Is Abramoff Shopping Photos of Himself With Bush?
Is Abramoff Shopping Photos of Himself With Bush?
Over the weekend, TIME and the Washingtonian reported they’ve seen five photos of President Bush with Jack Abramoff. But, according to TIME, the source “refused to provide the pictures for publication.”
Why would someone approach two different news magazines with pictures and then not let them publish them? It appears that someone is shopping photos of Abramoff and Bush to different news outlets, looking for a payoff. (TIME reports “they are likely to see the light of day eventually because celebrity tabloids are on the prowl for them.”) Who would do this? The available evidence points to Jack Abramoff himself.
Consider:
– According to TIME one of the picture of Bush and Abramoff “bears Bush’s signature, perhaps made by a machine.” Who else would have a signed picture of Bush and Abramoff except Abramoff?
– The Washingtonian reports that, “Abramoff would tell prosecutors, if asked, that not only did he know the President, but the President knew the names of Abramoff’s children and asked about them during their meetings. At one such photo session, Bush discussed the fact that both he and Abramoff were fathers of twins.” How would they know that unless they’ve spoken to Abramoff or perhaps his lawyer.
– According to TIME, a sixth shot is of Bush, Hastert and Abramoff’s children. Who would retain this photo, except for Abramoff?
– U.S. News reports that “mounting legal bills forcing him [Abramoff] to sell off assets.”
If Abramoff is seeking one more payday, the White House is his enabler. TIME reports they appear to be official photos. If the White House would release the photos publicly, like it promised to do, they would be worthless.
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The radical-right-wing spin may now start:
It was becasue Pres. Clinton had sex! Don't blame us!
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:31 pmI've heard that Abramoff is crying poverty, so maybe he is looking for one more payday.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:35 pmInteresting. Is Abramoff holding out on his new friends, the prosecutors? What is he not telling them?
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:37 pmPurely speculation, of course...
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:37 pmMe thinks these pics are gonna disappear when the great right money machine buys them.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:38 pmWhat chance Jackoff is hawking these as "exclusives" to every reporter in DC? Or perhaps he's trading these pictures in exchange for a future scoop. No chance Jack is hawking these just for the money... he might be corrupt as f*ck, but he ain't stupid.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:42 pmIt would make more sense that it is a Jack-off staff member who has NO RESOURCES.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:43 pmThis would be a real test for companies like Walmart; if the National Enquirer got hold of these pictures, and other chainstores were selling them at their checkstands, would Walmart and the other Bush-friendly stores refuse to carry them? Especially if the magazines were selling like crazy - then we would see which is greater; their attachment to the Pres., or their devotion to profits.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:43 pmHee!
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:47 pmThis can't be kept quiet. Someone will do the right thing.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:49 pmNote to future accessories to crime:
Take Pictures!
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:52 pm"A SERVICEABLE VILLIAN"
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:16 pmAs this ADMINISTRATION (gwb) is CAREFULLY DISASSEMBELLED- through DUE PROCESS- it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT (in this writer's belief) that ADMINISTRATION GENERATED MISINFORMATION be detected and be EXPOSED!
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:16 pmThis maybe another Dan Rather moment also. So Be very watchful. If 'Moff is shopping them around it looks like he would contact Murdock and show'em on Faux news. 'moff father maybe shopping them around as he is a very angry man that his son's name muddied.I read that 'moff's father thot his son had done a lot for this country and maybe is trying to proove the bush adminstration used him for their gains.
Anywho it looks like once again the Chimp n Charge is a Chimp after all and needs to be caged for his own good.
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:25 pmChris Matthews might ask, why do so many Republicans sound like Osama?
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:35 pmheh heh heh
lemme list the things I've done or been involved in that have not stuck :
Enron "Kenny Boy" Lay
Jeff "insert joke here" Gannon
Ignoring PDB
running scared on 911
WMD anyone? downing street memos
Halliburton
Katrina
stealing two elections (plus some in 02)
warrantless spying
two troglodites handing down SC rulings for the next 30 years
Even if Dems control congress after 06, what on earth makes anyone think that I give a shit. I hereby appoint myself Teflon Chimp, ruler of the world. What the hell is anyone going to do about it?
