Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Would you buy a used car from this man

Is it just me, or did "sleeze" get a bit sleezier?

I'm talking about Jack Abramoff who, under his wannabe Fedora, looks like what would happen if one were to mate a muskateer with John Gotti. Ooops, didn't mean to offend any muskateers; what I meant instead was mousekateers, given Mr. Abramoff's penchant for referring to his clients as mice.

Let's pause, for a moment, sit back, and examine what this unrepetant, poor excuse for a snake oil salesman did:

1) With Mike Scanlon, Jumping Jack is accused of scamming several Indian tribes out of more than $80 million.

2) Jack's "kiss and tell" list includes Tom DeLay who, Abramoff asserts, knew what was going on every step of the way, as well as another big conquest, top White House strategist, Karl Rove, who is, arguably, among the only one who has managed to find his way out of Leak-gate, and now Lobby-gate, unscathed.

3) And last, but not least, Jumping Jack lobbied for protection of sweatshops on the Mariana Islands.

Clearly, as the next several months will show, we have not heard the last of either this lobbyist, or the corrupt trail he's left behind, but the looming question, in my mind, is: will anything really change as a consequence of these revelations, or will both houses of Congress, the media, the executive branch, and everybody else in this God-forsaken country just go about their business as usual?