McCain To Hold Fundraiser With Ex-Abramoff Business Partner Ralph Reed
John McCain has often boasted that he led the way in the investigation that helped put Jack Abramoff in prison -- but apparently Abramoff's business associates are just fine for fundraisers.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that McCain is set to hold a fundraiser next week with none other than Ralph Reed, the Christian right leader and former Abrmaoff business partner whose 2006 bid for lieutenant governor of Georgia was derailed by the publication of numerous e-mails describing how Reed could launder money from Indian tribes to make it appear as if he wasn't actually working for pro-gambling interests.
"If you read this space, you knew this was coming," says Journal-Constitution columnist Jim Galloway. "But even now that the odd-couple alliance between Ralph Reed and John McCain is complete, you still can't believe that it's true."
Late Update: In all fairness, Barack Obama has previously raised money with Greenberg Traurig, a law/lobbying firm that was caught up in the Abramoff scandals.
Dem BillC will be in here any moment to boast about how this is great news for McCain.
August 10, 2008 11:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
and why this further proves Obama is not fit to run for office. Period.
August 10, 2008 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Most trolls measue their success by the number of reply and reply-to-reply, etc. comments that appear beneath theirs. Don't take the bait!
That said, I should apologize for contributing (once) to the problem. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to dump in an obscure Don Koharski reference :-)
August 11, 2008 12:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Greg, in all fairness, it's hardly fair to compare having a fundraiser at Greenberg Traurig to having a fundraiser with Ralph Reed.
August 11, 2008 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
While Ralph Reed's ties to the Theocratic Right and to Jack Abramoff are extremely important, let's not forget Reed's ties to Bush and Enron.
Reed was the Southeast coordinator for the Bush re-election campaign. Just one more sign that McCain is running another Bush Campaign.
Then, there's Reed's consulting gig with none other than Enron (thanks to Karl Rove). According to CNN, "The White House acknowledged Friday that in 1997, as George W. Bush was deciding whether to run for president, his senior political adviser Karl Rove recommended GOP strategist Ralph Reed for a consulting job with Enron Corp. Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, went to work for Enron as a strategist, making from $10,000 to $20,000 a month, according to The New York Times."
John McCain - Lobbyists First. America Last.
August 11, 2008 12:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Countrywide first.
Well, McToast said he wanted to run his campaign with clean money...
August 11, 2008 12:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, Tide with bleach.
August 11, 2008 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's campaign should be tying McCain to Bush every chance they get, and here is yet another one: McCain = BushTerm3 If you like Bush, you will love McCain. Make McCain respond to it--not a good position to be in either supporting or breaking from Bush; it will piss off one Republican or another.
August 11, 2008 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
McBushSame and his lobbiyst friends on how to not change anything...
same old same old politics, this is sure change you can believe in or even better McBushSame the new leader you can believe in...
August 11, 2008 12:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't Ralph Reed the guy that help Abramoff with the sweatshop and Indian Casinos?
And they took money from churches with the express intent of stopping gambling, but was used to help the casino deal go through as well as to bring over the Asian sweatshop women who were told to get abortions if they got pregnant.
So one would think the Christian right would be very upset with Ralph Reed - therefore be very upset with McCain too?
August 11, 2008 12:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm pretty sure this is somehow Obama's fault.
August 11, 2008 1:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
McShame went down to Georgia
He was looking for some dough to steal
He was in a bind, he was falling behind
The Rightwing Nutjobs were starting to squeal
August 11, 2008 1:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Like your avatar, but are you sure Satan is a US citizen?
August 11, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ralph Reed is the scum of the earth. His involvement in the Jack Abramoff scam of American Indians is so disgusting I hate to mention Reed's claim to be a Christian. The guy is rotten all the way through. Of course we all make mistakes but Reed has never apologized about his illegal behavior. McCain's association with Reed shows the depths he is willing to sink to raise money. Poor McCain has lost his soul and Reed it helping him destroy any shred of believability McCain had left, and that was not much.
August 11, 2008 2:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
What is with McSame and all these reTHUGlican closeted Queens like Lady Crist , Ms Lindsay Graham and now Madame Reed.
What a bunch of losers...........
August 11, 2008 5:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if some enterprising individual/ group could youtube the hearings where McCain was so outraged by the Tribes being ripped off - with a voice over talking about Ralph Reed's fund raiser .. paging Eli Parisier -
( This is really a long way from the heady days of McCain _ Feingold campaign finance reform ..)
