GOP-controlled Congress: A modern-day Tammany Hall

There are so many strands and details to keep straight, the brewing Indian casino scandal is tough to wrap the mind around. Sam Rosenfeld at TAPPED has a very good primer on all the shenanigans.

Rosenfeld quotes the following passage from Lou Dubose, that pretty much sums up what's going on in Washington these days.

Norquist’s discreet approach to the Indian tribal leaders provides rare insight into the elaborate lobbying and fund-raising machine that American Enterprise Institute congressional scholar Norm Ornstein describes as a modern-day Tammany Hall: a pay-to-play operation that moves congressional Republicans into high-paying lobby jobs and then requires them to contribute to the party and its various ancillary groups. While Abramoff and Scanlon enriched themselves, they never forgot who provided them their opportunity to plunder. Both men gave lavishly to Republican PACs and candidates. Abramoff, for example, was a Bush Pioneer, raising $100,000 for the 2004 presidential campaign while giving $40,000 to DeLay’s PACs. Before he was run off the reservation, Abramoff was ranked 93rd nationally among Republican Party donors. Scanlon, only a few years after he finished paying off his college loans, contributed $500,000 to the Republican Governors’ Association -- the single largest donation it received in 2002. The influence the two men wielded in Republican circles was further leveraged by the money they persuaded their Indian clients to contribute.

Now, when the Dems were in power, they were no strangers to greasy deals with lobbyists, but the K Street project, which Dubose is describing, is unprecedented in its efficiency and effectiveness (see, Republicans can manage one aspect of government).

In fact, as the Ragin' Cajun illustrates today, we can see the results of this efficiency nearly every day.