guilt by abramoff & association

we are constantly amused by the top-down corporate media’s attempts to smear democrats with the same “are they corrupt” brush as repubbblicans in the abramoff scandal.

they do this by simply adding the words “or his clients” to the sentences about who got money from abramoff (as in, both repubblicans and democrats received money from abramoff, his associates, or his clients). and, in this case, his clients are usually american indian tribes.  bosglobe:

us representative patrick j. kennedy, who has collected more donations from tribal clients of once-powerful lobbyist jack abramoff than any other democrat, intends to keep the money, joining a number of democrats who have decided that abramoff’s plea bargain on conspiracy and fraud charges won’t alter their decision.

we discuss this dishonest approach after the jump:
the problem with this guilt by association tactic is that it’s weak, and not even a real debating point.

for example: skippy is in show business. suppose skippy hires a public relations firm, let’s call them abramoff & associates, to publicize his career. ergo, skippy is abramoff’s client.

and let’s say skippy also pays some of his own money to backstage west for an ad touting skippy’s appearance in “blogtopia! the musical!” at a 99-seat equity waiver theater at the complex.

then, for the sake of argument, let’s say it turns out abramoff & associates is run by the mafia, and they are bribing television studios with payola to hire their actor clients. by the same logic, then backstage west is affiliated with the mafia, and involved in the bribery scandal. because, after all, skippy is abramoff’s client, and backstage “took money from abramoff, his associates, or his clients.”

even worse, let’s suppose abramoff & associates cheated skippy out of his money. so now it’s a case of blaming the victim. newsobserver.com:

those prosecutors say the high-flying abramoff wined and dined lawmakers, gave campaign contributions and paid for trips in order to influence legislation. they also say that through kickbacks, he bilked the indian tribes he was representing as a lobbyist of millions of dollars.

and, the houston chronicle:

an abramoff plea will finish a crucial phase of an investigation that began more than a year ago into charges that abramoff and scanlon cheated indian tribes out of about $82 million after being hired to pave the way for gambling casinos.

[ed. note:  emphasis ours].

so somehow, the democrats who took money from people that abramoff cheated, are themselves cheaters.

we have but one word to say to that:  hah?

the other point we wish to make is, weren’t there any of abramoff’s white clients involved? why do the top-down corporate media insist on singling out the evil redman as the devil involved in scandal? what kind of bigotry is this?

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