Burns says Democrats behind Abramoff scandal

Missoulian ^ | Jan 10, 2006 | Jennifer McKee

[antiRepublicrat]

. But well over 80% of Congress received money from Abramoff or one of his clients

Oh man, to indict and eject 80% of Congress would be so cool. Talk about cleaning house!

[MNJohnnie]

Amazing how all the people beating their chest about this are so very careful to make sure not to point out how the Republican Bush Justice Department deserve the credit for pursuing and prosecuting Abramoff.

Not only that, if the system is so corrupt, why are Abramoff and his cronies even going to jail?

[Lady Heron]

Bingo.

[Liberty Valance]

Good post. Thank you.

[Pontiac]

Matt McKenna, a spokesman for the Montana Democratic Party, said Democrats are not trying to smear the senator.

“We are attempting to tell the story of what happened with Conrad Burns and Jack Abramoff,” McKenna said. “The sooner Conrad Burns stops misleading Montanans about that story, the sooner we can move on to talk about the issues.”

Translation for those who don’t speak Dimocrat.

If he would just tell his side of the story we could start picking apart his story and quoting him out of context.

Then the real smear campaign could start. This is just the warm up.

[Long Distance Rider]

"Funny how urgent some Freepers find it to hold Republicans to vastly higher standards then they hold Democrats to when it comes to fund raising"

Nothing urgent about expecting more from the party I helped support for 40 years. From my view, it appears that the Republican party has turned into the Democrat party I left in 1965.

[conserv13]

I expect the Democrats to be corrupt, but I expect better from the Republicans, especially the majority leader of the House of Representatives. This reflects badly on the Republican party who have been in control of Congress for years now.

They are just as corrupt as the Dems.

[speekinout]

Running for office isn't cheap. Unless you want all of Congress to be self-financed millionaires like Teddy Kennedy, John Kerry, George Soros, etc. they have to take money from many people. And don't we all have the right to support a candidate we want elected?

And they don't have time (or a way) to check on all donors. If I give a candidate $1,000 and it turns out I got that by robbing a bank, how does that taint the candidate? If he or she wasn't driving the getaway car, it really shouldn't.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"...more than any other lawmaker..."

I'd keep him at arm's length. Mr. Burns, if you are innocent, I'm sorry. But as things stand, I wouldn't hire you. As I understand it, Abramoff was a casino lobbyist. That alone should have told you something.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"But well over 80% of Congress received money from Abramoff or one of his clients..."

Wasn't Abramoff a casino lobbyist? Indian reservations and all that? Gambling? Maybe a few race tracks?

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"Running for office isn't cheap."

I agree with you there. Unfortunately, too many in the Stupid Party went along with McCainiac. Now they reap the whirlwind. The good news is that most of the rat leadership is in the same boat. I don't know why Rockefeller needed all that money.

[speekinout]

too many in the Stupid Party went along with McCainiac.

In that case, they weren't just stupid, they were also cowardly. McCain has a lot of access to the press, and managed to get the polls to show overwhelming support for the nutty bill. Every one of them thought "someone else" would throw out the thing, and they wouldn't have to be accountable.
Even Bush thought for sure the Supreme Court would throw it out.

Maybe it's some sort of poetic justice that they got trapped by a very bad vote. But that was their sin - not some trumped up bribery charges.

[eric_da_grate]

Democrats are portraying themselves as uncorrupted in this mess. Their talking points are clear...."This is a Republican scandal".....Reid is emphatic when he uses the words. He did this on Chris Wallace's show on FOX. He became angry when Wallace asked him to account for his dealings with Abramoff. To paraphrase him near-perfect, he said: "This is a Republican scandal, so don't gimme any of that."

Democrats seem to have lucked upon a politically-favorable situation here, as they perceive it, leading into the 06 campaign.