Newt Gingrich comes out against Abramoff/Congress

[Gabu]

Scoonie, I've already pointed out that your list only reflects GOP donations (as the chart says at the top).  It's not a complete list, so please stop trying to ignore the fact that Abramoff has actually provided funds to Democrats as well as Republicans.

Where does the chart say so at the top?  I don't see anything indicating that that's the "Republicans only" list; it's what you get if you just click on Abramoff's name.

[Gabu]

Scoonie, I've already pointed out that your list only reflects GOP donations (as the chart says at the top).  It's not a complete list, so please stop trying to ignore the fact that Abramoff has actually provided funds to Democrats as well as Republicans.

Where does the chart say so at the top?  I don't see anything indicating that that's the "Republicans only" list; it's what you get if you just click on Abramoff's name.

Jack Abramoff , 47 (bio)
lobbyist, GOP fundraiser; convicted of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud

$172,933   Republican
$88,985   special interest
total:  $261,918     

All that chart is recording is the GOP fund figures, not his total fund figures.

No it isn't.  The "GOP fundraiser" part is describing who he is, and the "Republican" bit just denotes the total amount of money he gave to Republicans.  If you go to, say, Bill Gates, it shows a breakdown of Democratic donations, Republican donations, and special interest donations, exactly as they appear on Abramoff's page.

Of course, you can debate whether or not this should be the case in a listing of donations, but there is no special page per person on that website that displays what the person donated to only a single party.  That site is indeed saying that Abramoff never directly donated anything to a Democrat.

[Gabu]

When you consider that we know the Democrats have received funding from Abramoff, the website listing is either only abour Republicans or is incomplete (as you would see from my initial comment). 

The bits you quoted said the following:

"The Coushattas issued a $5,000 check to Reid's tax-exempt political group, the Searchlight Leadership Fund."

"A second Abramoff tribe sent another $5,000 to Reid's group."

"Reid ultimately received more than $66,000 in Abramoff-related donations between 2001 and 2004."

"Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid will not return campaign contributions he received during the past five years from lobbyists and clients associated with Jack Abramoff."

"Reid received $6,500 from Abramoff's associates at the Greenberg Traurig law and lobbying firm from 1999 through 2004, The Washington Post reported Friday."

"During the same period, Reid received $40,500 from Indian tribes that were Abramoff clients, the paper reported based on research of federal records.

"Reid does not know Abramoff, Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said."

Did he receive donations from people who Abramoff knew?  Yes, it would appear so.  Did he ever receive donations directly from Abramoff?  No.

I don't know whether it's disingenous to say that Reid never received a donation from Abramoff - to be honest, I'm not fully aware of the full situation yet - but it seems clear to me that it is nonetheless a true statement.