The Nation
by Robert Scheer

12/07/05

Call it Tonto's revenge: The outrageous rip-off of Native American tribes by a top Republican lobbyist is leading inexorably to a reckoning for the allegedly morally superior religious and political right. 'I don't think we have had something of this scope, arrogance and sheer venality in our lifetimes,' Norman J. Ornstein, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote in Roll Call. 'It is building to an explosion, one that could create immense collateral damage within Congress and in coming elections.' Selling firewater to the natives -- or in this case charging them $82 million for government breaks on slot machine and other gaming licenses -- is not exactly what the high-minded prophets of the Republican revolution promised. And to see behind the scenes as Christian right superstar Ralph Reed, bought off by top Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, dupes his grassroots 'pro-family' followers into unwittingly supporting casino-rich Indian tribes under the guise of anti-gambling initiatives, is to glimpse moral corruption of biblical proportions...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051219/scheer1207


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp