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June 26, 2006

Ted Piccolo's Fantasy World

The recent back-and-forth with Ted Piccolo at NW Republican over Grover Norquist has finally reached the point where I can only conclude that some Republicans are beyond hope. They are determined to believe whatever they want to believe.

In Ted's most recent post he refers to recent articles laying out how Norquist was the go-to guy for money laundering and buying "face time" with the President, and then claims poor Grover was "used" by Abramoff and didn't realize what was going on:

Abramoff was attempting to hide his motives from among others, the folks at Americans for Tax Reform. In an email correspondence to others inside his lobbying firm he had this to say.

"What is most important however is that this matter is kept discreet," Abramoff said in an e-mail on Oct. 24, 1995. "We do not want the opponents to think that we are trying to buy the taxpayer movement." Of course liberals will continue to try to paint folks like Norquist and Ridenour as culprits yet conveniently overlook the role that the aggressive politics of the gaming tribe (Choctaws). Conservatives such as Norquist and Ridenour maintain, basically, that they were played by Abramoff. …Norquist and Ridenour appear to be innocent political operatives taken advantage of by Abramoff who seemed to dig himself deeper and deeper into trouble. However even in innocence we see how liberals, and their willing cohorts in the MSM, can't help but try to portray conservatives as guilty of something. We know that liberals have never let the truth get in the way of good political spin.

Compounding the hilarity of Ted's post was this little comment:

While the details are much more complicated than simply the "bad-ol-Republicans" attacking Indians, the reality is that those details will get lost on future tribal leaders. Because we know that in the future the Democrats will certainly try to use this issue to drive a wedge between Oregon Indian tribes and the Republican party. Much like the liberals are trying to drive a wedge between Indian tribes and conservatives on the national scene in the Abramoff scandal.

I guess in Ted's eyes, I'm a "liberal" (everyone who knows me would be rolling on the floor in hysterics at that one). I write a post to the effect that Ted's favorite buddy Grover screwed over the Indian tribes; ergo, the "liberals are trying to drive a wedge" … It's almost too funny for words.

What isn't funny is the Abramoff/Norquist/Ralph Reed Shenanigans. Ted may have referenced the latest news about this bunch here and here, but he obviously read the articles through rose colored glasses. Because here is some of what they say:

The middleman: lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Blunt e-mails that connect money and access in Washington show that prominent Republican activist Grover Norquist facilitated some administration contacts for Abramoff's clients while the lobbyist simultaneously solicited those clients for large donations to Norquist's tax-exempt group.

To see the detailed evidence, go to the article. And ask yourself whether the following supports Ted's theory that Norquist was unwittingly used by Abramoff, or the view of the Senate investigators that Norquist was knowingly selling visits with the President:

"Can the tribes contribute $100,000 for the effort to bring state legislatures and those tribal leaders who have passed Bush resolutions to Washington?" Norquist wrote Abramoff in one such e-mail in July 2002.

"When I have funding, I will ask Karl Rove for a date with the president. Karl has already said 'yes' in principle and knows you organized this last time and hope to this year," Norquist wrote in the e-mail.

And here's another exchange:

After the tribes' 2002 event with Bush, Norquist pressed Abramoff anew for tribal donations. "Jack, a few months ago you said you could get each of your Indian tribes to make a contribution. ... Is this still possible?" Norquist asked in an October 2002 e-mail.

Abramoff responded that "everyone is tapped out having given directly to the campaigns. After the election, we'll be able to get this moving."

The e-mails show Abramoff delivered, sending one check from the Mississippi Choctaw tribe in October and one in November from the Saginaw Chippewa of Michigan.

Interestingly, the tribes did give Norquist's group $100,000 and did get to meet the President. Of course, Ted says Norquist denies wrongdoing, and this is all just a liberal attack on a good, honest Republican. It's true Norquist is denying it, but in the real world criminals deny their crimes all the time, so a denial is meaningless. Here's what Norquist's group says – an interesting contrast to the quotes taken directly from Norquist's own emails above:

ATR spokesman John Kartch said Norquist never offered to arrange meetings in exchange for money. Instead, Norquist simply wanted Abramoff's tribes to help pay for a conference where lawmakers and tribal leaders passed resolutions supporting the Bush agenda, ultimately securing a brief encounter with Bush, Kartch said. "No one from Americans for Tax Reform ever assisted Jack Abramoff in getting meetings or introductions with the White House or congressional leaders in exchange for contributions," Kartch said, suggesting some of the e-mails might be misleading.

