Some more equal than others

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- George Orwell, 1945

"Jack Abramoff was an equal money dispenser who helped politicians of both parties."
- George W. Bush, November, 2005

"Campaign donation records show Republicans were a lot more equal than Democrats."
- Bloomberg.com, Yesterday

So this is the latest Republican defensive maneuver. Apparently the latest GOP talking points sheet instructed their operatives to point out that Abramoff gave money to Democrats also. In fact, they've even set up a web site called "Glass Houses" to promote information about Democrats who took money from Crooked Jack.

Clearly there is not doubt that some Democrats did, in fact, take cash that went through Abramoff's machine, and if they are smart, they'll give it back. But the majority of the Donkey destined money came from one source... Indian tribes.

Of the top 10 political donors among Indian tribes in that period, three are former clients of Abramoff and Scanlon: the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of California. All three gave most of their donations to Republicans -- by margins of 30 percentage points or more -- while the rest favored Democrats.

Traditionally Native Americans haven't even been a blip on the political radar. There simply wasn't any profit margin in it for politicians. Nobody was out there courting the "Native American Vote" because the term is practically an oxymoron. Until the rise of Indian casino cash cows, the only politicians who ever paid any attention to Native American concerns were found on the most bleeding heart, liberal edge of the Democratic Party. It should therefore come as no surprise that many of the Indians wanted to keep donating in that direction. Certainly Abramoff has demonstrated that he far preferred to channel money to the Republicans, but hey... cash is cash and it speaks louder than politics. Jack got a cut of every dime funneled through his outfit, and Democratic destined dollars spend just as well as Republican.

But as the Bloomberg article shows, the lion's share of the money went to the GOP and that was the area where the real quid pro quo took place - not coincidentally also the focus of current investigations. As we reported earlier, it looks like Crooked Jack is getting ready to sing like a canary to shorten his vacation at the Big House, and the participants in the Culture of Corruption are getting mighty nervous. They may drag down a few Democrats with them, but it looks like the stinky wind in this case is definitely blowing in one direction. If your senses are keen enough, you can probably smell the odor of Tom DeLay roasting on an open fire already.