Dean, and others noted after his remarks to Wolf, make a distinction.
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BLITZER: Should Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, who has now pleaded guilty to bribery charges, among other charges, a Republican lobbyist in Washington, should the Democrat who took money from him give that money to charity or give it back?

DEAN: There are no Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, not one, not one single Democrat. Every person named in this scandal is a Republican. Every person under investigation is a Republican. Every person indicted is a Republican. This is a Republican finance scandal. There is no evidence that Jack Abramoff ever gave any Democrat any money. And we've looked through all of those FEC reports to make sure that's true.

BLITZER: But through various Abramoff-related organizations and outfits, a bunch of Democrats did take money that presumably originated with Jack Abramoff.

DEAN: That's not true either. There's no evidence for that either. There is no evidence...

BLITZER: What about Senator Byron Dorgan?

DEAN: Senator Byron Dorgan and some others took money from Indian tribes. They're not agents of Jack Abramoff. There's no evidence that I've seen that Jack Abramoff directed any contributions to Democrats. I know the Republican National Committee would like to get the Democrats involved in this. They're scared. They should be scared. They haven't told the truth. They have misled the American people. And now it appears they're stealing from Indian tribes. The Democrats are not involved in this.

BLITZER: Unfortunately Mr. Chairman, we got to leave it right there.
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Receiving money from lobbyists isn't the issue, as receiving money from lobbysist is perfectly legal. The issue is that Republican Jack Abramoff essentially stole millions of dollars from certain Indian tribes under the guise of lobbying for their legal right to operate casinos. Republican members of Congress are implicated in performing official duties in exchange for some of this money (i.e taking bribes) from Abramoff. Not only has Republican Jack Abramoff already pleaded guilty to trying to bribe members of Congress, he's pleaded guilty to additional charges related to the illegal aquisition of SunCruz cruise lines. There is nothing even remotely similar in size, scope or illegality by Democratic members of Congress -- not even close.
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The money given by the tribes was the tribe's money, not the money of Jack Abramoff. Once again.. THE TRIBE GAVE THEIR OWN MONEY. THE TRIBE DIDN'T CONTRIBUTE TO DEMOCRATS WITH THE MONEY OF JACK ABRAMOFF. The tribe giving money is not the issue here. In fact, the tribes were the victims of a bigotted lobbyist who they employed and trusted to advance their interests. (Abramoff refered to the tribes as "monkeys" in e-mails to his friends). The issue with the contributions involves money that was essentially a blatant bribe. The crime with the tribes is mainly not in their contributions, but in how Abramoff and his friends ripped off the tribes.
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As Dean made clear, the Indian tribes were NOT Abramoff's partners in crime, but his biggest VICTIMS. He took over $66 million from them so that he would represent their interests in Congress -- and instead he lobbied AGAINST their interests. The Republican effort to imply that all Indian donations are bad is not just dishonest, it smacks of racism.



>If you are referring to the Abramoff issue, then be fair and list all of them, including the Dems as well:
>
>http://www.thinkprogress.org/abramoff#cornyn