The Poor Man Institute has an excellent post on the dust up over Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell’s false claim that Democrats had received contributions from indicted “superlobbyist” Jack Abramoff. In fact, Abramoff did not donate any money to Democrats. All of his donations were to Republicans. Howell’s false claim triggered a firestorm from the leftie blogosphere.
Among other things, The Poor Man Institute has an amusing take on the false equivalency imposed by certain members of “the media” — saying, right wingers attacked Clinton, left wingers attacked Bush. Same old, same old. Yawn. To which, The Poor Man Institute responds:
When one is an Elder Statesman of the American media, and when one can’t be bothered to look into the particular details of some issue, it is never a bad idea to fall back on Ecclesiastes, and remind the readers – in a tone as wise and weary as you can muster – that the seasons change and the winds blow now this way, now that, turn turn turn, but there is nothing new under the Sun. As there was a time of saying Clinton was a coke-dealing Commie and a serial rapist, now comes the time of saying that George W. Bush shouldn’t run secret torture prisons. Men of Principle lament both of these equally, for they are just two sides of the same lamentable coin. Vanity of vanity, all of it. Can’t we just play nice?
I thought the Eccliastes reference was inspired.
Excuse me??? Abramoff didn’t donate any money to Democrats?
Not sure who you’ve been listing to, but the list of recipients has been widely published. Here’s one
place, itemized by recipient/party.
You’ve got recipients, but you don’t have donors. I want to see a list of money from Jack Abramoff to Democrats. I don’t want to see a list of money from Indian tribes he worked for.
We know Abramoff is dirty. We know the money he gave to Republicans is dirty. We don’t know which and whether the tribes he worked for are dirty. We don’t know whether the money those tribes gave to Republicans and/or Democrats are dirty.
Saying “Jack Abramoff and Indian tribes gave money to Republicans and Democrats” is like saying that “my mom and Adolf Hitler spent money to support me and to gas the Jews.”
Befuddled by html, trying again…
You said:
“We don’t know which and whether the tribes he worked for are dirty. We don’t know whether the money those tribes gave to Republicans and/or Democrats are dirty.”
Makes your statement that “Abramoff did not donate any money to Democrats†seem a little bold, doesn’t it?
Not at all. Either Jack Abramoff gave money to the Democrats or he didn’t. If you want to make the case that a particular Indian tribe gave money to Democrats at the behest of Mr. Abramoff, feel free to get into the details and make the case. Two different things.
Glad that that’s settled.
You’re the one who dismissed the contributor list as Indian tribe donations, not me. Not sure where you got off track, but the list summarizes “political contributions from Abramoff, the tribes that hired him, and SunCruz Casinos .”
…SunCruz Casinos, owned by Abramoff.