Abramoff Affair

First let me be clear that just because someone got oney from someone doesn't mean that it bought their vote. Given that, here is a fact missed in all the media coverage of the Abramoff affair:

The National Republican Senatorial Committee said yesterday that almost all Senate Democrats have accepted money from scandal-plagued lobbyist Jack Abramoff, his associates or his Indian tribe clients.

"I think Democrats might want to be a little bit careful before they start pointing fingers," said Sean Spicer, spokesman for the House Republican Conference. "This is something that has ensnared both parties."

The Senate campaign committee said 39 of the Senate's 44 Democrats, plus Democrat-leaning independent James M. Jeffords of Vermont, have taken funds from Abramoff, directly or indirectly. . . .

Second, I listened to C-SPAN's coverage of McCain's hearings on Abramoff yesterday and I have no clue what the problem was. The claim was that a woman would tell Abramoff about conversations that she had with Interior department officials, and that Abramoff said that this information was valuable. In addition, Abramoff had Indian groups make donations to this woman's organization. The point being what? I had no idea what the crime was in what was being discussed.