People have to be seriously deranged to think that dubya has lost any power because of these scandals. Everyone gets all atwitter when a new one hits but to what end?
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:42 pmThis issue is another big 'so what?' (like the Downing Street Memos) that Rove is finessing to take everyone's mind off the war, New Orleans and other important issues. This National Enquiror-ization of the news now being extended to the web certainly seems to be working with Think Progress, which is lately focusing too much on talking heads and family photos and not enough on the main issues facing our country.
This is boring--I'm outa here.
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:43 pmBye, Don.
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:49 pmHere's a fitting picture of Bush and Abramoff together:
http://www.perrspectives.com/images/banana_repubs_010306.jpg
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:58 pmDon,
I agree, Think Progress should cover other news like:
Bush's approval rating being 36%
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/23/36-2/#comments
Pat Buchanan comparing Bill Clinton to Osama bin Laden
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/23/buchanan-clinton-bin-laden/#comments
The fact that both Republican and Democrats think Bush's wiretapping is illegal
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/23/both-parties/#comments
Haliburton giving contaminated water to our troops
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/22/halliburton-gave-troops-contaminated-drinking-water/#comments
John McCain saying Bush's wiretaps are illegal
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/22/mccain-wiretaps-illegal/#comments
Bob Schieffer comparing Kerry with Bin Laden
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/21/schieffer-kerry-bin-laden/#comments
Tom DeLay going after "Duke" Cunningham's old job on the Defense Appropreaition Committee
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/21/delay-is-angling/#comments
I would say that a lot of people agree with you Don, since many of these thread only reached a measly 300 posts from people that aren't interested in these topics.
/sarcasm=off
January 23rd, 2006 at 2:06 pmNow wouldn,t that be a scenerio where the villian turns out to be the heroe? a classic case of Robin Hood?
January 23rd, 2006 at 2:19 pmI'm just curious about something. Is there not a federal statute, or is it a state law in just some states preventing a convicted criminal from profiting from his crime? Granted, Abramoff hasn't been convicted yet, but he will be...
January 23rd, 2006 at 2:39 pmI guess it's a state law. In New york it's the Son of Sam law. I'm pretty sure most states have them. No federal law preventing it?
January 23rd, 2006 at 2:42 pmThis issue is another big ’so what?’ (like the Downing Street Memos) that Rove is finessing to take everyone’s mind off the war, New Orleans and other important issues.
Comment by Don — January 23, 2006 @ 1:43 pm
I assume you are talking about the invasion of Iraq.
That you think The Downing Street Memos are a "'so what' issue", and then call the war an "important issue" is really baffling -since the two are inextricably linked.
The Downing Street Memos are an important piece of evidence in showing how the Bush administration didn't merely misinterpret the intelligence, or was fooled by Hussein's bravado. The documents show Pres Bush's entourage actively engaged in building a phony case for a war of choice.
Hardly a "so what" issue. That you choose to call it so, helps explain why Bush still has a 36% job approval.
January 23rd, 2006 at 3:27 pmThe possibility of Abramoff being the source is intriguing. To what end? What about the photo-shopping serving as a "shot across the bow" or some hint that he (Abramoff) is in a position to divulge more? And, what if what he needs is an evidentiary guarantee of a pardon ... in exchange for destroying the pictures. It just gets curioser and curioser.
January 23rd, 2006 at 5:44 pmDumbya Bush needs to have a broom handle shoved up his ass and used as the means to ride him out to the place where he is tarred, feathered, and left to rot.
January 23rd, 2006 at 5:53 pmWho cares if Abramoff sells his pics of himself with Bush to Time magazine and other news outlets! Bush denies he ever met or knew Abramoff, so if pics show otherwise, it proves that Bush is a big fat liar!
