Sunday, January 08, 2006

No Dems Took Tainted Money?

I thought that some Democrats were definitely involved in the Abramoff scandal, but Howard Dean says otherwise:
BLITZER: Should Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, who has now pleaded guilty to bribery charges, among other charges, a Republican lobbyist in Washington, should the Democrat who took money from him give that money to charity or give it back?

DEAN: There are no Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, not one, not one single Democrat. Every person named in this scandal is a Republican. Every person under investigation is a Republican. Every person indicted is a Republican. This is a Republican finance scandal. There is no evidence that Jack Abramoff ever gave any Democrat any money. And we've looked through all of those FEC reports to make sure that's true.

BLITZER: But through various Abramoff-related organizations and outfits, a bunch of Democrats did take money that presumably originated with Jack Abramoff.

DEAN: That's not true either. There's no evidence for that either. There is no evidence...

BLITZER: What about Senator Byron Dorgan?

DEAN: Senator Byron Dorgan and some others took money from Indian tribes. They're not agents of Jack Abramoff. There's no evidence that I've seen that Jack Abramoff directed any contributions to Democrats. I know the Republican National Committee would like to get the Democrats involved in this. They're scared. They should be scared. They haven't told the truth. They have misled the American people. And now it appears they're stealing from Indian tribes. The Democrats are not involved in this.

BLITZER: Unfortunately Mr. Chairman, we've got to leave it right there. Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, always speaking out bluntly, candidly.
Crooks and Liars has the video. But it does seem strange, like it's looking at the problem from a particular viewpoint. I'm not naive enough to think that Democrats are all honest and trustworthy. They may not be neocons, but they are still politicians. I'd like to see more numbers on this one, raw numbers, so we can decide for ourselves if there was corruption involved in the money Democrats got from non-Abramoff agents who were nonetheless linked to Abramoff. But I think it is important to point out that Abramoff himself never gave any money to Democrats, but he gave millions to republicans.

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