Saturday, May 06, 2006
K Street Gang
I made my first purchase ever on Ebay a little over a week ago. I purchased K Street Gang by Weekly Standard staff writer Matthew Continetti. Interestingly, the seller had an email address from KDKA, the news/talk station in Pittsburgh. Republicans may breathe a sigh of relief since it doesn't appear the on-air talent at KDKA will be talking about this any time soon. I paid $6.75 including shipping.
The book reads like a 250 page version of Continetti's articles. That is, K Street Gang is an easy read that I finished in about 24 hours. The book has the feel of an extraordinarily long blog entry. Continetti relies almost entirely on newspaper articles and Congressional testimony. He documents it well, but I think the format would have been better with hyperlinks.
I've been reading Continetti's articles in the Weekly Standard for some time. Consequently, much of what I read was not new to me. But I highly recommend K Street Gang to anyone who hasn't been following the Abramoff/Scanlon/Buckham scandals closely. Continetti will get you up to speed fast. My two biggest takeaways are: (1) Grover Norquist doesn't seem to have a moral compass; and (2) Continetti has convinced me that the worst of the corruption began the day Newt Gingrich resigned and couldn't restrain Team DeLay anymore. I've been wondering why Newt has raised his national profile lately while sounding like an Integrity Republican.
Here are some of Continetti's concluding statements on the last page of the book:
I am convinced the Republican Establishment is on the verge of being overthrown. The big question is what group emerges to take its place. Let's hope the future belongs to the Integrity Republicans. (I know we're still a minority in the Party. Just recently, our candidate for Majority Leader, John Shadegg [R-AZ], was soundly defeated in the leadership elections after entering the race too late.)
The book reads like a 250 page version of Continetti's articles. That is, K Street Gang is an easy read that I finished in about 24 hours. The book has the feel of an extraordinarily long blog entry. Continetti relies almost entirely on newspaper articles and Congressional testimony. He documents it well, but I think the format would have been better with hyperlinks.
I've been reading Continetti's articles in the Weekly Standard for some time. Consequently, much of what I read was not new to me. But I highly recommend K Street Gang to anyone who hasn't been following the Abramoff/Scanlon/Buckham scandals closely. Continetti will get you up to speed fast. My two biggest takeaways are: (1) Grover Norquist doesn't seem to have a moral compass; and (2) Continetti has convinced me that the worst of the corruption began the day Newt Gingrich resigned and couldn't restrain Team DeLay anymore. I've been wondering why Newt has raised his national profile lately while sounding like an Integrity Republican.
Here are some of Continetti's concluding statements on the last page of the book:
Far from being an artifact of the past, Jack Abramoff may well represent the Republican Party's future. And this future will last until the public's last ounce of tolerance is depleted, and the Republican Establishment is overthrown, and a new one emerges in its place.
I am convinced the Republican Establishment is on the verge of being overthrown. The big question is what group emerges to take its place. Let's hope the future belongs to the Integrity Republicans. (I know we're still a minority in the Party. Just recently, our candidate for Majority Leader, John Shadegg [R-AZ], was soundly defeated in the leadership elections after entering the race too late.)
