I was wondering when the shit would hit the fan regarding Mercer Island right-wing radio-rabbi Daniel Lapin, and his long and shady relationship with GOP scandal-monkey Jack Abramoff. Um… today in the Seattle Times:
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff funneled money through a Mercer Island religious foundation as he tried to influence a top aide to Republican congressional leader Tom DeLay, according to his guilty plea last week to corruption charges.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin confirmed Sunday it was his foundation, Toward Tradition, that took $50,000 from two Abramoff clients and, at Abramoff’s suggestion, used it to hire the aide’s wife to organize a conference for the group.
Lapin said he and his board had no idea the money was part of Abramoff’s vast scheme to influence Congress and, in this case, stop bills to raise postal rates and ban online lotteries.
…
“We were innocently hiring someone to do a job and not being aware that it was part of something else,” Lapin said.
Hmm. Well… maybe. But it’s hard not to judge a man by the company he keeps, and Lapin, the “The Republican’s Rabbi-in-Arms,” has been hanging out with crooks and liars.
Michael at blatherWatch has done a great job chronicling Lapin and his close relationships with the likes of Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, and Pat Robertson. I’m looking forward to what Michael has to say about the latest news.
UPDATE:
The Seattle Weekly has also spent a ton of ink on Lapin, Abramoff and Co., and I had missed a Jan 4 roundup that provides links to much of their coverage. Great reading.
I believe a good chunk of Michael’s information also comes from coverage in the old Eastside Weekly, which unfortunately is not archived online. Perhaps the Weekly could post that for its online readers?
Remember, this Lapin fellow also gave Abramoff a bullshit-as-bullshit-gets award so that he could get into the Cosmos Club. Something about “Esteemed Professor of Religeous History” or some shit. Total liar.
We all recall how the Democrats stole the governor’s mansion from Dino Rossi, but have we already forgotted the names of the culprits? David McDonald, chief legal counsel for the state Democratic Party, was one of the people calling the shots in the case. Mcdonald is a senior partner at Preston Gates and Ellis and member of the Democratic National Committee. How many meetings did Mcdonald have with Abramoff? Any memos? How much money did Mcdonald secure for Murray and Cantwell? Other candidates? Anyone who thinks that the Democrats aren’t involved with Abramoff is dreaming.
The number of Democrats involved does not come close to the number of Republicans, you nit wit. Every conservative talk show host is admitting that is a Republican scandal. Why do you think DeLay was beheaded this weekend? Abramoff is a Rightwingnut. Pull your head out of your ass and stop smelling your own shit.
Moonbat_patrol: u r all questions and no answers.
Ah yes, another scatalogical reference. The intellect of the left. You must be so proud. Yale must have higher standards though because even John Kerry’s finesse with scatalogical and mating references could assure him makrs better than George W Bush.
Mr Kerry gave permission for the US Navy officer school where he was trained to release his records to the Boston Globe.
They showed that Mr Kerry had a cumulative grade average of 76 for his four years at Yale, the paper said.
Mr Bush, who also went to Yale and was two years behind John Kerry, had an average of 77, according to records published by the New Yorker magazine in 1999.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4074922.stm
40 out of 45 Democrat senators (including our own Cantwell and Murray) are on the Abramoff dirty sludge fund list.