August 11, 2008 5:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lest anyone forget, from Wiki:
August 11, 2008 6:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ralph Reed's New Role
Jan 10, 2008
....Reed's much-publicized role in the Abramoff scandal cost him the 2006 Republican primary for Georgia lieutenant governor--the first rung on what was widely expected to be a climb into national politics.
Now Reed's on the sidelines, handicapping McCain's prospects.
"Can he go on from here?" CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Reed on Tuesday. "Does he have the organization in Michigan and South Carolina?"
"I think the jury is out on that," said Reed, explaining that McCain would encounter more conservative voters and fewer independents in the upcoming South Carolina primary. "This is the same challenge that he had with George W. Bush eight years ago," said Reed. "That's where it gets tough for him."
Reed would know. It was in South Carolina that he and other Christian conservatives succeeded in mounting a furious effort on behalf of George W. Bush eight years ago to defeat McCain, then, as now, coming off a big win in the New Hampshire primary.
"Last night was the first time we've seen or heard Ralph Reed since the campaign began," said South Carolina McCain strategist Trey Walker....
Reed wasn't the only Abramoff scandal casualty seeking to cast doubts on McCain's prospects after the New Hampshire vote. Former House majority leader Tom DeLay, who left Congress and is still under investigation by the Justice Department in connection with the Abramoff probe, predicted to MSNBC's Chris Matthews that McCain won't fare well with conservatives in the South.
New Hampshire, he said, was "a blip, an aberration in the nominating process of the Republican Party."
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/10/post_270.html
So how much is being paid to have a change of heart in a matter of 8 mo, hummm...
4 more years of the same!
Soul Selling For the Right Price!
August 11, 2008 7:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
What's with that columnist? Of course I can "believe it's true" that Reed and McSame would get in bed together. I would've been shocked had it not happened.
I still surprised to see so many Liberals say things like, "What happened to McSame? He seemed to reasonable before." Uhhh....he's always been a con man. Keating 5 anyone? The 2000 campaign was a media and campaign creation. McSame is a slimeball of the highest order. Always has been.
So anyway, this is great news since I think Reed is now disliked greatly in much of the evangelical world. I seem to remember reading that many feel taken advantage of by Reed, so this should further decline McSame's "Christian Right" support.
August 11, 2008 7:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
As the Nuns used to tell us long, long ago;
"Show me your company and I'll tell you what you are."
August 11, 2008 8:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
At this point you begin to wonder why McCain even wants to be president. In what unique and original direction is supposed to lead the country with Ralph Reed, Karl Rove, Halliburton, Blackwater, John Hagee, David Addington, John Yoo, James Dobson, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney (the list goes on) all aiming guns in his general direction.
August 11, 2008 8:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
So McCain's coming to Georgia to mix with the scum of the earth. Typical of "ethical" politicians to do that.
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
August 11, 2008 9:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I really don't think that McCain has to worry about Ralph Reed's nefarious past. No one on the major networks or in the punditocracy will bring it up except in passing. McCain stories have no legs, even stories that should have been interesting to discuss on Sunday morning shows. Like why Katie Couric edited in a completely different answer to one of McCain's questions.
It was a story that had all of the elements necessary for a political discussion among Stephanopoulos, Will,. Roberts, et al.
Was there media bias? Did CBS have the right to change McCain's answer? Did they have permission from McCain's campaign to change his answer? Did McCain's campaign ask them to change the answer? Did CBS give the McCain campaign, a do over, because he made a mistake on his signature issue?
If the MSM did not ask questions about something that blatant why would they let a little thing like a history of hoodwinking his religious constituency and circumventing campaign finance rules by Ralph Reed, come up on their radar screen?
August 11, 2008 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
The "Book of Ralph" helps explain why Reed lost his bid for lieutenant governor in Georgia:
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A20871
August 11, 2008 10:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bob Barr has the most to gain from this news.
August 11, 2008 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nice CDB reference and oh so fitting.
August 11, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
This makes for an interesting conversation but will stop right here. The MSM will not even refer to Ralph Reed's past. This incident, as well as many others that concern McCain, will barely be a footnote with the talking heads. I can almost hear it:
"Senator McCain will be holding a fundraiser in Atlanta, Georgia next week, but Senator Obama is now having trouble with...."
August 11, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink