Lil Benji, Day 3

by digby

I think it’s awfully of interesting that the Washington Post hired a 24 year old ex-Bush staffer, whose daddy (also a Bush staffer) was in charge of the making sure Abramoff got what he wanted. (Wasn’t the entire Deborah Howell flap about the shoddy Abramoff coverage in the first place?)

Josh Marshall has the scoop:

You see, it turns out the Domenech family came in for a number of Bush administration appointments. Not only Ben, but Ben’s dad, Doug, who was White House liaison to the Department of Interior.

Or to put it more colloquially, White House guy to make sure Jack Abramoff got what he wanted with the Indians and the Pacific Island stuff.

Wayne Smith was the point man for Indian casino policy at the Department of Interior. He ended up having kind of a rough ride over at Interior. And, according to Smith, as reported last year in the Denver Post, Domenech told him “we had to pay attention to [Jack] Abramoff, because otherwise the religious right and (Ralph) Reed are going to come up and bite us, and our whole base will go crazy. They will light up our phones, shut down our phone lines.”

According to Smith, Domenech was the conduit for Abramoff operative Italia Federici. Said Smith: “Doug would come down and say, ‘Italia called and Jack wants this’ That’s how it all happened internally.”

Oh my. He’s not just “involved.” He’s in it up to his eyeballs.

Here’s our new writer for the Washington Post, back when he was “Augustine” on Red State, writing about how the Republicans are actually the party of ethics (not that Abramoff is really that bad of a guy.)The “do what’s right Republicans” need to flush the system of the “do as you’re told Republicans.” Looks like Dad is one of those “do as you’re told” guys. Oooops.

(Are we dealing with another one of those weird Republican father-son deals again? Haven’t we had enough of that these last five years? I even hear the kid has a Henry V obsession. Of course, that’s better than a “Red Dawn” obsession, but still.)

I think this may have been a poignant, if weak, defense of dear old Dad:

Oh please By: Augustine

That’s bullcrap. Abramoff boasted of being an insider at EVERY agency, not just Interior. Because he lied to his clients, we’re supposed to believe that he actually had any effect on policy? Please.

Norton is hated by environuts, for good reason: she got more done on environmental issues than anyone else has since James Watt.

That’s sweet. Just because his father was up to his eyeballs in Abramoff’s deals at interior doesn’t mean that Abramoff actually had any effect on policy.

Besides, Dad knew it was just about keeping the “wackos” in the base happy, see. The forced childbirth fanatics, for instance. Like his own son.

And I’m sure others have already found the most intriguing “Augustine” post — the one that probably brought him to the attention of the people who evidently hate Froomkin at his place of employment:

If one spends any amount of time reading the columns of washingtonpost.com’s Dan Froomkin – whose status as leader of the hack is without compare – it’s easy to realize that, on any given day, the cut and paste function has to be a tiring chore. Every day, it’s use the same template, find a new reason to hate. “Bush is a liar because X.” “The President is a fool because X.” “The White House wants to kill your child’s pet because X.” Etc. He has his crowd, and he plays to it.

Coming from a little boy who calls Coretta Scott King a communist on the day of her funeral, that seems a little bit much, don’t you think?

Jim Brady and John Harris: Happy at last.

Update: Jane says “fly little wingnut fly” and sends Jim Brady a personal thank you note. I agree that Lil’ Benji is going to be the gift that just keeps on giving.

UpdateII: For those of you who don’t read wingnut talk fluently, Publius at LawandPolitics was kind enough to translate Lil’ Benji’s first post.

.