http://www.capitaleye.org/abra.....asp?sort=N
Now look at the titles of the columns in the table:
There are six columns, with the follwoing titles:
Recipient Total From PAC From Indiv
The fourth column represents contributions from the invdividual (Abramoff). Looking down the FOURTH column of the link we find the following contributions from the individual (Abramoff):
Joe Baca (D-Calif) $500
Xavier Becerra (D-Calif) $1,000
Shelley Berkley (D-Nev) $500
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) $500
David E. Bonior (D-Mich) $5,000
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) $1,000
John Breaux (D-La) $5,000
Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif) $1,000
Tom Carper (D-Del) $2,000
Brad R. Carson (D-Okla) $3,600
Max Cleland (D-Ga) $2,500
Jim Costa (D-Calif) $1,000
Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) $500
Tom Daschle (D-SD) $2,000
Peter Deutsch (D-Fla) $3,500
Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) $11,000
Barney Frank (D-Mass) $11,100
Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo) $1,000
Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)$2,000
John Kerry (D-Mass) $1,400
Dale E. Kildee (D-Mich) $5,500
Jerry Kleczka (D-Wis) $1,000
Mary L. Landrieu (D-La) $4,500
Jim Maloney (D-Conn) $500
Charles J. Melancon (D-La) $2,100
Robert Menendez (D-NJ) $1,000
Patty Murray (D-Wash) $8,000
James L. Oberstar (D-Minn) $3,500
Frank Pallone, Jr (D-NJ) $2,000
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) $2,000
Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) $1,0000
Nick Rahall (D-WVa) $9,000
Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) $15,000
Richard M. Romero (D-NM) $3,000
Brad Sherman (D-Calif) $2,000
Deborah Ann Stabenow (D-Mich) $5,000
Gene Taylor (D-Miss) $2,250
Gloria Tristani (D-NM) $1,000
Democrat Congressiona campaign Committee $16,000
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte $121,500
Oh, look, what is this?
“WASHINGTON – One of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s fundraising committees will admit it failed to disclose $722,000 in contributions from a felon and pay a $35,000 fine, according to a settlement released Thursday.
The deal stems from a high-powered Los Angeles fundraiser the New York Democrat held Aug. 12, 2000. “
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/.....562590.htm
It would be rather nice if, in the course of debate, the self proclaimed “intellectuals” of the left could actually provide a source for their outrageous claims as opposed to a public recital of their impressive array of acronyms for scat and intercourse.
You’re dense, patrol. Tribes are allowed to make political contributions which have nothing to do with Abramoff, though this may be news to you.
Furthermore, are you seriously arguing that ensuring a vote is accurate as possible is stealing an election?
wingnut @ 5
Sorry your NewsWhacks and WingNutDaily talking points aren’t going to take any of the stink off the Republican Abramoff/DeLay scandals.
Right now the House of Representatives is melting down over this. It’s too late wingnut.
2 and 5: First, while u both put up an impressive front of questions and numbers, I don’t see anything that implies the Dems have done anything illegal. Whereas the Reps, on the other hand, are being indicted, prosecuted and pleading. Your pathethic attempts might work on the masses, but not here on a lefty political blog.
@nd, notice that neither of these posts has anything to do witht he substance of Goldy’s post. Confuse, mis-direct, obfuscate, change the subject….typical Rethuglican troll tactics.
Finally, Goldy mentions that Lapin says he “innocently” hired a congressional aides wife to do a job. Fine. IF he can show that it is reasonable this person could do the job, and the person had the skills to do the job. Otherwise, Lapin is either a) guilty of conspiracy or b) completely inept, either of which should be reason for his parishoners (?, sorry, ex-catholic, don’t know the correct term for this) to give him the heave-ho.
2 and 5: Where ar ey’all from? Haven’t seen u on the board before. Are u locals?
I thought the Jews didn’t like the Republicans?
5.
Your a lying sack of shit, patrol.
The fourth column is not from Abramoff. If you look at the contributions by donor sort of the data, no Democrat appears as a recipient of money directly from Abramoff.
5: Um, I’ve seen reports that directly contradict thiks, AND Howard Dean just repudiated it on Blitzer recently. Also, I’ question your claim that “From Individual” means “from Abramoff”. He was a stout conservative, and contrary tot the mold of a lobbyist, the thing that drove him was (supposedly) ideology. I think it VERY unlikely that Abramoff gave personal money to Democratic candidates. I’ll search and get back to you with the link that states, he did not.
In any case, u are missing the point here. Personal campaign contibutions aside, there is no evidence here of illegality. Bribery is the issue.
5: BZZZZZZ, wrong answer. Here it is:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo...../1655/0100
Nice attempt to spin the story in your favor. Unfortunately you were short on a)finesse (see 11) and b)facts. Thanks for playing, troll.
to the righties contributions==bribes. They like that because, if you stretch the definition of the crime to include things that aren’t illegal, then Democrats are criminals too!
