Jack Abramoff Quotes

• Some issues lend themselves to grassroots campaigns - homeschooling works well - but others require contrivance and connivance to whip up support. Often, lobbyists will hire vendors to dispatch blast emails and robocalls in the hopes of bombarding Congressional offices with citizen fury.

  Jack Abramoff

  Issues, Office, Support

  46 Copy quote

• As a lobbyist, I was completely against term limits, and I know a lot of people are against term limits, and I was one of the leaders, because why? As a lobbyist, once you buy a congressional office, you don't have to re-buy that office in six years, right?

  Jack Abramoff

  Years, People, Office

  "Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff". "The Tavis Smiley show", www.pbs.org. April 4, 2012.

  62 Copy quote

• You can't take a congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a hamburger or a steak or something like that. But you can take him to a fundraising lunch and not only buy him that steak, but give him $25,000 extra and call it a fundraiser. And have all the same access and all the same interactions with that congressman.

  Jack Abramoff

  Lunch, Giving, Hamburgers

  "Jack Abramoff: The lobbyist's playbook". Interview with Lesley Stahl, www.cbsnews.com. July 9, 2012.

  10 Copy quote

• Well, I think the great tragedy in American politics is what is legal, not what is illegal.

  Jack Abramoff

  Thinking, Tragedy, Illegal

  "Jack Abramoff Calls D.C. Politics Dirty As Ever". "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin, www.npr.org. November 18, 2011.

  7 Copy quote

• Access is vital in lobbying. If you can't get in your door, you can't make your case.

  Jack Abramoff

  Doors, Lobbying, Cases

  "Jack Abramoff On Lobbying", www.npr.org. December 20, 2011.

  10 Copy quote

• They realize that spending millions to save billions is just good business.

  Jack Abramoff

  Business, Realizing, Spending

  "Jack in a Box". Adam Zagorin, content.time.com. April 30, 2005.

  6 Copy quote

• You can't beat somebody with nobody.

  Jack Abramoff

  Beats

  4 Copy quote

• In Hollywood, they put the knife in your front; in D.C., they put it in your back. I found far fewer duplicitous people in Hollywood.

  Jack Abramoff

  Knives, People, Hollywood

  7 Copy quote

• In my religion it's actually better to know you're doing wrong and try to improve that wrong than to think philosophically that what you're doing is right and in fact it is wrong.

  Jack Abramoff

  Thinking, Trying, Facts

  "Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff". "The Tavis Smiley show", www.pbs.org. April 3, 2012.

  7 Copy quote

• Prisoners do different things. Some write, some read. Some engage in athletic events and working out and some do all of that. Some get involved in the religious groups that they're part of. Some get involved in hobbies that are permitted in prison. There are plenty of ways to stay busy. You're never going to survive in prison unless you start getting busy.

  Jack Abramoff

  Religious, Writing, Work Out

  "Jack Abramoff's prison advice for Bob McDonnell". Interview with Jeremy Diamond, www.cnn.com. January 6, 2015.

  7 Copy quote

• If you make the choice to serve the public, public service, then serve the public, not yourself.

  Jack Abramoff

  Choices, Public Service, Ifs

  "Jack Abramoff: The lobbyist's playbook". "60 minutes", www.cbsnews.com. May 30, 2012.

  10 Copy quote

• Class envy is dangerous.

  Jack Abramoff

  Class, Envy, Dangerous

  4 Copy quote

• Words will not be able to ever express how sorry I am for this, and I have profound regret and sorrow for the multitude of mistakes and harm I have caused.

  Jack Abramoff

  Im Sorry, Regret, Mistake

  "Lobbyist Abramoff Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges". "All Things Considered" with Michele Norris, www.npr.org. January 3, 2006.

  20 Copy quote

• A senator will come off Capitol Hill and they'll be barred from two years from lobbying in the Senate. So they'll pick the phone up and they'll call their buddy, the senator, their old buddies, and they'll say, 'Listen, I'm here at this law firm now. I can't lobby you, but my new partner, Jack, can lobby you.'

  Jack Abramoff

  Phones, Years, Law

  "Tavis Smiley", www.pbs.org. April 4, 2012.

  17 Copy quote

• As a lobbyist, I thought it only natural and right that my clients should reward those members who saved them such substantial sums with generous contributions. This quid pro quo became one of hallmarks of our lobbying efforts.

  Jack Abramoff

  Effort, Lobbyists, Lobbying

  Jack Abramoff (2011). “Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist”, p.86, BookBaby

  7 Copy quote

• If I read the articles about me, and I didn't know me, I would think I was Satan.

  Jack Abramoff

  Thinking, Satan, Articles

  "Jack Abramoff's School Days" by Timothy Noah, www.slate.com. April 27, 2005.

  7 Copy quote

• Democrats don't react the same way Republicans do, because they are not forced to react the same way Republicans are forced to react. They get to be as corrupt as, basically, they want, and just ignore it.

  Jack Abramoff

  Want, Way, Republican

  4 Copy quote

• As a result, I've been portrayed as a cynical barbarian preying on the very clients I was charged to defend.

  Jack Abramoff

  Cynical, Barbarians, Clients

  "Jack in a Box". Zagorin, A., content.time.com. April 30, 2005.

  8 Copy quote

• If you chose to serve in Congress or on a congressional staff, you should be barred for life from working for any company, organization, or association which lobbies the federal government.

  Jack Abramoff

  Government, Organization, Association

  "Jack Abramoff, In New Book, Decries Endemic Corruption In Washington" by Dan Froomkin, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 28, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• I might dream, but I am no dreamer.

  Jack Abramoff

  Dream, Dreamer, Might

  "Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist". Book by Jack Abramoff, www.politico.com. November 3, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• I'm not exactly the endorsement people are seeking.

  Jack Abramoff

  People, Endorsements, Seeking

  6 Copy quote

• In the past few years I have begun the process of becoming a new man.

  Jack Abramoff

  Past, Men, Years

  "Abramoff Sentenced to Five Years in Fraud Case". www.npr.org. March 29, 2006.

  7 Copy quote

• The hope in radio is to build an audience over a number of years, a slow build to see if something works.

  Jack Abramoff

  Years, Numbers, Radio

  4 Copy quote

• I'm not trying to become popular.

  Jack Abramoff

  Trying

  4 Copy quote

• In the past two years, I've started the process of becoming a new man. I am much chastened and profoundly remorseful over the reckless and hurtful things I have done in my life, especially those which have brought me before you today.

  Jack Abramoff

  Hurt, Past, Men

  4 Copy quote

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