As part of his new-found interest in appearing independent again, John McCain and his aides like to remind folks about his role in taking on Jack Abramoff, the disgraced Republican lobbyist. It’s not an entirely unreasonable pitch; McCain did some decent work on the scandal in the Senate. McCain is bragging about his role now, and that’s probably appropriate.
At least, it was. In an inexplicable move, even by Republican standards, McCain has decided to cozy up to Ralph Reed, the disgraced right-wing activist and Abramoff business partner.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jim Galloway has this jaw-dropper:
If you read this space, you knew this was coming. 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.
On Thursday afternoon, Republicans around Georgia received an invitation from Reed, who will serve as a host of a “special event” for McCain at the downtown Marriot Marquis on Aug. 18.
“John McCain believes in a strong national defense, a smaller, more accountable government, steady economic growth and opportunity, the dignity of life and traditional values,” wrote Reed, whose 2006 campaign for lieutenant governor sank under the weight of evidence detailing his relationship with Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff — much of it uncovered by McCain’s Indian Affairs Committee.
By the time John McCain cozied up to Jerry Falwell, after Falwell blamed Americans for the 9/11 attacks, it was pretty obvious that McCain would embrace literally anyone if he thought he could get away with it.
But therein lies the point: McCain shouldn’t get away with befriending Ralph Reed.
Since when did Reed become some kind of respectable figure? Did I miss the memo?
I know it’s been a couple of years — and McCain can be a little forgetful — but the Abramoff scandal left Reed a humiliated disgrace. It wasn’t just some embarrassing misunderstanding; the scandal ruined him. Permanently.
Remember this one, from June 2006?
Yet another delightful characterization of Ralph Reed, courtesy of today’s McCain report on the Abramoff scandal. This one comes courtesy of Jack Abramoff himself, via his discussion with Marc Schwartz, a public relations representative for the Tigua tribe in Texas.
Let’s pick up the report on page 148. Schwartz was evaluating whether the tribe should hire Abramoff as its lobbyist: To Schwartz, Abramoff appeared to have the right credentials. Abramoff claimed to be a close friend of Congressman Tom DeLay. He also discussed his friendship with Reed, recounting some of their history together at College Republicans. When Schwartz observed that Reed was an ideologue, Schwartz recalled that Abramoff laughingly replied “as far as the cash goes.”
Or, how about this one?
Ralph Reed, email to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, 1998: “Hey, now that I’m done with the electoral politics, I need to start humping in corporate accounts! I’m counting on you to help me with some contacts.”
E-mails and testimony before McCain’s panel showed that Reed, who once branded gambling a “cancer” on society, reaped millions of dollars in tribal casino proceeds that Abramoff secretly routed to him through various non-profit front groups. Abramoff, a lobbyist for the tribes, paid Reed to whip up “grassroots” Christian opposition to prevent rival tribes from opening casinos.
Abramoff sometimes routed his money to Reed through a group called Americans for Tax Reform
, run by conservative anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist.
McCain knows all of this. McCain helped document all of this.
And yet, now we have Reed hosting a fundraiser for McCain in Atlanta.
I didn’t think McCain could stoop this low. I underestimated his cravenness.