For those who do research into the stories of our politics, C-Span has just released a gold mine.
They have put years and years of searchable video online. As I poked around I could trace some mentions in Abramoff billing records to Congressional action on the floor. Amazing stuff.
There were several tapes where Jack himself is a featured speaker.
Here around the 51:00 mark he introduces his longtime co-conspirator Daniel Lapin (who gave him fake awards for piety in one of their many scams). Jack and Daniel are speaking at a Towards Tradition conference, their group to promote an alliance between extremist Christians and extremist Jews back in the 1990s.
Here around the 23:00 mark he gives advice to the 2003 College Republican Conference and introduces fellow co-conspirator Tom DeLay.
And here around the 88:00 mark he follows fellow co-conspirator Ralph Reed to the stage of the 2001 College Republican Conference. (As a side note, around the 92:00 mark Jack gives a shout-out to Ralph Nader for helping to throw the 2000 Election Bush’s way).
If you can stomach watching these weasels, it will give you a good idea of how the Republicans and the modern conservatives actually operate. These are clips of Abramoff pre-scandal and where he is being celebrated as a conservative hero. Little has changed in the conservative movement these days–it is as corrupt as ever. The only change has been that most of Jack’s pals have trouble remembering how closely they worked with Jack over the years. So it goes.
Still, I’m glad that C-Span has given the world a new toy.
Cheers
dengre
mcc
Holy. Shit. These archives appear to go back further than the online version of the Congressional Record.
I’d been meaning to try to go to the library and dig out some stuff from their CD-ROM copies of the Congressional Record to find transcripts of the DADT hearings in 1993. This may make that unnecessary.
Crusty Dem
Saw this on Swampland. Amazing stuff..
Dennis G.
@mcc:
It is an amazing resource. It is a smackdown tool of epic proportions. I was just listening to Dana Rohrabacher defend the sweatshops and human trafficking on the Marianas Islands back in 1997. Jack’s 1997 billing records worked towards that moment and bill for Dana’s spirited defense of the sweatshops.
I’m sure there are many more such moments in these tapes.
Cheers
gbear
So how long would it take to put together a compilation video of republicans singing the praises of reconciliation and up-&-down votes?
Zach
Way to get my hopes up that this means they’ve actually digitized more archived stuff and not just made a better search engine. Al Franken’s 1994 and 1996 WH Correspondents’ Dinners are still not available.
Zach
Don’t construe my comment above to mean that this still isn’t awesome. Here’s Judd Gregg saying that Democrats are consigning black children in DC to a life of certain failure with no chance to become a Senator because they’re threatening to filibuster an appropriations bill that includes funding for DC charter schools – c-spanarchives.org/program/ID/120293&start=5175&end=19625
It would be a fun but pointless exercise to interpolate Gregg’s speech with health care reform talking points.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
As a long time C Span junkie, this is fantabulous!!
Kennedy
The Daily Show writers are rejoicing somewhere.
Joseph Nobles
OT: What are the chances we’ll see this happen anytime soon?
Jane, Jane!
Probably never, right?
YellowJournalism
@Kennedy: That was that loud hooting sound you heard coming from the East Coast.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Zach:
Improving a search algorithm is a big deal, especially to those who desire openness and accessibility to information (not to mention the nerds who did it!). Being able to accurately search video archives can save a lot of time when someone is looking for specific information that they may not be aware of.
I expect that the nerdier lefties amongst us are going to have some fun with this. I’m looking forward to a ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation of the various scandals and those involved.
Yutsano
Why do I see you rubbing your hands and salivating like a Pavlovian hound? In all seriousness, this sounds like a fantastic resource that future historians (and present-day muckrakers) will be utilizing for decades if not centuries.
Batocchio
@Zach:
I was just looking for those! One of those was fantastic. I found about 4 Franken videos from the 90s I’ll look at tomorrow.
In any case, this is pretty cool – a good start by C-Span.
IndieTarheel
Awesome news, thanks for sharing it!
WereBear
This is an amazing resource. It’s great that it’s coming out now. Sort of a large, yet subtle, refutation.
ET
I was wondering how long it would take before I would run across a political geek who wanted into the archives and nearly overindulged.
C-Spun
Maybe now we can see exactly when Dick Cheney’s soul left his body. Maybe not – probably happened WAY before he was in congress.
Jonathan Holbert
Very neat. Check out Clinton discussing the Rethuglican government shutdown.
Nobility Title
Learned a few new things. Looking forward to an update soon.