• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Let there be snark.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

People are weird.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

We still have time to mess this up!

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Abramoff In The News: Beware The Ides Of Scanlon

Abramoff In The News: Beware The Ides Of Scanlon

by Tim F|  November 22, 20058:22 am| 9 Comments

This post is in: Outrage

FacebookTweetEmail

Update: The whole story in two sentences:

“I think this has the potential to be the biggest scandal in Congress in over a century. I’ve been around Washington for 35 years, watching Congress, and I’ve never seen anything approaching Abramoff for cynicism and chutzpah in proposing quid pro quos to members of Congress.”

As predicted, Michael Scanlon’s decision to flip has broken the story into above-the-fold, major story territory. Here are some of the better sources for background and context:

* The WaPo has been on the Scanlon issue like white on rice. See here, here and here. You’ll read why rep. Bob Ney (R – OH 18) shouldn’t make any plans for his next term of office.
* The LA Times weighs in.
* The NY Times discusses lawmakers in danger and offers a profile of Scanlon plus the obligatory Scanlon-flipped story. Thanks to intrepid Times reporters we discover that the greatest sleaze machine in history was managed by a ritalin-snorting teenager:

In e-mail correspondence between Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon released by the Senate committee, it is the junior partner who often displays his thirst for wealth. “I want all their money!!” Mr. Scanlon wrote in one e-mail message to Mr. Abramoff in 2002, referring to the Tigua Indian tribe. In another, involving the Coushatta Indians, he wrote: “Weeez gonna be rich!!”

* Roll Call (subscription only) goes deeper into Bob Ney’s potential troubles:

While the criminal information document refers only to a “Representative #1,” that is widely believed to be Ney. The inference by federal prosecutors is clear: In return for a golf junket to Scotland, tickets to sporting events and free meals, the lawmaker agreed to “perform a series of official acts” that benefited Scanlon and Abramoff’s clients, including trying to insert a provision in a 2002 election-reform bill that would aid a Texas Indian tribe that was secretly paying Scanlon and Abramoff millions of dollars.

Ney also inserted statements in the Congressional Record linked to Abramoff’s purchase of a Florida gambling cruise-ship company. The Justice Department alleges, again without naming Ney, that he helped in “advancing the application” of an Abramoff client “for a license to install wireless telephone infrastructure in the House of Representatives.” That company later paid Abramoff $280,000, according to lobbying reports.

The Ohio Republican has already been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury to turn over any documents in his possession related to Abramoff to the Justice Department.

* Once a scandal hits above-the-fold status you find it practically everywhere in the blogosphere; among the standouts is this post by Josh Marshall.

In other news, Italia Federici hasn’t succeeded in explaining apparent money laundering at her phony enviro outfit.
* NPR sums up its reporting thusly:

Federici said she assumed the tribes were simply generous supporters of the environment, even though she never spoke with them about it.

* The Rocky Mountain News reports that Senators didn’t buy it.
* The Denver Post on Federici, with bonus outrage. What is it with Federici and the mountain west? My guess is that people harbor a special hate for Gale Norton out there. CO residents are welcome to weigh in with their own ideas.

You can read our ongoing Abramoff coverage here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

***Update***

Steve Benen, aka Carpetbagger, writes an important post while subbing in for Kevin Drum.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Hillary Clinton- War Hawk and New Member of the Clap Louder Apologista
Next Post: Think Progress and WP »

Reader Interactions

9Comments

  1. 1.

    Mr Furious

    November 22, 2005 at 10:04 am

    Anybody surprised that Bush’s Secretary of the Interior is co-founder of this CREA scam group… I’m not saying she did anything, but none of these apples are far form the tree, and it just helps paint an overall canvas of corruption and intertwined special interests from obscure lobby outfits all the way up to Cabinet Secretarys…

  2. 2.

    Geek, Esq.

    November 22, 2005 at 10:26 am

    “Throw the bums out.”

    I really hope Tom DeLay gets his indictments dismissed and is re-elected House Majority leader.

    So he can get his ass indicted again in this probe.

  3. 3.

    skip

    November 22, 2005 at 12:36 pm

    “’ve never seen anything approaching Abramoff for cynicism and chutzpah”

    Abe Foxman is already loading his Uzi.

  4. 4.

    Otto Man

    November 22, 2005 at 1:33 pm

    The smell of fear must be palpable on Capitol Hill these days. This is going to make Abscam look like peanuts.

  5. 5.

    Otto Man

    November 22, 2005 at 1:55 pm

    Not a lot of comments here. Wonder where all the conservatives are?

  6. 6.

    Tim F.

    November 22, 2005 at 2:14 pm

    I helps that the post itself is an unwieldy mess. It’s not my greatest achievement in formatting, but you try to wrangle all of that stuff into one post. I suppose I could have just posted a series of links, one short blurb and a ‘heh.’

  7. 7.

    Otto Man

    November 22, 2005 at 3:17 pm

    Actually, I think the post is pretty impressive. It could be neatened up a bit, but the overwhelming amount of coverage and evidence there is quite good.

    In fact, there are probably few comments here because you’ve already covered most of the angles and pre-empted most of the rebuttals.

  8. 8.

    ATS

    November 23, 2005 at 2:15 pm

    “?Wonder where all the conservatives are?”

    Hiding, hiding.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Balloon Juice says:
    November 22, 2005 at 9:27 am

    […] Abramoff In The News: Beware The Ides Of Scanlon […]

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - BarcaChicago  - Off the Gunflint Trail/Boundary Waters 8
Image by BarcaChicago (7/11/25)

World Central Kitchen

Donate

Recent Comments

  • MobiusKlein on Friday Night Open Thread (Jul 11, 2025 @ 9:25pm)
  • Elizabelle on Friday Night Open Thread (Jul 11, 2025 @ 9:24pm)
  • Professor Bigfoot on Fox News Friday Open Thread (Jul 11, 2025 @ 9:24pm)
  • Martin on Fox News Friday Open Thread (Jul 11, 2025 @ 9:14pm)
  • dmsilev on Fox News Friday Open Thread (Jul 11, 2025 @ 9:10pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!