Scumbag lobbyist and George Bush leg-humper Jack Abramoff has a self-serving book out called Capital Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist. In the book, which you should not buy, Abramoff details his relationship with Dan Snyder, whom Abramoff considers a swell guy. No surprise there. Birds of a feather and all. But not everything was peachy for Abramoff in the VIP suites at FedExField, where he did a good deal of leg-humping, and he let Snyder know it. Via TPM:
I was one of his larger customers, but I had a number of frustrations with the amenities of the facility. Since my primary purpose was to entertain clients and the powerful people who could impact their lives, and since I was spending a fortune, I didn't hold back on my critique. One of my main suggestions was that he convert the choice location the press commanded close to the field to prime suites and catapult the media to the upper reaches of the stadium. The final item on my long list of suggestions was that he should try to change the offensive name of the team.
Although the Choctaws had long ago assured me that a team named the Redskins didn't bother them, I figured I would take a shot a trying to undo this insult. In my letter to Snyder, I asked him how we would feel if the New York team were called the Jew Boys, or worse. Moreover, I knew that all Native Americans resented the use of the feathered headdress in the team band's uniform. I asked how he would feel if the New York Jew Boys band had a uniform of black hats and prayer shawls. I further argued that, were he to make this change now, he would immediately establish himself as a moral leader in our nation's capital, and garner the respect of those who were likely to look askance on him.
Snyder called me within hours of receiving the letter, and reviewed each point with me. He was kind and gracious, not the imperious brat the media had portrayed him to be. He said that he sympathized with my points about the team's name, but he had been a Redskins fan since he was a kid, and he couldn't bring himself to change it. His business acumen led many to think he was only a cold-hearted, cutthroat shark, but he was nothing but decent, honest and straightforward with me. A few seasons later, I was given first choice of the new suites in the former press section and our expenditures at Fed Ex Field grew exponentially.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Abramoff is one of the most wretched humans on the planet. Those Choctaws that he references were his client. He bilked them out of millions of dollars, laundered the money, and used some of it to finance a "sniper school" in the West Bank. One of his other clients that he stole from was the Coushatta Tribe of Lousiana. Abramoff referred to them as "monkeys," "troglodytes," and "morons." One of the Coushatta tribal council members told The Washington Post that Abramoff and his partner were "the contemporary faces of the exploitation of native peoples."
And this is the guy Dan Snyder bumps to the front of the line for new stadium suites?