RNC Chair Ken Mehlman was on The Situation Room to rebut Howard Dean’s claims on yesterday’s Late Edition that Democrats aren’t involved in the Jack Abramoff scandal. Wolf seemed sufficiently cowed by Dean’s theatrics, and today repeated Dean’s line that Democrats like Sen. Byron Dorgan had taken money from Abramoff clients, not Abramoff himself. True, but here’s the part of the story that both Dean and Wolf left out:
The Associated Press reports that Byron Dorgan is finally returning $67,000 in donations “in response to Associated Press reports that he collected tribal money around the time he took actions favorable to those Abramoff clients.” Byron finally decided to return the money to “avoid any appearances that tribal money was directed to him by the controversial lobbyist.”
As for Mehlman, he did a fair job. He mentioned Abramoff ties to Sens. Byron Dorgan and Harry Reid, but I wish he’d remembered to point out that Dorgan had also returned Abramoff money. Instead, he tried to change the subject to “lobbying reform.”
Video here.