"The Abramoff scandal has everything you could want from an inside-the-Beltway blockbuster. It has hypocrisy. What was Abramoff, a vigorous defender of traditional values, doing with gambling houses? Reed has not been accused of doing anything dishonest, but Christian conservatives in Georgia, where he is running for lieutenant governor, may ask him how he squares his association with Abramoff with his previous claim that gambling is a "cancer on the American body politic." It has racism. Abramoff allegedly called his clients "monkeys," "morons" and "troglodytes." And, above all, it has the potential to shake the Republican establishment to its foundations.

Investigating Abramoff and Scanlon is one of Washington's growth industries. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, headed by John McCain, is examining their treatment of Indians. The Senate Finance Committee is investigating their use of nonprofit organizations. The executive branch has put together a task force that draws from the Interior Department, the IRS, the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Justice Department. The FBI reputedly has 30 agents on the case."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Gaming scandal threatens conservatives (The Economist 7/17)

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