It will come as news to readers of the Denver Post, but it turns out that the paper is just one more cog in that great liberal media wheel. At least, Bob Schaffer thinks so. See, the paper has been committing journalism, and informing Colorado citizens that their former Congressman and would-be Senator has some not so savory ties to Jack Abramoff. Not to mention that he thinks that the Mariana Islands provide just a peachy model for an immigration policy for the U.S., never mind the forced labor, rape, and other humanitarian abuses.
Because the real victim in all of this is, yes, you guessed it, Bob Schaffer, the innocent victim of a vicious newspaper.
Asked during a press conference following Cheney's visit about Denver Post reports that link him to an effort by jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff to quash labor reform in the Mariana Islands in 1999, Schaffer was visibly angry.
"I am really disgusted with the tone and tenor and direction of The Denver Post stories. I have had no contact with the individuals in the story, particularly Jack Abramoff," Schaffer said. "It's a matter of fiction. That's all I'm going to say about it."
Schaffer went to the Northern Mariana Islands as part of a trip partially arranged by Abramoff's firm. He visited textile factories which were the target of a class-action lawsuit alleging abuses of workers. Abramoff had been hired by factory owners and island officials to stave off attempts at reform.
In a recent interview with the Post, Schaffer cited the island's guest-worker program as a "model" that could be followed in overhauling U.S. immigration policy.
Schaffer campaign manager Dick Wadhams said today there is room for a legitimate discussion on that point. The U.S. Department of Labor cited the factories for more than 1,000 safety violations in the late 1990s.
Ah, Dick Wadhams. The man who helped George Allen through his "macaca" moment by insisting that the racist slur wasn't a racist slur but just another word for "mohawk" and referred only to a haircut. Yeah. Here's what Dick Wadhams has to say about his new boss's, um, challenge:
"We do look forward to when Boulder liberal Udall has Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to Colorado for Boulder liberal Udall to defend Sen. Reid's involvement with Abramoff," he said.
Yeah, that'll work. That'll stop them from investigating Schaffer's Abramoff ties.