Posted on 11/16/2011 8:44:22 PM PST by Bigtigermike
Jack Abramoff, the fedora-sporting former lobbyist whose name tends to be synonymous with a certain type of corruption scandal, accused Newt Gingrich of just that in an interview with David Gregory for the "Meet The Press" webshow "PRESS Pass."
At about the 15-minute mark of the interview, Gregory asked Abramoff - who finished a jail stint over a year ago on influence-peddling charges and has been promoting his recently-published book - about the strategic counseling fee of over $1 million that was paid to Newt Gingrich by housing giant Freddie Mac.
"What do you make of all that?" Gregory asked.
Abramoff replied, "This is exactly what I'm talking about. People who come to Washington who have public service and they cash in on it. And they use their public service and their access to make money, and unfortunatley Newt Gingrich is one of them who have done it. But far too many of them do it and one of the reforms I propose in my book is to close permanently the door, the revolving door, betweeen public service and cashing in as a lobbyist."
He added after another question, "I don't know if he'll survive this, to be honest with you, this is a very big thing."
"Why?" Gregory asked.
"Because he is doing, and engaging in the exact kind of corruption that America disdains. The very things that anger the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement and everybody who is not in a movement and watches washington and says why are these guys getting all this money, why do they all become so rich, why do they have these advantages? Unfortunately Newt seems to play right into it."
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Takes one to know one I guess.
Here comes the mud. Sling it all out there and see if any of it sticks.
Why wasn’t it considered corruption when Abramoff gave money to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi?
Exactly.
And I wonder how Abramoff’s pal Grover Norquist has managed to avoid getting busted.
Can’t believe the MSM is attacking Newt, who according to FR is a well known RINO..sarc/off.
Romney is their guy!
They'll keep doing to to any front runner - like dominoes - until Romney is the last guy standing.
What do you give the MSM, 2 weeks, maybe 3? Before they have Newt ripped to shreds and down 20 points in the polls.
Until now he hasn’t been a serious enough contender to be a target but just wait...
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly right. It’s not like JA is saying that he’s good, just that they’re both bad.
If it’s so easy to cover a candidate with blood, why not do it?
He’ll start getting hit by the other candidates. Can’t “punch down” you know.
She'd already had been “vetted” to the extreme and was still standing. The MSM was out of ammo.
All she had to do was talk coherently about conservative principles and she'd be on top.
Abramoff is now part of the MSM? I don't know why anyone would be shocked or surprised, Newt has been cashing in on his "Mr. Speaker" title ever since he quit, which, BTW, was because he was going to be ejected as the speaker.
What Abramoff does not explain is that people like Newt Gingrich have that unique ability to get things done in Washington D.C. That ability is the result of years of work with an aptitude that is the best there is. What Abramoff forgets is that $1million that Freddie Mac paid Newt is a reflection of what he is worth. It shows the high value that people who know Newt have for him. It is another indication to the voter of the quality Newt will be as President.
Corruption? How is this corruption if Newt isn’t even holding political office?
You want corruption? Corruption is this fascist Obama administration paying off the unions and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac with outrageous bonuses of taxpayer money.
Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Grover Norquist are not running for President.
So, attacking Newt will get more publicity for Abramoff’s book.
Good point.
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