10: Everyday American Jews do tend to vote democratic. Hard core Jews (don’t know the moniker for these folks, but especially fanatical types, the equivalent of Christian Evangelicals or Islamists, not sure if the analogy is entirely correct) tend to take a strict view religiously and support the neo-con right politically. Pearlman, Feith (Tommy Franks called him “the stupidist man alive”, remember?) and Wolfowitz are all neocon Jews that are part of the administration. It goes without saying that these folks all support America’s support of Israel strongly.
Abramoff fits in with this crowd well. He even started a Hebrew school (and sent his kids there) in MD in order to launder money! He also sent some of the Indian tribe money to kibbutzniks in Israel.
Have you really not seen ANY of this in the news stories Lib? If so, ur reading comp sucks. Tighten up there.
Here’s the ACTUAL list of contributions made by C-asino Jack and his wife.
Gee, none to Democrats.
He DID raise $100K for Bush in 04 as a “Bush Pioneer”. The president returned $6000 and thinks he’s in the clear. When is moonbat_patrol going to sall the presient a recipient of dirty sludge for not returning his $94,000?
Abramoff was a college Republican with Grover Norquist and these wingnuts want people to believe he turned Democrat. Perhaps he had a change of heart because of the Bugman’s dirty tricks in the House . Yeah, that’s the ticket!
It’s gonna be an ugly year for the R’s. Ugly.
Off Topic: for Mark the Red Neck and his friends.
The Pacific Northwest According to Jeff Foxworthy .. you might be from the Pacific Northwest if:
1. You know the state flower (Mildew)
2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash.
3. Use the statement “sun break” and know what it means.
4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.
5. You know more people who own boats than air conditioners.
6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant.
7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the “Walk” Signal.
8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it is not a real mountain.
9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle’s Best, and Veneto’s.
10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye salmon.
11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima and Willamette.
12. You consider swimming an indoor sport.
13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food.
14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark – while only working eight-hour days.
15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho.
16. You are not fazed by “Today’s forecast: showers followed by rain,” and “Tomorrow’s forecast: rain followed by showers.”
17. You cannot wait for a day with “showers and sun breaks.”
18. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation.
19. You know that BORING is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind.
20. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see through the cloud cover.
21. You notice, “The mountain is out” when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it.
22. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka.
23. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on.
24. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain.
25. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists.
26. You knew immediately that the view out of Frasier’s window was fake.
27. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the old ones after such a long time.
28. You measure distance in hours.
29. You often switch from “heat” to “a/c” in the same day.
30. You use a down comforter in the summer.
31. You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them.
32. You design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat.
33. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall).
Comment by Voter Advocate— 1/9/06 @ 7:44 am
Good Morning Dean Logan you bloging on the tax payers dime this fine wet day. When is the FED’s droping in to prove you are correct on how to run an election? What other sins do you have hideing in the back room? Do not forget your umbrella today it still raining outside. Have a great day chap.
15: Yeah, I read the stories, but this guy Lapin is what I was asking about. What’s his story other than he’s from Mercer Island and is friends with Michael Medved?
21: I’ve just been reading up on Lapin at Blatherwatch. There are three or four posts, all linked, and some repitition, butone thing I ran across really gave me pause. While running a “born again” like Jewish center in Venice Beach, he took parishioner’s money for investment purposes, then went bankrupt. While he beat the rap legally, that strikes me as HIGHLY unethical.
Goldy, is this sort of thing (taking investment money from the flock) generally thought of OK for a rabbi to do? (HA ha, I just realized I made a joke, as the really “fleeced” those people.)
2
Rove Playbook Strategy #1: Deny, and if that doesn’t work, lie.
Larry–
Kind of like Hillary hitting the lucky jackpot on Cattle Futures huh?!! Hillary showed us the simplest way to get money to a politicians wife is to make a whole bunch of high flying trades…..and give the winner to Hillary!!
A lot of our “representatives” appear to be on the take. Some are smarter than others. The problem is “the law”. Quid pro quo is NOT easy to prove unless you have a smoking gun.
And how about Jesse Jackson…the King of shaking down corporate America using race as his weapon. What is more disgusting than that???
I love listening to the LEFTISTS frothing at the mouth about this…spin, spin, spin…………
My guess is they will end up pulling in their horns quite a bit as their oooooppppssss’s become public.
