Dear Frank Abramoff...

As you may know, Jack Abramoff's dad, Frank, went after George Clooney for his Golden Globes crack.  The text of his angry letter is here.

The essence of it is that Clooney is indicative of just how crass Hollywood has become since the days of Bogart and Gable. He gives Clooney a guilt trip over making Jack's daughter cry. Ol' Frank even throws in a "one day the truth about my son will come out..." for good measure. Read it if you want a good laugh.

But, every once in a while, I like someone to show a little humility. I like to remind a person that, when your kid's fucked up as bad as Jackie has, it might be wise to show some fucking contrition and take your medicine.

So I wrote Frank a letter of my own.

Dear Frank Abramoff:

The fact that you would invoke the names of Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart in order to chastise George Clooney proves just how oblivious you are to the current state of our nation.

It is a country in which the rampant flow of lies and crooked money have driven a sizeable majority of us - not just the Hollywood elite - to pine for a good stiff drink and to indulge the urge to take a lazy potshot at someone who is, strangely enough, the poster-child for lies and crooked money.

You see, Gable and Bogart didn't make cracks about lobbyists because, in their day, no lobbyist had attained a level of infamy sufficient to merit an ounce of their time. So, really, the biggest difference between then and now is not George Clooney, but a new breed of criminals like your son.

Spare us the delusional admonitions about some phantom "truth" that might one day surface regarding your son. I mean, it's not as if he's simply under investigation, a possible victim of false accusations. No, sir. He pled guilty. And if any exonerating "truth" were within his grasp, one might assume that he would have offered it as proof of his innocence.

Well, he didn't. And now he's going to prison.

So please stop defending the indefensible and start showing the sort of quiet contrition this nation deserves from the father of a man whose dirty money has destroyed the public trust and allowed sweatshop barons to work children to their deaths. Believe me, there's not an actor in the world smart enough to heap more shame on the name Abramoff than your son already has.

•  Like a good angry letter late at night?

  If so, consider a tip. I need my TU back after a long hiatus.

  by alysheba on Fri Jan 20, 2006 at 11:32:15 PM PDT

•  Frank will have a lot of letters

  to write before his son is finished.

  Personally, I hope he has to write hundreds of letters.

  by 0hio on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 12:24:49 AM PDT

•  Leave Dad alone

  Leave Frank Abramoff alone.  Stick to his son, Jack, who's a jerk.

  Families of public figures shouldn't be in our sights.  Jack's the one to focus on.

  Sure, the right wing attacks Hilary and Chelsea (and Tipper and Theresa Heinz and Eleanor Roosevelt) but we should be above that.

  He asked for it and entered the debate?  He's an old man.  Old men are entitled to stick up for their kids.

  by blaneyboy on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 12:37:51 AM PDT

  •  Yeah...

    esp dads who know as they approach the end of their lives that they somehow raised (cultured) a scallywag!

    Frank the Dad put himself out there to receive whatever is due for his denial.  Of course, maybe Jack paid someone to keep his dad in the dark about the plea agreement?  It's possible.

    But seriously... my opinion of the Abramof matter is simply... if the politicians weren't for sale, Abramof would have found another job.

    by letsfight on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 12:48:25 AM PDT

  •  Its pretty simple

    When you walk into the arena, you make yourself a target.

    by Drocket on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 01:33:08 AM PDT

•  Good diary..

  I feel sorry for dad, I would expect him to love his criminal son, I expect Mrs bush loves her criminal son also, but dont expect the many many people he hurt to love him..It wont happen...Jack and mrs. bush will be very ashamed as truth comes out..

  by bayside on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 02:51:42 AM PDT

•  The older I get....

  ..and I'm now 54, the more I realize I am the person my parents raised me to be.  I'll ventue the same is true for the Abramoffs.

  by tennman on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 06:02:12 AM PDT

•  Poor Frank

  He is now sorry for his failure in teaching his son the simple knowledge of love, trust and truthfulness.  Parents ... beware as you reap what you sow at home first.

  by bobnbob on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 07:22:54 AM PDT

•  Too Many Skeletons in Frank's Closet

  A man who is the patriarch of a family with this many skeletons in it's closet, should not be running off his mouth like he did.

  Erica Solvig, the Palm Springs Desert Sun newspaper reporter who wrote the Jan. 19 "story" around Frank Abramoff's "open letter", should hve known better than to write such an unbalanced "hit piece" against George Clooney. Erica reported on government affairs for the CincyPost until last spring. She covered the Warren County, OH, 2004 election night "anamolies" for the Cincy newspaper. For many years, Clooney's father, nick, wrote a thrice weekly column for the Cincy Post.....

  Here are the issues that Erica might have asked Frank Abramoff about, if she and the Desert Sun Editors were truly committed to investigating and reporting the "news".

  The NY Times reported Frank Abramoff's late brother and business partner, Bernard S. Abramoff's dealings with a "partner" of a major Toronto mafia boss, in a May 1, 1979 article.

  Frank Abramoff and his brother Bernard, "bought" an extremely polluted landfill in a 1979 transaction that a U.S. appeals court panel described as a "no questions asked" purchase, although the Abramoff's acknowledged knowing the site was contaminated with industrial waste.

  Jack Abramoff's personal funds appear to be co-mingled with his father, Frank's, his uncle, Bernard's, and his brother, Robert's:

  "Untangling a Lobbyist's Stake in a Casino Fleet
  With Millions of Dollars Unaccounted for, Another Federal Investigation Targets Abramoff

  By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
  Washington Post Staff Writers
  Sunday, May 1, 2005; A01
  Abramoff provided Foothill Capital a financial statement stating his net worth as $13 million. He valued his lobbying practice at $7.5 million and family business interests at nearly $3 million, including a $1.4 million investment with his father in a company that owns parking lots in Atlantic City."

  November 10, 2005
  Lobbyist Sought $9 Million to Set Bush Meeting
  "By PHILIP SHENON
  Documents, including copies of canceled checks, show that millions of dollars flowed through the company's accounts in 2003, the year it was created, including at least $2.3 million to a California consulting firm that used the same address as the law office of Mr. Abramoff's brother, Robert. A separate check for $400,000 was made out to Kay Gold, another Abramoff family company."

  "In 1999, Bernard and Bernice transferred title to their Florida condo to themselves and Jack and Pamela. All four Abramoffs signed as mortgagees on a $60k mortgage on the condo. In 2000, the state of New Jersey filed a $60k tax lien against Bernard and his wife, Bernice."

  If the press was curious, and was doing it's job of investigating and reporting the news, Frank Abramoff would not have been given a venue by his hometown, Desert Sun "news" paper to publicize his "rant"!

  by host on Sat Jan 21, 2006 at 10:07:01 PM PDT