Jack
Abramoff is the classic 'grifter' and 'confidence man.' Both men and women are drawn to him and he inspires these individuals to willingly pledge him blind allegiance and trust. They do this not because he is a good man. Like most grifters, he masterfully exploits character weaknesses in the human psyche like greed, dishonesty, vanity, irresponsibility, and power-mongering in those naive enough to think one can actually get something of value for nothing or very little. Washington DC was the perfect place for a man like Abramoff to perfect his skills and build an empire based on decadence, dirty deals, and deceit. He went to jail for mail fraud and conspiracy, but in his interview with Stahl, he hinted at much more nefarious dealings in crimes involving members of Congress that remain secret, and most shockingly, crimes that are still on-going.
Yes, Jack's a charmer and was doing some smooth
talking Sunday night but unless he starts naming names and exposing those he knows to
be on the 'take' at the highest levels of power in our government, then it
would appear that he hasn't changed in the least. He might actually be more
dangerous than before. The only difference between the 'con' that went to
prison and the '[ex-]con' that we watched on Sunday night's broadcast was the
product he's pushing. Instead of hawking access to power and wealth, he
was hawking a book to replenish his own personal bank account.
Think
about it... A 'Jack Abramoff' who was truly remorseful and
repentant of his crimes and sickened by his knowledge of the graft and corruption
at our highest levels of government, could have knocked out this book
in the 3 years, 6 months of his six-year sentence. What stopped
him? Abramoff would not have been able to reap profits from any books he
sold while he was a guest of the State, although the effort to begin righting
the wrongs he heralded on Sunday would have given great credence to his claims
of regret and rehabilitation.
If Abramoff decides not to name names, he'll be well-rewarded in the conservative elite circles by those whom his silence continues to protect. Knowledge is power and Abramoff has a lot of it to exercise - at will - over extremely powerful and wealthy individuals he could destroy and send to prison for a very long time. This 'Jack Abramoff' could well be much more dangerous now than he was before.