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!
Now as an average citizen who believes in accountable government and smaller government, I love seeing all the dirty laundry aired on BOTH sides. Essential part of our system.
Klake the Flake @20
“Comment by Voter Advocate— 1/9/06 @ 7:44 am Good Morning Dean Logan you bloging on the tax payers dime this fine wet day.”
Once again, you demonstrate the inability of rightwing nuts to keep facts straight. Roger Rabbit, not Voter Advocate, is Dean Logan blogging on the taxpayers’ dime, according to Stefan.*
Also, you misspelled “blogging,” and “tax payers” is one word and should have a possessive apostrophe, i.e. “taxpayers’ dime.”
* This is bullshit, but it’s useless to argue with Stefan (or, for that matter, Klake the Flake), as wingnuts are impervious to all known facts.
24
How are YOUR cattle futures doing, Cyn?
24
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!”
Here’s a stone, righty!!! WHACKKKK!!!! Right on the kisser! This is a RETHUGLICAN scandal, got that?!
Abramoff = GOP
Abramoff bribes –} GOP
Congressmen indicted or in jail = GOP
Have another stone, Cynical! THWAAAKKKKKK!!!!!!!
I’m still wondering why Maria is giving the money back. It was raised legally and is not directly connected to Abramoff. The only reason is political calculation. Nothing wrong with that, but by giving it back she makes herself look guilty.
I’ve never been a Lapin fan. He has one of the biggest egos in the world, and probably got along famously with Abramoff. I wonder how they managed to fit both heads in one room at the same time. If this proves his downfall, I won’t feel sorry for him.
The threshold for any of this to rise to the level of bri-bes is really high. I suspect that, except for Ney and the guy from Montana, no one else will be in trouble. These guys have so many lawyers on staff scrutinizing donations that I’d be surprised if something got by.
Cynical at 25: Wow, I thought Windie saying you were going all “word salad” was just a taunt. Dude, you need to staigten up, fly right, and try to make some friggen sense. Seriously, I’m having trouble figuring out what you are talking about.
That being said, I’ll try and rebut:
1) I have NO idea whether the feds will even try to investigate, much less prosecute a small fry like Lapin. All I was saying is that I hope this Lisa Rudy (the wife refered to) did more work than Delay’s did. Delay’s wife spent 3 MONTHS coming up with a list of congresscritters favorite charities and getting paid handsomely for it by Abramoff. I’m sorry, but I could do that in 3 WEEKS, starting from scratch.
2) Your (being kind here) theme about holding “sides” accountable is a GOP talking point, as has been frequently pointed out here. That argument implies the Dems are more guilty than they (likely) are and the Republicans are less guilty than they (likely) are. While I agree all the crooks should be prosecuted eequally, this is a Republican scandal (cap R), and attempts to make it appear like a political scandal (small p)are GOP maneuvering.
3) Your post has little to do with Goldy’s post or mine for that matter, and just proves my point that trolls like you are all about spin, redirecting conversation to areas you feel you have more traction, muddying ther waters etc. Good luck with that one as many here will beat you about the head and shoulders with that. I cannot figure out why you trolls seem to think posting mass populus talking points on a lefty blogger comment is an efficient use of time.
Excellent title today, Goldy. I’d expect Roger Rabbit to show a bit more afinity: Lapin being French for rabbit, and all…
As for the idiotic obfuscation @ 2… Abramoff was employed as a lobbyist in the D.C. office Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds (softball team name P-Germ Warfare) and David McDonald is an intellectual property litigation partner in the Seattle office of Preston Gates & Ellis (softball team name The Slugs). It’s entirely possible they’ve never met.
Much is made of the Abramoff Seattle connection, but there’s less there than the casual observer would think. The real connection is, as Goldy points out, the money of right wing ideology
Cynical @ 24
Talk about “spin!”
“Kind of like Hillary hitting the lucky jackpot on Cattle Futures huh?!!”
That had to be one of the most investigated events of the 90s. Guess what? Nothing there. Wanna talk about Harken Energy? Next.
