Abramoff, Libby and The Gift Culture of Conservative Think Tanks

I had understood that the conservative think tank thinkers battened on tax-deductible contributions from fat-cat funders, who call it "philanthropy." I had not understood that some of these same professionals also took money from lobbyists like Abramoff to fabricate "pay for play" op eds. Good piece here from Bill Berkowitz at MediaTransparency, with additional comments here from Dave Johnson at See the Forest. In other news, Scooter Libby, under indictment, is now a Senior Good Fellow at Hudson Institute. If the topic is corruption and cronyism who will do the thinking for us? Depends on how much cash there is in it for the thinker, probably. Otherwise we as citizens will have to think for ourselves.

Comments

[P.I. Tchitchikoff]

I've come up with some excellent talking points to justify Scooter's prestigious appointment.

"I see you campus radicals remain eager to punish people before their innocence or guilt has been proven in court. Typical. You'd make Lenin proud."

"Not content with hounding a decent man out of government service -- service he undertook at great personal cost -- you leftists want to deprive him and his family of a means of making a living. Just what I'd expect from the tax and spend, blame America first crowd."

"Only a leftist would confuse possible errors in judgment with felonious intent. Paranoia, projection and persecution: the Stalinist trifecta."

"It was only a mater of time before Michael Moore populism turned to vigilante lynching. Due process? Hello?".

You can mix and match those talking points without depleting any of their virtue.

[Phil]

P.J., thank you. I agree that Scooter is presumed innocent until proven quilty, as are Abramoff and Tom Delay. I hope Hudson has room for them too. My point, really, is just that they should blog all these talking points, so we could hammer it all out in public conversation. Wolf Blitzer can blog too, if he wants. I mean, let's get it on!

[P.I. Tchitchikoff]

I understand, Phil, and of course I share your best wishes for them. I was hoping to act as one of those kindly chaperones you can find at dances, who helps the wallflowers overcome their trepidation. I thought, what if someone showed that it was okay to display the talking points, like a fragrant corsage?

[Phil]

They could post the talking points online, rather than just faxing them to insiders. Then we could all do Wealth Bondage Karaoke Night, lip synching the words. You can be Wolf Blitzer, ok? I'll be Bill Schambra. The subject will be Serving Donor Intent. Candidia can play herself. We can sing the words to the tune of the K-Street Rag.