Joshua Micah Marshall Quotes
Success can be built on a strong relationship between a lobbyist and a single, powerful lawmaker.
Marshall, Joshua Micah. Interview. Frontline: The Capitol Crimes, Public Broadcasting Service, 2006.
Abramoff had bribed over 100 Congressional offices by a combination of campaign donations, paid golf junkets all over the world, free elegant meals at his own fancy Washington Restaurant, free tickets for the Congressmen, their staffs and their major constituents, to Concerts and sporting events including his own Skyboxes, and promises of future employment at very high salaries. Ironically, we was convicted of cheating some of his lobbying clients and did a jail term, but his “bribery” was technically usually legal. In addition to Abramoff, only one Congressman was charged and convicted of corruption, when many if not most had engaged in these corrupt practices. Congress makes the rules with loopholes so that what is bribery and corruption in any other setting is often not against the law if Congress is involved.
The phrase “short strokes” is a metaphor from the rowing racing tactic of as the finish line is approached, the boat maximizes speed by the rowers making shorter stokes, but at a much faster rate.
Barbour was himself a lobbyist before he became a politician.
The Congressman resigned to become the Vice President and General Manager of one of the nation's most powerful lobbying organizations.
Joshua Micah Jesajan-Dorja Marshall is an American journalist and blogger who founded Talking Points Memo, which in 2004 The New York Times Magazine called "one of the most popular and most respected sites" in the blogosphere. A liberal, he currently presides over a network of progressive-oriented sites that operate under the TPM Media banner and average 400,000-page views every weekday and 750,000 unique visitors every month.
