http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/23/03912/3990/390/462347Jack Abramoff: John McCain’s other Lobbyist problem...
by dengre
Fri Feb 22, 2008 at 09:52:13 PM PST
John McCain has a Lobbyist Scandal on his hands and despite Right-wing auto-rants, this is not a "made-up" story.
The "sex" hook may be a MacGuffin, but this Lobbyist Scandal has legs.
As Thomas C pointed out Newsweek has poked another hole in McCain’s version of reality. The Washington Post has added details about McCain’s dependence on Lobbyists for his survival and the Polk winning Muck Rakers at TPM are connecting the McCain Lobbying Scandal dots as fast as they can rake ‘em up.
McCain is "shocked" and fighting back. Key to his defense is his investigation of Jack Abramoff. This, he argues, is proof of his "reputation" as a "reformer" and his "integrity".
Yeah, right.
Don’t buy that hype.
Jack Abramoff is at the heart of McCain’s campaign—and not in a good way.
To the jump...
dengre's diary :: ::
John McCain is an ambitious man. It drives him.
Ambition is not always a bad thing and it is a requirement for those who run for President. Sometimes though, ambition trumps everything including honor. McCain has that kind of ambition. The kind that is blind.
Perhaps that wasn’t always the case.
Eight years ago in 2000, McCain’s was on track to upset the status quo. He took on George W. Bush and the Republican machine. In the early primaries he showed that he had enough support and juice to win—if he wasn’t stopped.
He was stopped.
Jack Abramoff was key to that effort, as were his long-time pals and partners in crime Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist. They funded dirty tricks and went after McCain with a viciousness they usually reserved for Democrats. A recent article in Salon described part of their anti-McCain campaign:
During the 2000 campaign, Norquist was a vocal opponent of McCain's candidacy, holding press conferences in New Hampshire and South Carolina to denounce McCain's support for campaign finance reform. Norquist's nonprofit, Americans for Tax Reform, ran issue advertisements that echoed the talking points of then-candidate George W. Bush. The ad called McCain "the only candidate approved by the liberal New York Times" and suggested that Bill Clinton and "Big Labor" supported McCain's positions.
I could write a very long Diary about the many things these three Caballeros of the Right did to elect Bush and defeat McCain. Their actions and money were critical to Bush’s victory and John McCain knew it.
Time passed.
The Supreme Court installed Bush and the three Caballeros had access and power. January 2001 through January 2004 became the golden days for Reed, Norquist and Abramoff.
They were at the height of their power.
It seemed nothing could ever slow them down, but then the Washington Post ran a story about Jack ripping off his Native American clients—by more than $30 million dollars.
That got some attention in Washington.
One person who noticed was John McCain. He was the second ranking Republican on the Senate’s Indian Affairs Committee and would soon become the Chairman when Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell retired.
He quickly lined up an investigation.
It was payback time.
McCain went after Abramoff with a vengeance. Before Jack and his team could organize a defense McCain subpoenaed ALL of Jack’s records. Now Jack could stall on papers, but not electronic files. Those really belonged to his employers: Preston Gates from 1995 to 2000 and Greenberg Traurig from 2000 to 2004. These firms were tied to the scandal and McCain held their fate in his hands.
A major concern for any corporations tied to a growing scandal in early 2004 was the fate of Arthur Andersen. The Enron scandal had proved that a company tied to a corruption scandal could get a "death sentence" if they did not cooperate with investigators.
Jack’s lobbying firms got the hint from McCain and turned over everything they had related to Jack Abramoff, his team and his clients. It turns out that they had a lot of records.
Jack liked new technology. He liked to update his toys and he wanted access to all of his files with every upgrade. Turns out the IT departments of his firms had learned to keep back-ups of all his emails, memos, reports and electronic files so they could always meet Jack’s needs.
D’oh.
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