Janet S @ 28
“i>I’m still wondering why Maria is giving the money back. It was raised legally…by giving it back she makes herself look guilty.”
I’m not so sure. Do you think it makes the President look guiltier that he send back Abramoff’s $6K or that he kept the other $94K that Jackie-boy riased for him? Returning donations is THE standard way to avoid what is known as an “appearance of impropriety.” That is, one presumably KNOWS whether one is innocent of wrongdoing, but to avoid a contribution being miconstrued or used as an oppo weapon, one returns said contribution. You are correct that the courts will elighten us as to who looks genuinely dirty. Do you think Jackie-boy wore a ire like the Dukester did?
“These guys have so many lawyers on staff scrutinizing donations that I’d be surprised if something got by.”
The way it all worked was so NOT about the campaign donations. The guys who will do time won’t do it for campaign donations.
25.
I just want it known, RR, that I am not posting under the name klake in order to rob you of the personna that Stefan foist upon you.
klake is a genuine Tory/Aristocrat-Asskissing troll, who has run out of GOP talking points.
Hey Goldie – Let’s through the book at “Mr. Cynical”:
http://news.com.com/Create+an+.....;subj=news
“It’s no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.
In other words, it’s OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess. “
Janet S makes sense:
I’m still wondering why Maria is giving the money back. It was raised legally and is not directly connected to Abramoff. The only reason is political calculation. Nothing wrong with that, but by giving it back she makes herself look guilty.
I agree with this paragraph. There is no reason whatsoever for Maria to return her untainted contribution from a tribe or tribes. Despite what the Seattle Times implies, there is also no earthly reason for Patty Murray to return a dime of trabal money.
Anyone who can straight-facedly suggest that far-right wingnut Jack Abramoff would launder contributions to Democrats through Indian tribes has no grasp whatsoever on logical reality. Abramoff’s web of quid pro quo and kickback and sleaze involved absolutely no one who wasn’t a Republican, particularly the wingnuttiest of the bunch.
Such as Daniel Lapin.
35.
Of course, N, you have hit the nail on the head.
The K Street Project was the creation of Newt Gingrich, and Tom Delay was the hammer who made lobbyist money a direct deposit to GOP legislators. Thes to the extent that Delay warned lobbyist not to employ Democrats if they wanted in on the influence peddling.
Who the hell is going to pay a Democratic Senator when the bills are changed back to the lobbyist’s original wording, that the House rubber stamped, in the reconcilliation committees?
This is a Republican only scandal.
Read the column header: FROM INDIV. AKA Abramoff.
As for the Ronnie Earle politically motivated charade, already on of the bogus charge have been thrown out. Democrats are trying to delay the trial because they know that it will exonerate DeLay. Ronnie Earle tried the same thing with Kay Bailey Hutcheson and got his head handed to him.
Democrats want to talk of vote fraud? SHow me shome proof of a REPUBLICN being CONVICTED – that is what happens when you are actually found guilty of a crime.
In 2004, Democrats rigged elections all over the country, trading crack cocaine for fraudulent registrations in Ohio and moeny for votes schemes in PA .
Convicted of conspiracy and vote fraud and facing five years on each count were:
• Kelvin Ellis, a Democratic precinct committeeman and former East St. Louis city government department head who served a federal prison term for extortion in the early 1990s.
• Yvette Johnson, secretary to the city Democratic organization.
• Democratic precinct committeemen Sheila Thomas and Jesse Lewis.
All except Ellis were allowed to remain free on previously posted recognizance bonds to await sentencing in about three months. Ellis, who has been held in custody and faces other charges in connection to another FBI probe of East St. Louis government, was returned to jail.
The defendants declined comment.
http://www.belleville.com/mld/.....021188.htm
mnoonbat_patrol
At current count, there are 297,875,867 “individuals” in the US. How do you know they mean Abramoff? Show us the money.
Don’t tell us “it’s obvious.” We already know that the wingnut grasp of logic lies between shaky and non-existent.
St. Clair County Democratic Central Committee? County? This is your voter fraud, moonbatss_patrol? A lousy county election were
the trial judge, U.S. District Judge G. Patrick Murphy commented outside the presence of the jury that he didn’t believe their testimony of the two key witnesses? Please, cry me a river.
