Fitzmas, not the real Christmas

If you were disappointed in your one present under the tree at Fitzmas fear not, it wasn't the real Christmas. The gift that just keeps giving is Jack Abramoff.
Lobbyist Sought $9 Million to Set Bush Meeting

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - The lobbyist Jack Abramoff asked for $9 million in 2003 from the president of a West African nation to arrange a meeting with President Bush and directed his fees to a Maryland company now under federal scrutiny, according to newly disclosed documents.

The African leader, President Omar Bongo of Gabon, met with President Bush in the Oval Office on May 26, 2004, 10 months after Mr. Abramoff made the offer. There has been no evidence in the public record that Mr. Abramoff had any role in organizing the meeting or that he received any money or had a signed contract with Gabon.

While the Fitzgerald investigation was about a few administration officials there is hardly a Republican in Washington that doesn't have Abramoff's fingerprints all over them. As Tim over at Balloon Juicesays:

I would just add that this story illustrates why the Abramoff scandals scare GOP insiders more than anything else right now. Remember these two things: practically every Republican in DC connects to Jack Abramoff, and practically everything he did was in some way illegal.

It shouldn’t surprise anybody that the Abramoff scandal reaches deep into the White House. Where did Karl Rove’s chief of staff, Susan Ralston, work before she joined Karl Rove’s staff? As Jack Abramoff’s secretary, of course. Anybody who thinks that she left her rolodex at her former job can kindly go sit in the corner. So we already knew that the White House was joined at the hip with Captain Sleaze. We’ve heard about another White House official, David Safavian, who faces jail time for obstructing one or another of the many Abramoff investigations. You had to know that it was only a matter of time before this or that shady Abramoff deal embarrassed the White House.

That's right, if Plamegate doesn't get Rove Abramoff will. The Republican leadership already has plenty of problems going into 2006 and the Abramoff investigation will increasingly be in the news. This will impact many if not most Republican incumbents running for reelection in 2006 including Tom DeLay and his replacement, Roy Blount.

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