Thursday, January 12, 2006

 

A Sports Analogy Suitable For "Framing"



Desperate to drag as many Democrats down with them in The Great Abramoff Shitstorm of '06 as they can, Republicans and their media sockpuppets have been endlessly repeating the lie that "Democrats took 'Abramoff-linked' money, too!"

But -- here's the thing: No Democrat has taken a penny of money from Abramoff. For years, officeholders of both parties have taken donations from Indian tribes, some of whom, for a time, hired (and were ripped off by) Abramoff as their agent.

Now, how to explain the real situation (as opposed to the conflated Republican lie) to a sports-obsessed public?

Here's one way:

Leigh Steinberg is a prominent sports agent, who has represented, for example, Troy Aikman (Dallas Cowboys), Steve Young (San Francisco 49ers), Ricky Williams (Miami Dolphins), Mark Brunell (Washington Redskins), Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis.

Let's say each of these athletes has donated money to various charities over the years.

Let's say, as well, that some government agency investigates Steinberg, and finds that he's "dirty" as hell -- and has swindled each of the above athletes, as well as others.

Now, about that money that those Steinberg-represented athletes donated to charities -- is it "Leigh-Steinberg-linked" money?

That's EXACTLY the scenario the GOP wants us to swallow, when it comes to Abramoff and Democrats . . .

posted by Michael 10:58 PM