Yes, that mean sneak Jack Abramoff set poor Grover up, and set him up good. It's not fair! And I'm sure Ted would also agree that Karl Rove is telling the truth when he says, contrary to the Norquist emails, that he had no idea "that Norquist solicited any money in connection with ATR events in both 2001 and 2002 that brought Abramoff's tribal clients and others to the White House."

You see, Grover has never done anything like this before. Oops, maybe he has (though naturally, Kartch is denying this as well):

Norquist did make a special effort — at Abramoff's request — to introduce a British businessman and an African dignitary to Rove at another ATR event in summer 2002. Abramoff bluntly told Norquist he was asking the African dignitary for a $100,000 donation to ATR and suggested the introduction to Rove might help secure the money.

"I have asked them for $100K for ATR," Abramoff wrote Norquist in July 2002. "If they come I'll think we'll get it. If he is there, please go up to him (he'll be African) and welcome him."

Norquist obliged. "I am assuming this is very important and therefore we are making it happen," the GOP activist wrote back, promising to introduce the two foreigners as well as a Saginaw tribal official to Rove that night.

A day later, an ecstatic Abramoff sent an e-mail thanking Norquist for "accommodating" the introductions. "I spoke with the ambassador today and he is moving my ATR request forward," the lobbyist wrote, referring to the donation.

And then there is this:

E-mails dating to 1995 show Abramoff solicited donations from clients to Norquist's group as part of lobbying efforts. "I spoke this evening with Grover," Abramoff wrote in an October 1995 e-mail outlining how Norquist and his group could help a client on a matter before Congress. Abramoff wrote that the lobbying help he was seeking from Norquist's group was "perfectly consistent" with ATR's position but that Norquist nonetheless wanted a donation to be made.

"He said that if they want the taxpayer movement, including him, involved on this issue and anything else which will come over the course of the year or so, they need to become a major player with ATR. He recommended that they make a $50,000 contribution to ATR," the lobbyist wrote.

Abramoff cautioned one of his colleagues that the donation needed to be "kept discreet."

"We don't want opponents to think that we are trying buy the taxpayer movement," he said.

Ted interprets the "discreet" comment to mean Abramoff didn't want Norquist to know about it – a complete denial of the context.

Ted also defends Amy Ridenour as a victim of Abramoff. Does this sound like victimization to you?:

In one instance, Abramoff's team wanted to send two lawmakers on a trip to the Mississippi Choctaw reservation in 2001, but one congressman's office had concerns about accepting such a trip from a gaming tribe.

"How about getting National Center for Public Policy Research to sponsor the trip?" Abramoff suggested. "Works for me," replied a lobbying colleague.

E-mails suggest Ridenour was well aware that Abramoff viewed her organization as a convenient pass-through.

In September 2002, Abramoff suggested to one of his associates placing $500,000 in client funds with the national center because the group "can direct money at our discretion, anywhere if you know what I mean."

The same morning Abramoff messaged Ridenour: "I might have $500K for you to run through NCPPR. Is this still something you want to do?" Ridenour was enthusiastic: "Yes, we would love to do it."

The two articles contain so much more damning information (particularly the second, which I have barely even touched on here) that Ted Piccolo ought to be ashamed of himself for ever standing up for Norquist and Ridenour. Ted ought to be outraged that people on his side are behaving this way. He ought to be saying, "Not in my party!" Instead, he derides me for giving the story a second thought and childishly points his finger at the unions, as if one side's lawbreaking justifies lawbreaking on the other side:

So, following your usuall MO, just because there is a story there must be "something" out there. Have you not been following the culture of corruption in the Union and Democratic parties?

Please stop throwing accusations around as if that makes someone immediately guilty of something.

Guess what. There were almost 200 convictions of RACKETEERING by union members in 2005. Perhaps we should make an accusation that "Our Oregon," is guilty of that as well? We would have a much stronger case than you would by your simply tying silly online news stories together.

It's truly a sad day for Oregon Republicans when someone with this poor intellectual capacity is their primary issues blogger.

Posted by Becky at June 26, 2006 09:39 AM