January 23rd, 2006 at 6:04 pmThe Abramoff photos...
Time has seen the President Bush/Jack Abramoff photos:As details poured out about the illegal and unseemly activities of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, White House officials sought to portray the scandal as a Capitol Hill affair with little relevan...
January 23rd, 2006 at 6:29 pmthis is penny ante stuff -- bush is weathering the storm because the zionist news media downplay his nazification of america -- as long as we haven't got universal conscription, scumbags like mccain, lieberman, kerry, hillary, mike bloomberg & bush won't let their own offspring join the military but are glad to hoodwink other folks' girls & boys into serving as cannon fodder -- never underestimate the ability of americans not to care as long as their own ox isn't the one being gored
January 23rd, 2006 at 7:19 pmWho cares if Abramoff sells his pics of himself with Bush to Time magazine and other news outlets! Bush denies he ever met or knew Abramoff, so if pics show otherwise, it proves that Bush is a big fat liar!
Comment by Jay Randal
What are we? The O.J. jury? We still need proof that Bush is a liar?
January 23rd, 2006 at 7:20 pmIt's staggering to me really that after all the blatant, in your face, crimes this administration has committed that there's still 40% or so that support the sociopathic, inarticulate, little prick. And this doesn't even take into account the 50% that don't give or know shit about what's going on.
Really? Ask yourself, how many people actually go out of their way to watch McLaughlin as apposed to "American Idol"? Then go on and ask what percentage use the Net to get unfiltered news?
So, here we are, raging at the choir.
One thing:peaceful civil disobedience. If we don't start taking to the streets, putting ourselves in harms way, we're finished. Words won't do it. Consistent visual presents in ever growing numbers will. Forming a "human chain" that would surround the White House. Telling them were they can put their "free speech zone".
Yeah, that's right, many will be arrested, some will be hurt, and, remembering Kent State, even die.
So, I have a question.
How many of you are going to get off your fat asses, and actually do something?
January 23rd, 2006 at 7:26 pmit seems to me that someone aught to appeal the vote on alietoe by people who by the evidence from the abramoff invesigation should not be in a position to be making decisions that will effect this country for many years to come.
January 23rd, 2006 at 7:33 pmReply to post 30 > I do not need any more proof that Bush is a liar, but those who support Bush need to be buried in it! In a way maybe America is the OJ jury > being manipulated to find Bush innocent, even though he is guilty as sin!
January 23rd, 2006 at 8:18 pmChickenhawks ALWAYS sing like canaries when you catch them and squeeze them.
Some ganster, HA! More like Tweety.
January 23rd, 2006 at 9:36 pmI think it's a signal to the powers that be to quietly guarantee him a pardon, or else.
January 23rd, 2006 at 9:52 pmHow many of you are going to get off your fat asses, and actually do something?
Comment by gonnuts — January 23, 2006 @ 7:26 pm
Actually, about 500 000 people have come out into the streets of NYC an DC a dozen times since 2001, trying, first to prevent then to try to stop the war. February 4 in DC, World Can't Wait is doing it again, show up. There's probably an ongoing vigil near you, stop your car and join them.
January 23rd, 2006 at 10:31 pmIt's a fact that Prez Bush and Sleaze Abramoff were photographed together, and now someone anonymous is showing a few photos to the media. So knowing that, a reasonable person may assume that there is either (1) someone with connections with Abramoff has an agenda that these particular photo's helps or (2) someone with connections with the Bush Admin thinks these photos will be helpful in the spin of the Bush/Abramoff relationship or (3) both.
So I am expecting that these pictures will soon be available for everybody to spin as much as they desire. And that will deflect from getting many questions answered about Bush Administration meetings emails and phone calls with Abramoff's racket. I say this as an American citizen who is scared for this country and where this epidemic of corruption of the washington dc establishment means for our future.
