Culture Of Corruption for 11/3/05
Tweet
More of the sort of government you can expect when you elect Republicans.
‘Can I quit now?’ FEMA chief wrote as Katrina raged
Two days after Katrina hit, Marty Bahamonde, one of the only FEMA employees in New Orleans, wrote to Brown that “the situation is past critical” and listed problems including many people near death and food and water running out at the Superdome.
Brown’s entire response was: “Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?”
DeLay staffers attempted to help controversial lobbyist
Rep. Tom DeLay’s staff tried to help lobbyist Jack Abramoff win access to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, an effort that succeeded after Abramoff’s Indian tribe clients began funneling a quarter-million dollars to an environmental group founded by Norton.
“Do you think you could call that friend and set up a meeting,” then-DeLay staffer Tony Rudy wrote to fellow House aide Thomas Pyle in a December 29, 2000, e-mail titled “Gale Norton-Interior Secretary.” President Bush had nominated Norton to the post the day before.
These aren’t aberrations or hiccups. They happen by design. Conservatives don’t believe in an effective or useful government, they believe its only use is to get their cronies a steady salary and to make life easier for fat cat lobbyists and corporate crooks.
18 Responses to “Culture Of Corruption for 11/3/05”
GOP Rep. Spencer Bachus Facing House Ethics Probe For Insider Trading
Jennifer Aniston Reportedly Pregnant With Twins
PHOTOS: Tamara Ecclestone At The Langham Hotel
Red Front? “Center For American Freedom” Logo Echoes Communist Style
Romney Calls For Defunding Planned Parenthood, Wife Was A Donor
GOP Fundraising Email Asks Supporters To “Knock Out” Obama
Romney Comes Up Limp In Nevada
Obama Opens Lead On Romney In New Poll
Latest Entries
Why Do Liberals Support Drone Strikes?
Weekly Standard Rolls Out The Iraq Argument For Iran
Equal Polarization, My Ass
Some Crazy Stuff That Happened In World War II
Maryland Republican Campaign Funds Used To Defend Voter Suppression
The Obama Jobs Record In One Graph
Martin O’Malley All In For Marriage Equality
Newt Gingrich, Filled With More Excrement Than Your Average Politician
New Year, Powerline Still Stupid
Thanks Again
Meta
Blogroll
Disclaimer
The views on this site are mine and mine alone, and do not reflect the views of my employer, Media Matters for America
© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Cue conservative bringing up a democrat nutcase slashing some republican’s tires (“That’s the real outrage!!!!”) in 5…4…3…
A politician tried to help a lobbyist gain access to the federal government???? No!!!!!
Tell me it isn’t true. I can’t believe that ever happens.
I am stunned. What is this world coming to. Please bring back the Democrats and the good old days of simply buying access to the Lincoln Bedroom.
You left out the part about the quarter-million dollars. Forgetful, aren’t you?
That’s OK BGA, you took care of that for us. Thanks!
So it’s not that there’s corruption. You’re just pissed about the Dollar amount. Or so I read Quaker…
Whose forgetful? Remember ABSCAM?
Hunh? Mind-reading?
Maybe you can read mine and tell me when I thought I was doing that. You asked about ABSCAM. I answered and gave a rousing cheer. Then I moved on to address Mr. Farris.
While you’re at it, maybe you can help me out with this one too:
Maybe I’m having one of those….uh, whaddya call ‘em…uh, you know, where you can’t remember stuff…uh….senior moments, that’s it!
When did I say anybody had a monopoly on corruption?
Thanks for trying to read my mind Quaker, but not surprisingly, you are wrong.
I agree with you that corruption is bad. It’s bad, bad, bad.
Where we differ is that unlike you, I don’t believe that either party has a monopoly on corruption but rather, everyone’s shit stinks just the same.
I do. As I recall, several people went to trial and were convicted. Hooray!
See, it helps if you read the part of the previous comment that I conveniently cut-and-paste. Hedley was trying to pretend that this is all about a nice Mr. DeLay just being helpful and helping nice Mr. Abramoff meet some new friends.
I thought I pointed that out.
Anyway, if you take Hedley’s original description of an innocuous friendly get-together and remember to mention the quarter-million dollars, why you begin to see these events in a whole new light.
So, to answer your question, no, I’m not pissed only about the dollar amount, and yes, it is that there’s corruption.
Semanticleo, I’ll take your word for it. Don’t want to know how you know that.
Both parties have produced an equal amount of shit over the years.
Hedley;
No. A bigger pile of shit smells worse than a smaller one, and a freakin’ yellow shit storm is the stankiest of all.
More republican shit;
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/11/03/abramoff/index_np.html
And no, Hedley, it is far from equal.
These aren t aberrations or hiccups. They happen by design. Conservatives don t believe in an effective or useful government, they believe its only use is to get their cronies a steady salary and to make life easier for fat cat lobbyists and corporate crooks.
Christ Oliver, you sound like a fucking cartoon character. You’re much smarter than this, so why do you do it? I mean, are you so afraid of losing readers like Jadegold?
I won’t speak on behalf of Semanticleo or the “plenty others,” but for my own part, I’ll ask again: evidence, please?
As I said before, “Hooray for ABSCAM!”
Hedley;
I will grant you it occurs on both sides.
However, in 35 years there have been three administrations (actually, FOUR if you count the midnight escape by Bush I in his pardons of Iran/Contra indictees BEFORE they went to trial). who have been mired in incredible scandals that dwarf Democratic scandals in both numbers AND magnitude.
It would appear that corruption is endemic in the republican party. Not that republicans are corrupt; rather it has to do with the opportunites that are a call of the wild to the corrupt, when republicans are in power.
Republican governmental policies are the Fertile Crescent of Corruptiion.
Quaker, you, Semanticleo, and plenty others act as though corruption and the like is par for the course with the Republican party and a mere aberration when committed by a Democrat.
You can arrogantly deny it all you want but we have a political system that breeds corruption and no party is immune.
What’s important is exposing corruption and prosecuting it. The knee-jerk response of “they do it too” is not the way to react to corruption. ABSCAM involved quite a few perpetrators here in Philly and I am glad they were prosecuted. Of course they were mostly Democrats because this is a Democratic town. Since the federal government is controlled by the GOP, of course most of the corruption is by Republicans. The response should be to investigate, expose and prosecute, not to blame Clinton.
Kick the corrupt politcos out of office be they red or blue.
I bet there will be a lot more losses of red then blue.