St. Clair County Democratic Central Committee additional:
At one point (Judge)Murphy sharply upbraided (Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike)Carr for misleading him four times about testimony, an allegation the prosecutor vehemently denied.
Moonbat @ 38: Bzzzz, WRONG. See post 12. Read the posts before u repost troll, stop wasting our time. The table is confusing, but as 12 points out, the individual is not Abromoff. Alos, see
http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/1/9/121159/6635
As for Delay, I love his line this morning: The Only Reason I Was Indicted Was A Massive Conspiracy Between Democrats, The District Prosecutor and 8 Grand Juries. Please.
moonbatss_patrol @ 39
Well, there are the guys who jammed the phone lines to prevent New Hampsire Democratsfrom getting out the vote?”
Of course, most of those sissy boys pled guilty and ratted out their buddy. How very Republican.
Can’t spot any Democrats on the list:
http://www.newsmeat.com/washin.....ramoff.php
Wonder why?
N in Seattle @ 36
Even more so, Abramoff was working with the Indian tribes specifically to funnel their contributions toward Republicans and away from Democrats who, as we all know, vote favorably on Native American issues as a matter of conscience and party policy. Republicans you have to pay to get them to vote for Native Americans.
And not even that. Abramoff is being prosecuted because he defrauded the tribes he represented by starting a Jewish school with theiur money, using their money to send arms to right-wing Isralei settlers, and (this one is great) using one tribe’s millions to lobby block another tribe’s casino, then hiring himself out the the blocked tribe to get their casino approved (and siphoning money out of both efforts for elsewhere).
39: Well, I guess the guys that ADMITTED thier guilt (because the gov’ts case was airtight) will have to do. I’ll raise your County officials with some national ones:
Abramoff: Pled Guilty
Scanlon: Pled Guilty
Cunningham: Pled guilty
Others soon to be guilty:
Adam Kidan : Indicted
David Safavian: Arrested for lying to investigators
Rep. Ney: Bribery (not indicted yet, but implicated in Abramoff’s plea bargain, so pretty sure.)
Other possible future inmates:
Rudy, Delay, Burns
Grover Norquist: Money Laundering
Ralph Reed
The following just came in on the news wire:
The state’s highest criminal court on Monday denied Rep. Tom DeLay’s request that the money laundering charges against him be dismissed or sent back to a lower court for an immediate trial
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....indictment
BTW, Maria Cantwell is on the Senate Committee for Indian Affairs, and Patty Murray won an award from the Northwest Native American Business Development Center in 2001 titled “For Senator Murray’s Earnest and Effective Efforts in Restoring Funding to Northwest Indian Communities” AND has been working actively to pass the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. Indian tribes would be fools NOT to give them contributions. Sounds like the farthest thing from suspicious that there is.
Funny thing about Rep. Bob Ney: two guys have pled guilty to bribing him, but he says he wasn’t bribed.
45.
Nope, but I did find:
NETHERCUTT FOR CONGRESS ’96
NETHERCUTT FOR SENATE
[jennifer] DUNN PAC
RANDY TATE FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE
FRIENDS FOR JACK METCALF
FRIENDS OF DOC HASTINGS
Larry the Urbanite@16 There are a lot of strange splinter groups in the Jewish far right. The Hasidim would be one example of what comes under the umbrella of ultra-orthodox Judaism. They would be very roughly analogous to the Puritans. Ultra-Orthodox usually is the catchall in Israeli politco-Religious speak.
There is even one strange little group that actively tries to aid Islamic terrorists to bring down the State of Israel, since they believe the prophecy that the Messiah cannot arrive while Israel is intact. Go figure. . .
49.
Gee, you can fo to death row on the testimony of ONE person also implicated in the crime.
What could a prosecutor do with TWO?
The Republican goal in the 2006 elections may, in many cases, be to depress turnout. Wingers may not represent a majority in many parts of the country, but they have a higher turnout rate. This goes a long way toward explaining what happened in the 1994 Republican blowout.
What’s the best way to depress turnout? Go really, really negative. Convince folks that the Democrats are as corrupt as the Republicans. Between now and election day you will see all manner of tawdry things being alleged about “corrupt” Democratic practices. What you see from Moonbat in this thread is just a beginning.
