That’s Michael Scanlon complaining to Jack Abramoff about Ralph Reed’s billing practices and expenditure claims, according to the Washington Post.
Just asking: exactly how sleazy would you have to be for Scanlon to think you’re sleazy?
Is there someone, somewhere on the face of this earth (or any other planet) that Reed would find too sleazy?
Scanlon apparently is such a repellent turd that even his friends don’t like him and a former high school classmate remembers him as a "complete fucking asshole."
When greedy, amoral weasels screw over everyone on their rise to power then fall precipitously, often they have no friends left to defend them and many lining up to kick them in the teeth as they descend. Even their former allies now know Scanlon and Abramoff never believed a word they told them, and privately held them in contempt.
Scanlon laid out the lobbyists’ cynical strategy in an e-mail to his cohorts, made public in congressional hearings:
"Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them. The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees."
It wasn’t the only snicker to come from the dynamic lobbying duo. Abramoff, in correspondence, chortled about their clients as monkeys, troglodytes and morons.
I wonder how many other neocons also don’t believe the Religious Right venom they spew, seeing the faithful as rubes to be manipulated and fleeced instead.
Snake Oil, by Steve Earle
Now I’ve been travelin’ all around
I heard trouble’s come to your town
Well I’ve got a little somethin’
Guaranteed to ease your mind
It’s call Snake Oil y’all
It’s been around for a long, long time.
“Abramoff, in correspondence, chortled about their clients as monkeys, troglodytes and morons.”
As repulsive as Abramoff is, it is still somewhat reassuring to find there is something we have in common.