How crooked is the Republican Party?

As is becoming more obvious every day, it is crooked from top to bottom. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Tom DeLay are just the tip of the iceberg. Go look at Bullmoose where he describes the lobbying scams pulled by superlobbyist Jack Abramoff (close frind of DeLay.) together with his partner and former spokesman for Tom DeLay, Michael Scanlon. Here is a fun statement from the Washington Post:

In three hours yesterday, Dorgan and John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, quizzed witnesses on what the lawmakers described as an elaborate web of fraud and greed -- "even by Washington standards," as Dorgan unkindly put it.

There were phony grass-roots Christian groups. Phony billing statements. Nonprofits with phony purposes. And, perhaps phoniest of all, a "premiere international think tank" called the American International Center, directed by two boyhood friends of Abramoff partner Michael Scanlon: yoga instructor Brian Mann and lifeguard-cum-excavator David Grosh.

Bullmoose also refers to the Washinton Post Article in which Ralph Reed (in addition to the Weekly Standard, here is Wikipedia on Ralph Reed) has been caught lying about whether he knew the $4 million he got from the Abramov/Scanlon scams came from funds the Chocktaw Indians were directed to donate as part of the requirements to get favorable legislation for their casinos. Here is a good quote:

Material released yesterday also appeared to undermine assertions by former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed, now a candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor.

Reed has acknowledged receiving $4 million from Abramoff and Scanlon to run anti-gambling campaigns in the South. Reed has said he did not know where the funds were coming from, but e-mails suggest that he was aware that some of the money he was getting came from the casino-rich Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

Other e-mails presented at the hearing -- obtained from Abramoff's former law firm, Greenberg Traurig LLP -- showed that Abramoff and his lobbying team discussed how they would "pump up" their bills and expense accounts to the Choctaws by tens of thousands of dollars a month, raising new questions about the law firm's failure to rein in the lobbyists.

This is just a couple of crooks who went off the reservation, right?? No, this is standard Republican practice! Again, Bullmoose directs us to the truth. Do you want to get rich? Go to Washington as a Republican K-Street lobbyist. Here is the Washington Post article he refers to. It is called "The Road to Riches Is Called K Street
".