Don't be so gleeful. There will be libs on that list too. Dingy Harry Reid is one that comes to mind.

You seem to think I'd only be happy to see Republicans fall. Wrong. I don't like corrupt politicians of every stripe.

Here's the list of recipients of Abramoff's largesse (notice who received dollars directly from Abramoff); see a pattern?:

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Very true that there will be some Democrats, but I think it would be a mistake to think that he wasn't more closely tied to the GOP. This is an indictment of the politics of the day....

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f/k/a mclamb6

We need term limits badly. With term limits, the politicians don't have time to get corrupted unless they start that way to begin with.

I will dream on.

We need term limits badly. With term limits, the politicians don't have time to get corrupted unless they start that way to begin with.

You are right on with this point.

As much as there are many Democrats in the line of fire, this is clearly a Republican problem and one that many in Washington were fearing. I watched PBS news on Friday and both Brooks and Shields agreed that this issue is one that will cause major ripples in 2006, and both agreed, it will harm the Republicans more than the Democrats.

I just think it is mainly the Republican party at risk because they just happen to be the party in office.

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You sir, are my new hero! - Trifan 11/13/2008

Casey, you are a wise man - blueraider_mike 11/13/2008

Casey, This is an astute observation. - Slowbern 11/17/2008

We already have term limits. The voters simply choose not to exercise them. If the voters in a district or state continue to send senators and representatives to Washington who are corrupt or incompetent, then they deserve the government they elect.

I, however, do not deserve corrupt or incompetent politicians that are voted in by others. Moreover, when those corrupt politicians are greasing the skids in their own district, it makes more sense as to why they aren't being voted out. There needs to be a secondary check on the problem. Term limits could provide that.

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f/k/a mclamb6

We have term limits. It's called "elections". Whether they are used is a different story.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

We have elections in which the politicians choose their voters. At least at the House level, who do you think we are? It is not like our elections are open like, say, the ones in Iraq.

No wonder more Iraqis than Americans vote.

This chart is very one sided. I have seen a much fairer chart that showed a more even partisan split, though it still has more Republicans getting contributions.

This chart was carefully limited by contributors to show this kind of split. I wish I could find the better chart, but a search didn't turn it up. The total numbers were much bigger. Patrick Kennedy was the big Democratic winner hauling in over $100,000, for example, not the $40,000 shown here.

If you want a prediction for the 2006 elections, Iraq will be a non issue, but Abramoff will be a big issue.

If you want a prediction for the 2006 elections, Iraq will be a non issue, but Abramoff will be a big issue.

I think Iraq will remain the main issue followed by Abramoff and you're favorite "spy scandal" and all 3 are difficult for Republicans, which means of course, they will continue to win because the Democrats will not come up with a strategy to take care of the slow hanging curve out over the plate.

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You sir, are my new hero! - Trifan 11/13/2008

Casey, you are a wise man - blueraider_mike 11/13/2008

Casey, This is an astute observation. - Slowbern 11/17/2008

You need to read the polls Casey. The "spy scandal" is a big winner for Republicans, which means the MSM will soon lose interest and move on.

I have never even met him and I'm afraid I am about to be indicted!

Make sure you don't let anybody forget that between 2001 and 2004 (Republican administrations) Abramoff and his wife gave $0 to Democrats, so that graph could have been even more slanted against Republicans.

More importantly, before this gets spun by the right any more, there are no Democrats being implicated in the bribery and wrongdoing part of this scandal, which makes sense given that Abramoff was a College Republican and the key part of the K Street Project, which was designed to push out any Democratic lobbyists. So to suggest this was a bipartisan issue is pure spin at this point.

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"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Benjamin Franklin
"Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here." - Alvy Singer, "Annie Hall"

[reply]Don't be so gleeful. There will be libs on that list too. Dingy Harry Reid is one that comes to mind.[/reply]
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Liberals, or Harry Reid?

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Josef
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blog

I don't see your reasoning. Dorgan just agreed to return $67,000, so the chart is obviously incomplete. It does seem to include all the contributions you refer to though.

Pretty typical article in CNN. Headline is that Speaker Hastert returns $69,000. Down in the last paragraph they add that Dorgan, ranking Democrat on the Indian Affairs Committee, returned $67,000.

I haven't seen the article, but as you're probably aware, Abramoff's dealings with the Indians were particularly polluted so I'm not surprised that those donations have been returned. I'd be surprised if anybody on that committee didn't return their donations at this point. I believe McCain as chair is convening meetings on Abramoff's dealings, which also include Ralph Reed and some other luminaries.

As for the donation list being incomplete, I'm not aware of all of the ways he may have donated, including soft money. A casual perusal of the FEC website database shows few if any Democrats he or his wife donated money to, so it appears that money may have come through PACs and perhaps some sort of 501 contribution.

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"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Benjamin Franklin
"Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here." - Alvy Singer, "Annie Hall"

http://www.capitaleye.org/abramoff.asp

Source of the chart (not original to NYT). If you go there you can see (according to their sources) pretty much all his donations.

Here's a list of his donors: http://www.capitaleye.org/abramoff.asp

This might be helpful as well -

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"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Benjamin Franklin
"Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here." - Alvy Singer, "Annie Hall"

This was the article I referred to above but couldn't find.

I guess what I find the funniest is that there is not very much money involved in the scheme of things. It is not surprising politicians can be bought. It is surprising how cheaply they can be bought.

The issue isn't the contributions per se. It's that in a lot of particular cases, the contributions were part of a specific quid pro quo, otherwise known as bribery, as detailed in thousands of emails. Why Bob Ney hasn't yet resigned is beyond me, given that his lawyer himself has already admitted that he's about to be indicted, especially now that Abramoff and Scanlon have turned.

It's also the bribery, on top of fraud, on top of highly unethical dealings with the Indians, a potential murder-for-hire scandal, and you can see why all of Abramoff's "friends" will soon pretend that they've never heard his name before, documentary evidence to the contrary.

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"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" - Benjamin Franklin
"Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here." - Alvy Singer, "Annie Hall"

I would be surprised if they can actually get many indictments or convictions of Congressmen. Tough to prove a quid pro quo. Just doing a favor for a contributor doesn't come close to proving it. You would have to lock up the entire Congress if that were the case.

I would even be surprised if they proved a case against Ney, but only time and more facts will tell.

As with the Keating Five, the stench will linger though.