A great primer on the Abramoff matter

Unlike many of my compatriots in the lefty blogosphere I have not spent much time ruminating on the alito appointment hearings now playing on a TV near you. I have chosen to focus a bunch of my time to looking into the Abramoff implosion. and what that might mean for the GOP and the Democrats in the next election cycle.

Today an article entitled A Washington Tidal Wavewas put up on MSNBC.com that, I think, very well sums up the whold affair as it is now known. it shows the cast of characters in all of their glory and points some not-too-subtle fingers at the Federal Government and it's own oversight as reasons that this has gotten so far out of hand.

I would urge you to read it in it's entirety. It is a great resource but here are a few of my favorite bit just in case you don't have my kind of time:

Before too long, recalled a former GOP leadership aide—who, like almost anyone on Capitol Hill these days, declines to be identified talking about his relationship with Abramoff—the DeLay staffers began to think that Abramoff's box at the arena was their box, and, in the cozy way of Washington, it might as well have been. "Jack was sort of like a drug dealer," said the former staffer. "He'd give them [DeLay's staffers] a little taste and then get them hooked."

...

To hear [Bob] Ney's friends tell it, the five-term Ohio Republican was set up. He was lulled into believing that a golfing trip to St. Andrews in Scotland with Abramoff and Reed in 2003 was perfectly acceptable because he was told, said one ally, that "it's just like the trip DeLay took" with Abramoff two years earlier. The official purpose, listed on House disclosure forms, was to give "a speech to Scottish Parliamentarians." Never mind that the Scottish Parliament was not in session and Ney never went there. He was told that, in between golf outings, he would attend a dinner with the Scottish lawmakers. But on the night of the event, he was told by Abramoff that the Scots had canceled at the last minute. A source close to Ney who did not wish to be identified discussing a federal investigation says that Ney had been lured by Abramoff into taking a lobbying junket.

...

Some of Ney's actions may be hard to explain. In 2003, Ney went to London to meet the operator of a Cyprus-based airplane firm, FN Aviation, which was seeking Ney's help in getting permission to sell U.S.-made airplane spare parts to Iran. The owner of the company, Nigel Winfield, a thrice-convicted felon who once went to prison for trying to fleece Elvis Presley, wanted a "humanitarian" exception to a ban on the sale of U.S. high tech to Iran (Iran's aging Boeings had begun crashing). Ney, his lawyers acknowledge, did talk to the State Department, though nothing came of it. (Winfield did not respond to calls from NEWSWEEK.) But on another trip to London, Ney called up Winfield's Syrian-born business partner, Fouad Al-Zayat, known in London casinos as The Fat Man, and suggested they go gambling together. Putting down a $100 bet, Ney ended the evening $34,000 richer, according to his financial reports. Ney says nothing improper took place; he just got lucky. It may also be a coincidence that a year earlier Ney acknowledged at least $30,000 in credit-card debts which he paid off after his gambling windfall.

$34,000 on a $100 bet? I wish I were so lucky... These guys could give a bag of pretzels lessons on how to be crooked.

It's your government, bought and paid for.