Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Abramoff and the mega-conspiracy

The good news is Abramoff may soon implicate Rove and lots of congressfolk. The bad news is that some of those congressfolk might be Democrats. From ABC's Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz:
Sources close to the investigation say Abramoff has provided information on his dealings with and campaign contributions and gifts to "dozens of members of Congress and staff," including what Abramoff has reportedly described as "six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators."

The sources say Abramoff was about to provide information about Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove, "accepting things of value" from Abramoff.
Egads. A mega-conspiratorial scenario begins to suggest itself. After all, Rove must have had some idea as to just which beans Casino Jack might spill. Right now, we don't know if Abramoff's forthcoming accusations against those "six to eight" Democratic senators will have any validity. No Dems received money from Abramoff. In the frenzy, will facts matter?

Perhaps the plan was this: Let the Dems win...let them have a week or a month or triumphalist gloating...then take 'em down. What could serve the Republican strategy better than a scenario in which their corrupt pols leave honorably, by way of the ballot box, while our bad apples do the perp walk mere moments after their time of glory?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

As dr. elsewhere keeps reminding us, Rove is not an evil genius. He is just evil.

Whatever is happening here, I can't believe it was engineered by Rove or anyone else.

Anonymous said...

Joseph,
Man....you are freaking out!
Democrats are in the same pocket as the Repubs. The powers are consenting to a change(they are not above pulling dirty tricks, I give you that)because they fear a backlash. They will let some changes take place(out of sheer survival instinct).
They also will hang anyone(and I mean anyone)who will suffice as a scape goat(Repub or Democrat), but the bottom line is that "people" are unhappy, and they must keep the masses in check.
Relax dude!
p.s
I posted a comment before the elections and voiced a simillar opinion, and predicted that Dems would win.

Anonymous said...

it appears it is only the people who actually believe in bipartanship.
anybody who is corrupt must be gone.

ViViDVeW said...

That's fine by me. Corruption is a bipartisan problem. If Dems are taking bribes then they should go to jail in disgrace along with the Reps.

As for having a divided congress. It is now starting to look like the Dems will deliver on exactly none of the issues that got them the majority back. No meaningful change in Iraq. The investigations will only be use as a tool to embarrass the Reps and set themselves up better for 2008.

In the back of my mind before the elections(thinking the Dems might do just what they are doing if they won) I was secretly wishing that the Reps might eek out a victory and we would continue down the road to hell in the hopes that the American people would demand the rise of a third part that would actually counter the bullshit and corruption of the two party system.

If the Dems fail to deliver on the issues that got them back in the majority I hope things go to shit for them and they piss the American people off to the point where they will look for a real third party.

Libertarians anyone!!

Joseph Cannon said...

You can preach Libertarianism on some OTHER blog, thank you very much. I do find much to appreciate in the Libertarian worldview -- if W were a Libertarian, we wouldn't be mired in Iraq. But I refuse to go along with the Libertarian delusion that the mega-corporations should be free to pollute and to pay slave wages.

You want to go back to that shit? Go back to the 19th century. I'd rather go back to the paradigm of the 1945-1975 era. Would you rather be an worker in Sweden or a worker in a Mexican sweatshop?

Frankly, I suspect that Abramoff's list of corrupt senators will probably amount to a frame-up job. He's a party loyalist, and we would have heard the names long before now. But even if his charges come backed by evidence, I won't allow a small number of corrupt individuals to affect my core beliefs.

Anonymous said...

Vividvew has a point, Joe. Here's my e-mail to John Conyers:

You said: "I have agreed with Speaker-to-be Pelosi that impeachment is off
the table."

If this is true, and this President, already considered by historians to
be the worst in US history, is not to be impeached for his assaults on the
Constitution and his war crimes, then I will never vote Democratic again.
Never. I will vote Green, or Libertarian, or Peace and Freedom. But not
one Democratic candidate will EVER GET MY VOTE AGAIN. Is that clear
enough?

ViViDVeW said...

>>But not one Democratic candidate will EVER GET MY VOTE AGAIN.

My sentiments exactly. Not sure if I could follow through in ALL cases, sometimes it is important to pick the lesser of two evils, but I would NEVER forgive them as a party and will NEVER again defend them as a party.

I will not recount Bush's transgressions but sufficit to say, they far surpass any president before him. If Bush is not impeached (and yes, I know there's a snowballs chance in hell that he will be) then we have as a nation walked away from even the semblance of accountability.

I was not preaching Libertarianism (hell, I only used the word once). I have no love for large corporations and totally agree with what you said. My view of corporate America falls pretty much in line with that of Noam Chomsky.

I simply picked Libertarian as they are what I think is the most viable third party from an ideological point of view.
Libertarians in a nutshell. Socially liberal, fiscally conservative. Works for me, and I would think, a lot of other Americans.

>>I won't allow a small number of corrupt individuals to affect my core beliefs.

Come on. You can be that naive. "Culture of corruption" is a totally accurate statement. They just forgot to include themselves in it. The system of lobbying and favors, BOTH parties have built, is inherently corrupt. We have be headed down this road since SCOTUS gave corporations the rights of individuals back in 1886.

ViViDVeW said...

>>But not one Democratic candidate will EVER GET MY VOTE AGAIN.

My sentiments exactly. Not sure if I could follow through in ALL cases, sometimes it is important to pick the lesser of two evils, but I would NEVER forgive them as a party and will NEVER again defend them as a party.

I will not recount Bush's transgressions but sufficit to say, they far surpass any president before him. If Bush is not impeached (and yes, I know there's a snowballs chance in hell that he will be) then we have as a nation walked away from even the semblance of accountability.

I was not preaching Libertarianism (hell, I only used the word once). I have no love for large corporations and totally agree with what you said. My view of corporate America falls pretty much in line with that of Noam Chomsky.

I simply picked Libertarian as they are what I think is the most viable third party from an ideological point of view.
Libertarians in a nutshell. Socially liberal, fiscally conservative. Works for me, and I would think, a lot of other Americans.

>>I won't allow a small number of corrupt individuals to affect my core beliefs.

Come on. You can be that naive. "Culture of corruption" is a totally accurate statement. They just forgot to include themselves in it. The system of lobbying and favors, BOTH parties have built, is inherently corrupt. We have be headed down this road since SCOTUS gave corporations the rights of individuals back in 1886.

ViViDVeW said...

oops. sorry about the double post.