The New Political Weasel-Act: "Give Back The Gold"

So I’m watching the Jack Abramoff soap opera, and now this guy is the number one best buddy of prosecutors. Abramoff was the biggest player on K-Street, worming his way through various politicians in power and getting things done on behalf of his "friends" (or anyone willing to hire him).

For the past year or so, this guy was considered public poison. He was under investigation for various frauds and even connected in some way to a murder. Just being connected to him drew immediate Saint Peter-like denials. "Abramoff? Never heard of him."

But, you know, funny thing… these politicians still accepted his money. They still shook his hand, they still showed up with him at his fancy junkets, they still smiled for the cameras, and they still cashed his checks and added his money to their generous campaign coffers. Oh, publicly they were saying, "Jack who?" But privately they were all calling him "best buddy" and a "great American".

And those allegations against him? "Oh those MUST be false! You know how those prosecutors are… always going after some bigwig just to make a name for themselves. It’s nothing! Just another day at work for someone so successful and dedicated as Jack Abramoff!" (Yeah, right... and if you believe that then I'll tell you another one..)

Well now Abramoff is going before the courts and saying that some of those allegations ARE true. HE IS the bad guy here! He DID do some of those things… AND in order to cut down his projected prison time, he’s going to help the prosecutors go after all of his "good friends" in the government.

I’m sure all of his "good friends" are calling him something other than a "great American" right now.

And the members of the media, and several liberal voices, are all ecstatic about this! They’re overjoyed at the news of Abramoff helping to go after some of the bigwigs in Washington! They think that this will be their chance to FINALLY get some of these conservative power-mongers like Tom DeLay and Dennis Hastert.

Well I wouldn’t get too excited about this yet. These politicians are slick sons-of-bitches. They wouldn’t have made it that far in the political world if they could be brought down by one lobbyist, no matter who that person is. Remember that DeLay and company CREATED K Street. They’re not going to get done in by their own creation.

So I say "SHOW ME THE CONVICTIONS!" I won’t be happy until these corrupt bastards are not just indicted, not just doing a perp walk (which won’t happen anyway), but are actually CONVICTED and hauled away kicking and screaming.

Meanwhile the politicians have developed a sure-fire way to weasel out of this embarrassing situation… just give back the money.

Never mind that they accepted it with a wink and a smile. Never mind that they used it to help fatten their campaign coffers and to put them in office or to keep them in office. No, just give it all back and everything will be okay… no harm, no foul.

Has Washington become Antonio Bay all of a sudden? Do they really think that if they "give back the gold" that the prosecuting "ghosts" will not come back to haunt them? That seems to be the implication here, and everyone up and down Pennsylvania Avenue seem to be doing just that.

You know, if Abramoff started singing last year over his role in this scandal, then "giving back the gold" would make sense. But it’s been two years since the last election, and probably two years since Abramoff’s checks were cashed and deposited in the campaign coffers. That’s a lot of time for some quid pro quo to be carried out. Abramoff probably already got what he was looking for with it anyway, so giving back the money is really a meaningless gesture when you think about it.

(Whoops! There I go again with that nasty little word "think"!)