Michael Medved speaks up about jack abramoff- gives him 1.5 stars

Although he never mentioned BlatherWatch, syndicated neocon talker and movie critic Michael Medved (KTTH m-f, 12-3p) answered our plea to speak up about his relationship with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff who pleaded guilty to even more felonious skeeviness Wednesday in Miami.

As we reported, Medved has known him for years- in Los Angeles when Abramoff was the producer of bad movies and Medved was a PBS movie critic. He also knew him from serving on the board of his friend, the scandal-tainted Rabbi Daniel Lapin's (KTTH m-f, 7-10p) non-profit Toward Tradition. Medved says he went out to dinner with Abramoff a few times; told him after a private screening that his scurrilous 1989 potboiler Red Scorpion was so bad, it was "unreleasable;" and never took a dime from the man for any reason.

Medved was forthright, and though we have serious questions about some of Lapin's faith-based activities in the political arena, we have no reason to doubt Medved was more involved than he says he was.

(Will Lapin ever speak out on Abramoff? We listen to his tedious show until we're comatose every Sunday, but so far, no luck.)

He said he felt betrayed by Abramoff. He said he felt sorry for him, for the kosher dilly of a pickle he's got himself into despite his religiousness and that he has actively supported many causes of which Medved approves and endorses. 

But Michael never said a word about Lapin or the proximity of Lapin to Abramoff for lo' these many since Republicans took Congress, and religious rightists like Ralph Reed, and ultraconservatives like Grover Norquist crawled up into what's now considered the mainstream, given mover/shaker status and began being wooed by the big-buck lobbyists.

Medved says he feels bad because religious conservatives will be trashed anew by the left and the media. We liberals just love it, moans, when some poor religious schmuck takes a fall.

(Remember those disadvantaged, religious conservatives who are so victimized and persecuted in America that they control all three branches of the government?  Of course religious people fall harder when they screw up- they're the ones with the pretensions of righteousness and all the answers- they're the ones blustering about values and morals. The glee we feel is not persecution- they deserve to hit harder when they fall- why is that so hard for people like Medved to understand?)

Michael cut Abramoff no slack, made no excuses for his crimes; and admitted this scandal is mostly of Republicans for Republicans and by Republicans.

But what does Michael Medved believe is the root of the problem of big-money corruption in government? It's Big Government!

And the solution?  Reducing its size.

Not campaign finance reform. Not Congressional reform to eliminate the unprecedented access to and participation in policy-making that lobbyists got after the 1994 GOP takeover.

No.

Reduce the size of government. And more tax cuts, mais naturellement.

(Weirdly, Medved/Lapin friend Grover Norquist, the conservative guru who famously speaks of government in terms of "starving the beast," or " getting it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub," is up to his broad ass in this scandal; apparently forsaking his and Medved's small government ideals).

Medved is an honorable man (again, the jury's still out on Lapin). But what inner contortions must he be going through to be able to keep tap-dancing for the power elite running the government in the name of conservative values? 

It gives us acid reflux just thinking about it.

Comments

[sparky]

Hmm..I can never feel too sorry for someone who has deliberately broken the law and is now going to stew in his own juice.

Kudos to Medved for not making it sound like it's "nothing." I respect him for that.

[Andrew]

"Although he never mentioned BlatherWatch..."

I hope you're not trying to pull a Dori Monson.

[Fremont]

As Dylan said "To live outside the law, you must be honest". I guess the counterpart is "To live beside the Insider Laws, you must be corrupt." Of course, Big Government is the problem...! Well, look at New Orleans...if FEMA hadn't come to the rescue, where would those poor black folk be now?! Search your soul, Medved!

[John]

Lets see the US Government is the single biggest consumer of goods and services in the world bar none, but curbing its appetite for goods and services would not
curb the subsequent corruption, pork, and waste in the US Government among bureaucrats and politicians? Right.

[Michael B]

Michael Medved's point was that lobbying is a natural consequence of the government's unfettered power to interfere with and impede commerce and business.

Businesses are thus forced to hire lobbyist’s to make sure their perspective is heard and their interests represented in Washington DC. Reduced governmental power (or more localized authority) results in a reduced need to lobby

[Andrew]

"government's unfettered power to interfere with and impede commerce and business"

I read that as: society's ability to protect itself against unfettered commerce and business.

It's dumb to say that because a protection mechanism can be compromised that you shouldn't protect anything.

