Frank Rich Uncovers a ScoopA scoop of what, I'm not saying. But Rich does some
simple dot-connecting:
This time the plot begins with money. Two K Street fixers, a lobbyist named Jack Abramoff and a flack named Michael Scanlon, managed to snooker six American Indian tribes into handing over $82 million in exchange for furthering their casino interests. According to The Washington Post, some of their tribal takings, cycled through a nonprofit center for "public policy research," helped send Mr. DeLay golfing in Scotland.A Congressman got treated to golfing in Scotland by lobbyists? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!
This is one of those stories where you wonder whose mind is going to be changed. Rich's readers are mostly NY liberals who already hate Tom Delay. He appears to be trying to score points with social conservatives ("Look, Tom Delay took money from gambling interests!"), but few of them read his column and the gambling connection is tenuous at best, and not as hypocritical as it sounds. Suppose, as has happened in many states, the local racetracks are begging to be allowed to have slot machines. In that instance the Indian tribes with casinos would of course be opposed, as would social conservatives. So social conservatives and Indian tribes with casinos can have common interests.
The rest of the column is remarkable for its lack of content. Rich introduces a lot of players, but their links to any current story is hard to discover.