A favorite Rove technique is to come up with charges so iconic that his opponent is forced to deny them even if they are absurdly untrue. Encourage Democrats to get into lengthy debates. It doesn’t matter whether the Democrats win such debates on facts — what matters is whether enough “heat” is generated so that the MSM starts covering the charge. Then the echo chamber effect kicks in.
Feed the trolls at your own peril.
53.
I disagree, Spring.
James Carville wouldn’t let any Republican lie go unchallenged, and neither should we.
Here’s the kind of thing that is meant by something that gives the appearance of an exchange of favors for contributions. A contribution comes in, and then very shortly thereafter, the lawmaker does something very nice for the contributor: “The guilty plea by lobbyist Jack Abramoff could bring renewed scrutiny of a letter sent by House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois to Interior Secretary Gale Norton urging her to block an Indian c-asino opposed by rival tribes represented by Abramoff just one week after the lobbyist hosted a fundraiser for Hastert’s political action committee.” That’s what I’m talking about. Like Denny here.
Spring and VA
We just need to make sure that we air the Republican corruption as often or even more often than we defend Democrats.
Voter Advocate (@53), it wasn’t my intent to suggest we ignore them. I’m arguing that we should think harder about what are the underlying tactics at work. If you get into an extensive factual debate with a winger over a baseless charge against a Democrat, that may very well play into their hands.
Might it be better to brush off the charge quickly and firmly, and then go back on the attack against Republican corruption? There isn’t one right answer to that question; I’m just suggesting that we not treat HA comment threads as mere fun and games.
The long and sordid history of federal government – tribal relations includes massive mismanagement of Indian lands and assets, poor health care, lousy education, etc. Guess which political group exploited the Indians the worst?
[ ] a. Liberal supporters of Native American rights
[ ] b. Indian-hating white male redneck Republicans
54
“Feed the trolls at your own peril.”
The HA comment threads are a superb example of how the GOP propaganda machine works. They deny everything, then slather on the lies. They just make shit up.
Banned again from uSP. I mentioned the good Rabbi Lapin and had my comment promptly erased and I was banned from commenting — again. Why are the Righties afraid of truth? I also quoted the Book of Daniel from the Old Testament ( “Mene mene tekel upharsin.”) and was promptly accused by rightie commenters of quoting Nazi propaganda. Stefan, himself, felt compelled to correct his minions before they made too huge of a group of asses of themselves.
As for GOP vote suppression tactics, the Republicans are doing their best to turn the USA into a clone of Belorussia. Like Russia, the US is now run by gangsters.
Republican = criminal
58.
Well, I did reference the wrong post, what I was responding to was actually @50, where Daddy pointed out that Bob Ney had two admitted bribers stating that he took a bribe, while Ney denied it.
There’s nothing funny or flippant in how hard it is to deal with two witnesses testifying against you in court.
It does depend on the motivation of the prosecutor, however.
61
Stefan is afraid of open debate. What do you expect from a chickenshit who’s scared shitless of a 9 7/8-lb. rabbit? Sucky Politics is a GOP propaganda megaphone. What else is new?
Hey Stefan — why are you going to keep all the money for yourself instead of sharing it with the generous contributors to your “legal action fund” who paid for the lawsuit? Is it because
[ ] a. you’re a selfish prick, or
[ ] b. can’t hold a job and need the money, or
[ ] c. both of the above
?
Sincerely, The Rabbit
P.S. — thanks for the yummy garden vegetables!! and watch where you step on your lawn. Pfffffrrrrrrbbrrrrrppppppp!!!!!
58.
If what you are trying to say is that I only defend Democrats without attacking Republican wrong doing, then I reject that accusation.
Nope, not making an “accusation” against you. Just a “good of the order” point to everyone.
moon bat partrol, guess you are kind of mistaken in 38. The court decided not to speed up your friends trial and let justice take its course. Your HAMMER is going to end up getting hammered.
klake is a genuine Tory/Aristocrat-Asskissing troll, who has run out of GOP talking points.
