Abramoff’s Last Stand? | WBUR and NPR - On Point with Tom Ashbrook

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Thursday, June 30, 2005 at 10:00 AM EDT

Abramoff’s Last Stand?

In Washington, money is power, and lobbyist Jack Abramoff brought bags of it. He hit the jack-pot peddling influence to Indian tribes and spread the spoils to Republican power brokers like Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, Grover Norquist, architect of the K Street Project, and the Hammer, House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay.

For a Republican Party that promised a different, and cleaner, kind of government, the damaging details of soliciting megabucks from Indian tribes then washing the money is more than an embarrassment. Some of the party’s heaviest hitters could go down and they may not go quietly. With the 2006 Congressional elections looming, the Republican Party has to decide how far it will go to clean house.

Hear a discussion on the Jack Abramoff scandal and the future of the Republican Party heaveweights.

Guests:

Mathew Continetti, staff writer for the Weekly Standard

Massimo Calabresi, Washington correspondent for Time Magazine

Jack Beatty, On Point News Analyst and senior Editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

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