So I am hoping that we will get to see alot more than a few hanukah pix. That's why i hope someone turns up the photo(s) of a check presentation at the white house. I do not know if it is any thing but a rumor, but it allegedly has Jack Abramoff, Karl Rove, and Laura Bush during a ceremony where a check was presented to Abramoff's clients. The check supposedly was to go to a domestic violence program, and a question that the media might want to look into is, what happened to the check at this allegeded ceremony?
January 24th, 2006 at 1:09 amNobody refused to print the pictures of Clinton and Monica
January 24th, 2006 at 12:07 pmWe seem to be living in a twilight world now..
[...] Yesterday, ThinkProgress laid out the case for why the source for the photos was likely Abramoff himself. Last night, our hunch was confirmed. [...]
January 24th, 2006 at 3:22 pmBut what does he REALLY gain from this? Just a quick buck?
January 24th, 2006 at 8:16 pmLP:
Um. You're forgetting something. Thinking of this Adminstration like the Corleone family is always the place to start.
Right now Pam Abramoff and her two children are up the creek. ALL the money's gone.
If this were the Mafia, what Abramoff would be getting is the message across to the Don: Take of my family when I'm in stir OR ELSE.
Unless, of course, it's Pam herself shopping the photos, which would be highly amusing in itself.
January 25th, 2006 at 1:39 amOr if this admin was "like" the Mafia, Jack-off could be saying if anything happens to me, the media not just YOUR DOJ now has the pics.
January 25th, 2006 at 5:07 amCan anyone besides Bush and Rove pay Abramoff's real price? The price that includes a full - or at least effective -
January 25th, 2006 at 6:45 ampardon?
Well....
The corruption in Washington is now more one sided than ever. It is fueld by recent FEC reforms in campaign finance which "allow" corporations to contribute on a quid pro quo basis and impairs the ability of groups who would advocate for the masses. The only ones getting through in Washington are those rich enough to be "pioneers."
This is why we have had:
The Medicare closed doors debacle
Tightening credit rules, & "preditory" lending to the poor unchecked
California Energy Crisis
Many of the guilty in Enron are still free
Wage Base erosion nationwide
Embracement of immigration lack of policy benefitting the rich
Eminent Domain law acceleration
I COULD GO ON!
Until someone organizes the American people into a million person plus, and possibly destructive march on Washington to restore the rights of the masses to group together to contribute to candidates to force change nothing will change.
Such a march needs to occur at the opening of the Congressional session, not on a Holiday when lawmakers are out.
-Ron Larson
January 25th, 2006 at 8:18 amMinneapolis
What I would like to know is why we are continuing to allow the media to spend the bulk of its resources parroting the administration line. They are so obviously corrupt. Yet we continue to go down the road further.
The processes of:
Appropriatimg more resources for war and infringement on rights of Americans needs to STOP. We should not go forward with more or the NEOCON agenda.
We need to stop advancing legislation and appropriations on this until we have backed all the corrupt players away from the table. Our message to the NEOCONS should be: SECURITY WILL SHOW YOU OUT...LEAVE ALL THE CRAP ON THE DESK AND GET OUT. PICK UP ONE PIECE OF PAPER AND YOU WILL BE SHOT.
-Ron Larson
January 25th, 2006 at 8:28 amMinneapolis
Any snake handler will tell you...
Mess around with snakes long enough, eventually you'll get bitten. Why would someone approach two different news magazines with pictures and then not let them publish them? It appears that someone is shopping photos of Abramoff and Bush to different.....
January 25th, 2006 at 11:30 amPresident said in today’s news conference, he “did not know the fellow†Jack Abramoff.
How then does GW know the names of all the Abramoff children and asks about there well-being.
Why do I get upset?
Can one hold a serial liar responsible?
January 26th, 2006 at 7:18 pm[...] These photos will come out eventually. They always do. Think Progress even suspects that Abramoff himself may be shopping the photos around to the highest bidder. [...]
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