Phone-jamming scandal won’t fade easily

April 17, 2006

Just to follow up on an item from last week, it’s worth noting that the [tag]phone-jamming scandal[/tag], in the midst several other [tag]Republican[/tag] scandals, seems to be holding on. In particular, Dems in New Hampshire and DC continue to raise a fuss and ask pesky questions such as, “Why did the regional chairman of Bush’s presidential campaign call the White House 12 times while orchestrating a criminal scheme to jam telephone lines at a Democratic get-out-the-vote center?”

Adam Cohen had an interesting item in the NYT today drawing a few uncomfortable parallels between this story, which has barely generated national attention, and a certain White House scandal of yesteryear.

Bloggers are fascinated by what they see as eerie parallels between [tag]Watergate[/tag] and a phone-jamming scandal in [tag]New Hampshire[/tag]. It has low-level Republican operatives involved in dirty campaign tricks. It has checks from donors with murky backgrounds. It has telephone calls to the White House.

Who can blame us? As Cohen explained, this controversy offers:

* “The return of the second-rate burglary,” with ambiguous connections to the White House;

* “The return of the high-priced lawyer,” with the RNC paying [tag]Tobin[/tag]’s legal bills instead of treating him like a “rogue actor who implicated the national party in a loathsome and embarrassing crime”;

* Jack [tag]Abramoff[/tag]’s tribal clients donated the almost-exact amount of the cost of the phone jamming to the New Hampshire GOP, despite the fact that New Hampshire doesn’t have any federally recognized Indian tribes or Indian gambling;

* and, of course, “What did they know, and when did they know it?” by virtue of the multiple Tobin-White House phone calls.

A low-level state Republican crime, or a far bigger deal? Stay tuned.

“Jack Abramoff’s tribal clients donated the almost-exact amount of the cost of the phone jamming to the New Hampshire GOP, despite the fact that New Hampshire doesn’t have any federally recognized Indian tribes or Indian gambling;” – CB

Jack Abramoff sold his native American clients on a scheme to disrupt the New Hampshire Senatorial election?

Damn, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, is there anything politically correct one can say about this?

It just makes me want to pound on the desk.

  • “A low-level state Republican crime, or a far bigger deal?”

    Doesn’t matter, does it? Nothing touches this guy.
    Not even a BJ would do Bush in.

  • “Not even a BJ would do Bush in.” – hark

    Probably true. I doubt that heterosexual sodomy would derail Bush, even if it was not with Laura.

    Now, homosexual sodomy, that might do the trick. And frankly, I find Bush the sort of egotistical self-centered jerk who would take a BJ from a guy as his just due and still think of himself as straight. I wonder who W. would like to humiliate this week?

  • Problem is how to get someone involved to testify against the White House.

    We can’t expect secret tapes of the White House implicating themselves this time.

  • These White Huose people are so arrogant, they might be stupider than anyone knew. Stay tuned; the sharks smell blood. I think we are giveing these people too much credit. There may not be tapes, but there is e-mail.

  • It scares me to think that no matter how much dirt has been uncovered about this administration and no matter how low our opinions are of the integrity of Bush et al, that maybe even we in the reality based community may be underestimating just how evil this administration truly is.

  • My money’s still on Ohio’s Coingate to assume much greater ultimate importance, and for Tom Noe to be this generation’s Kennth H. Dahlberg.

    The NH phone-jamming is Segrettiesque at best.

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