Let's take for example the governmental interference with regard to industrial polution. Just because some high payed representative from Fuck You Enterprises can buy off corupt and well connected congressmen doesn't mean YOU want to die an early death from contaminated air, which is a resource we must SHARE.

As long as we have to share air with poluting businesses I want our representation to have control over the matter.

[Michael B]

Look Andrew, I’m not going to get into an endless back and forth regarding the Government's role. Nor am I suggesting that the Government doesn't have a role to play say in regulating emissions or whatever. What I think Michael Medved was saying and what I am saying is that the more Government interferes, regulates, controls, whatever you want to call it, the more that business will have a need to protect it’s interests.

[Andrew]

I apologize, I need to back up a little.

The issue here isn't even about the merits of lobying, it's an issue of law enforcement. For you or Medved to steer the topic towards lobying in general a straw man attack.

It's clear that if Abromoff can be so succesfull in getting away with what he did that more observation needs to be in place.

If there are too many speeders on a stretch of highway the police get more radar guns and more traffic cops to monitor the road. The solution to this problem should be similar.

[Brian]

Greetings Radio JUNKYS !
How about putting the LIONEL show on from 7:00pm until 10:00pm for some good radio!

[sparky]

I heard Lionel on AAR last weekend and he wasnt too bad. Good idea.

[Michael B.]

To Andrew: Agreed.

[JDB]

The problem with Medved's thesis is that it is simply not true. The US has less regulation and a smaller beuracracy than any other advance democracy, and yet our lobbying is beyond control. Why? Because we apply the free market principals to lobbying as well. Money buys access and power. Some form of lobbying reform is well and truly needed, and it has nothing to do with the size of governement (which, compared to any European contry, is small per capita).

The problem with Medved is that he defaults to "Government is the problem" when dealing with a problem. As smart as he is (and he is smart), he seldom has the ability to look at something from a perspective outside of his right-wing ideology.

Heck, if you want to get radical, we could tripple the size of the House of Representatives (with a prevision that there be no increase in staffing). England has over a 1000 members of parliment, we have 435 congresspeople for this entire country. If you tripple the size, they would represent a lot fewer people, and there would be a better chance of a person actually knowing their representative and being able to get access to them.

Just a thought.

[audioslave]

JDB,

I beg to differ, but Medved is absolutely correct. Comparing our congress with a parliamentary form of socialist government in this instance is not a valid comparison. Addressing the problem of corrupt lobbyists by increasing the size of government is not the answer, and frankly I don't think there is much chance of changing the 14th Amendment. The founding fathers had it right......"to keep the taking of the census out of politics so that the results of the census could be used in politics." A bigger government with more laws and regulations is not the answer. We need to start enforcing laws that are already on the books on a more consistent basis.

[sara]

Dori's talking about making wax hands....riveting.

[Gary Aminoff]

For Lapin's comments on Abramoff, see: http://beartotheright.blogspot.com

[Bob Rich]

Newhouse Publishers owned by the Newhouse brothers operating under the name of Advanced Publications, control the three largest newspapers in Alabama. They have kept the Extreme Left Wing GOP scandal hidden from Alabama Residents. Small locally owned newspapers and Harper's Magazine were the only ones investigating and reporting this story.

This Alabama scandal was orchestrated by Karl Rove who got experience from his mentor Donal Segretti in 1971 during Watergate. Segretti served prison time; however, Karl made statements about all those involved to the U.S. Attorney's and was only 21 years old he was released without have to serve time.

The Bush’s elite group of corrupt GOP’ers are scared to death that honest Don may be on the streets before the election. Especially after they used John McCain to cover up in his report how Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon Funded Millions of dollars to Riley's campaign money in exchange for Riley putting heavy restraints on the Alabama Poarch Indians and promising to eliminate Don Siegelman so that Mississippi gambling would continue to flourish.

The conspiracy involved having drummed up charges brought against Siegelman during his campaigns for reelection. By Bush making selected appointees into the Justice Department, the U.S. Attorneys cohering the witnesses. Then sending Siegelman straight to prison with no appeal process.

This week after 60 minutes aired and the presidential campaigns are causing candidates and their dealing to get investigated, the Extreme Left Wingers are scared to death. They say that slick Bob is combing his hair and spraying his mouth and under arms every five minutes hoping that John McCain won't confess to Riley being paid off by lobbyist who was investigated by Congressman McCain. If a Democrat is elected chances are that new U.S. attorneys will be appointed and several indictments will be issued to all those who took part in the conspiracy.