ABRAMOFF: George, Jack and the Chiefs
On May 9, 2001, as Lou Dubose reported last
June in the Texas Observer, Abramoff ushered the chiefs of the Coushatta and
Choctaw tribal councils into a 15-minute Oval Office meeting with Bush.
They also had lunch in the White House. For this swift brush with the president,
the tribal chiefs paid dearly, including $25,000 to Abramoff himself,
an additional $25,000 to Americans for Tax Reform (the outfit led by Republican
eminence Grover Norquist, a longtime associate of Abramoff’s and Rove’s)
and millions more in contributions to political causes and "charities"
overseen by Abramoff.According to Dubose, the Coushatta chief, a man named
Lovelin Poncho, had initially denied visiting the White House with Abramoff.
But under pressure from tribal opponents, he admitted the meeting last summer.
Dubose has interviewed others present at the meeting who confirmed that Abramoff
was there. In his Texas Observer article, Dubose reproduces several documents
confirming the meeting and Norquist’s role.Some brave soul in the White House press corps
should ask Scott McClellan a "specific" question about that meeting
on May 9, 2001, and suggest that he check the Secret Service’s White House
logs for the names of Abramoff and the tribal council chiefs. Someone
should start asking the members of the Coushatta and Choctaw tribal councils
about that date as well. The president meets with many people and cannot be
expected to remember everyone — even if they raised hundreds of thousands
of dollars for him, perhaps. But the tribal chiefs are likely to remember
the day they met George W. Bush in the White House, who brought them there
— and how much they had to pay for the privilege.
While everyone in the publishing world, net, smut, and newspaper,
hunt for the incriminating pictures of George W. Bush and Jack "I’m just
another Republican felon" Abramoff. It really would be nice to know the
details.
Indians paying $50,000 in a pay to play pay off to see the president
is not your ordinary type of fundraising event. This is especially true when
the group half the money went to is run by Grover Norquist, a confidante of
Karl Rove, who ran Bush-Cheney re-elect.
When you follow the money, even through the stories now online
and in print, what you get is a clear line from donor to Abramoff to Norquist, who is part of the Bush-Cheney money machine, especially if you want to bring up the subject of Tom Delay.
And just in case you haven’t noticed, there are no Democrats in
this money line anywhere to be found.
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