Jack Abramoff's ties to Malaysia's Mahatir raising eyebrows, the Forward's E.J. Kessler reports:

Reports of business dealings between embattled Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the government of a Malaysian leader known for antisemitic speeches are drawing flak from Democrats and raising eyebrows among Jewish communal officials.

According to press reports, Abramoff once worked for the government of former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, after the Southeast Asian leader accused "the Jews" in 1997 of conspiring to drive down his country's currency. Abramoff, a longtime conservative activist and Orthodox Jewish philanthropist who supports right-wing Israeli causes, was paid indirectly in 2001 by Mahathir's government, at a time when the premier was seeking to improve Malaysia's image in America, according to reports in The Washington Post and Time magazine.

The reports that Abramoff had lobbied for the Mahathir regime and that DeLay had dined with Mahathir at a "fancy dinner" in Kuala Lumpur in 2001 provided an opportunity for Democrats to attack them for political hypocrisy. Republicans had used Mahathir in attacks on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry that were aimed at the Jewish community...

Congress passed a resolution condemning the speech. Bush administration officials said that the president rebuked Mahathir privately, but the Malaysian leader denied that any such conversation took place.

This week, a sponsor of the congressional resolution condemning Mahathir, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, chief deputy GOP whip and one of DeLay's top defenders, did not return requests for comment submitted to an aide.

I bet he didn't. I still think Abramoff should have faced charges for serving as an apartheid South African intelligence asset (although it seems such sympathies were not exactly rare in 'the movement'). How many words for fraud and scumbag can there be? (Thx to reader SCJ for the link.)

Posted by Laura at May 2, 2005 11:58 AM