Thanks to Mrs. Scalito's Cryfest, the Abramoff scandal was somewhat on
the back-burner last week.

But this scandal is not going away, and Republicans who are hoping to
confine it to members of Congress may be disappointed by the recent
revelation that "in President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser
Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with
the new administration," according to USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-06-abramoff-bush_x.htm

It was also revealed that Abramoff's business partner Michael Scanlon
had previously bragged of Abramoff's pull with the White House.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=58947

"Jack has a relationship with the President," he once said.

"He doesn't have a bat phone or anything, but if he wanted an
appointment, he would have one."

All of which is a bit odd considering that White House press secretary
Scott McClellan said two weeks ago that George W. Bush did not know
Jack Abramoff personally.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/04/lobbyist.fraud.ap/

Mind you, the White House has also claimed that Bush didn't know Ken
Lay,

that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,

that Saddam Hussein was in cahoots with Osama bin Laden,

that Scooter Libby was definitely not involved in the outing of
Valerie Plame,

and on, and on, and on, and on...


From The Democratic Underground
http://www.democraticunderground.com/

Harry