabacher - 27k - Cached - Similar pages

Personality
Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher from California’s 45th District (Huntington
Beach), spent two weeks visiting Afghanistan, with stops in Italy, ...
www.washington-report.org/backissues/1196/9611008.htm - 15k - Cached - Similar pages

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WAPHA-Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan
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Rogue Statesman
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s Absolutely Crazy, Quite Possibly Illegal Back-Channel
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Copyright 2003 Copley News Service
File Format: Microsoft Word 2000 - View as HTML
When Dana Rohrabacher made his first run for a House seat in 1988, in a district
... Rohrabacher's White House years kindled his interest in Afghanistan. ...
swdb.berkeley.edu/.../ Rep%20Rohrabacher%20marches%20to%20own%20drummer1.10.03.doc - Similar pages