Quotes of the Morning: May the Circle be Unbroken

“Oh, I know.. You’re all tired of the ‘Cheney shot someone in the face’ story. You want something fresh, something exciting. Tough luck. I do have a fresh angle though. Remember the big Jack Abramoff scandal? The one where lobbyists were influencing votes through donations? You know how big the lobbying scandal is becoming? Well guess who Dick was out hunting with..”
-Skippy

“Katharine Armstrong, whose family owns the ranch where Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a hunting partner, is a registered lobbyist who has been paid to lobby the White House, according to records.
Armstrong told NBC News in a telephone interview that she has never directly lobbied Cheney as far as she remembers.
‘Never!’ she said. And she says she does not remember directly lobbying the president himself either.”
-NBC, February 15, 2006

“Poor Katharine. Another brave sufferer of Republican Amnesia. Maybe she can find a cure with all of the money that she was receiving.”
-Skippy

“Armstrong was paid $160,000 in 2004 by the powerful legal firm Baker Botts to lobby the White House, according to records she filed with the U.S. Senate as required by lobbying disclosure rules. The records indicate she was paid the money after she ‘communicated with the White House on behalf of Baker Botts clients.’"
-NBC, February 15, 2006

“But she doesn’t remember lobbying the President. Hey, maybe this isn’t just a convenient case of memory loss. Maybe she is on the up and up.”
-Skippy

''I'm going to have lunch with Secretary of State Rice, talk a little business; Mrs. Bush, talk a little business; we've got a friend from South Texas here, named Katharine Armstrong; take a little nap. I'm reading an Elmore Leonard book right now, knock off a little Elmore Leonard this afternoon; go fishing with my man, Barney; a light dinner and head to the ballgame. I get to bed about 9:30 p.m., wake up about 5 a.m. So it's a perfect day.''
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, as quoted in the Aug. 22, 2005, New York Times

“No.. This is looking like another spot on the Administrations record. How can we create the Grand Unified Theory of scandal? How can we tie all of the ongoing scandals up in a neat little bow?”
-Skippy

“In a phone interview, she told NBC News that in return for the money in one case, she set up a meeting at the White House for a Baker Botts client, although she said she felt she could not release the client’s name.
‘A meeting for doing something with one of their clients,’ she said, describing the event. ‘I’m not at liberty to say which.’ She says she cannot remember which White House official the meeting was with. She also said that during the inauguration proceedings, she got Karl Rove to speak at a Baker Botts function. ‘I got them Karl Rove,’ she said.”
-NBC, February 15, 2006

“More Republican Amnesia, but look.. Karl Rove! The circle is complete! The Great Circle of Cash has been forged! All hail the mighty Rove, the High Priest of scandal, and the lies and deceit for which he stands. Good God, it is beautiful in its audacity.”
-Skippy