TruthNews Commentary, January 9, 2006

The press is having a field day over the guilty plea of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff, a guy we'd never heard of, is accused of "influence peddling," which a dictionary would define as "the peddling of influence." Abramoff has been connected to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Republican who in civilian life was a hired killer (i.e., exterminator of bugs).

What influence peddling really means is that a lobbyist uses gifts or bribes to get politicians to vote for legislation favorable to his cause. In the case of Abramoff, Indian tribes hired him to promote tribal gambling. The federal investigations into Abramoff were among the broadest in American political history, involving well over a hundred FBI agents tasked exclusively to the investigation. It's fortunate that, in the midst of a War on Terror with a brutal enemy bent on hijacking airplanes, sneaking bombs and poison gas into the country, and destroying the American way of life, the FBI was able to devote such resources to the investigation of a lobbyist.

Oddly enough, after a four year investigation involving over a hundred FBI agents, Abramoff pled guilty to...NOT peddling influence. Or, to be more specific, he was charging the Indian tribes exorbitant fees, pocketing the money, and not doing the work that they'd hired him for. In other words, he's a swindler, not an influence peddler.