Comment by Voter Advocate— 1/9/06 @ 10:38 am
Dean Logan = Voter Advocate not Roger Rabbit. Voter Advocate is smarter that Roger and has a personally that matches Dean Logan. The Wabbit does not act like a government worker. The Wabbit acts like a lawyer not an ass kisser, and not as much out of touch from reality. Dean Logan is a sly weasel type person and always looking for guidance from Rom Sims. Now if he were a real man he would call the Fed’s in and check out his origination from top to bottom. Mr. Sims has something hiding in one of his closets and afraid someone will find it. What skeletons are you hiding today Dean Logan? When you move to your new office building, will the skeletons conveniently get lost? So Voter Advocate the rabbit has pass the torch off to you now enjoy Dean Logan.
P.S. – thanks for the yummy garden vegetables!! and watch where you step on your lawn. Pfffffrrrrrrbbrrrrrppppppp!!!!!
Comment by Roger Rabbit— 1/9/06 @ 1:53 pm
Roger I spike his carrots with some drugs that affects rabbits only. Now you do not look like the Hulk but you are slowly losing your ability to think straight. You should avoid his garden for now or you could get sick.
moonbatsss @ 39
You have presented nothing but straw men. Congratulations.
70.
flake, I hear Chris Vance is “retiring”, read getting run out of office on a rail for giving the state GOP an absolutely nonsensical, losing strategy. Worked real good, “hey David Irons run on a platform of firing a single county employee.” WOW, that’s true genius!
Since you keep beating this dead horse, you clearly didn’t get the word, Sims won. The KC Elections office strategy didn’t work, and Dean Logan still has his job.
73
The Dow went over 11,000 today. If the Dow can go over 11,000, why can’t I go over 10? Why should the Dow have all the fun? The Dow must be a Republican, because Republicans try to monopolize every fucking thing.
70
“The Wabbit does not act like a government worker.”
Where did I say I was? As mR. Cynical HAS pointed out numerous times, I’m living on a government pension? Does “pension” sound like “worker” to you? I may not be as smart as Voter Advocate, but I’m smarter than you.
75
(scrape) (scrape)
OK, let’s try that again after scraping the peanut butter off the keyboard:
“The Wabbit does not act like a government worker.”
Where did I say I was? As Mr. Cynical has pointed out numerous times, I’m living on a government pension. Does “pension” sound like “worker” to you? I may not be as smart as Voter Advocate, but I’m smarter than you.
@73
Yes, Sims won and the corruption continues up there. Are they still selling brains? Have they decided to disclose documents on time? Funny how all of those people who hosted fund raisers for Sims suddenly have extra money in the budget to promote their businesses……..hmmmmmmmmm
A new building doesn’t make elections honest or transparant.
77.
The election routed those cherished fantasies for most of us, and since you don’t live in King County it is just as well that you STFU.
KCREALS will continue improving its processes, and Chris Vance can go fuck himself.
STFU?
Not a fucking option!
There is no doubt that KCREALS will improve, whether it’s by choice or by force is the only question!
sgmmac, I understand your quandry with KC. I would just like you so show me one point in history when all errors, glips, ‘fra-ud’ of an election cycle was completely changed in the first two months of a new election cycle. Do you believe that all of this grandstanding by the GOP in DC concerning ‘ethics’ will make a drastic difference by the 1st of March? Political change is a slow moving process. The general direction has gone from slightly left to obnoxiously right in the past 8 years. It seems the change has started again and within the next 5 years we will be back slightly left. The world is afraid of corruption. All countries have corruption. Politics and corruption both take time to change. As you might have read even persona like Mr. Cynical state that they were once Democrat and now most of them are ‘rabid conservatives’. Change takes time.
Generally speaking, the White House changes every 8 years. The power does indeed swing back and forth. Those changes usually happen sooner when one party in power abuses that power, the Democrats on this board are hyped to get control of something on the National level and they may!
They also should watch their back door here on the state level. There are many who will NOT forget the 3/4 of a billion in new taxes and the 9 billion in transportation taxes. The more we sit in traffic on I-5 like I did today, the worse it will be for the knuckleheads who are spending a cool billion on wasteful stupid transportation feel good items.