MCCAIN AND A HOST OF AIDES FORGED CLOSE TIES TO CASINOS

[L. Coyote]

MCCAIN AND A HOST OF AIDES FORGED CLOSE TIES TO CASINOS
JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
© 2008 New York Times News Service
http://www.volkskrant.nl/achtergrond/buitenland/verkiezingenvs/article1073229.ece/MCCAIN_AND_A_HOST_OF_AIDES_FORGED_CLOSE_TIES_TO_CASINOS

Sen. John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.

A lifelong gambler, McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of McCain.

The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, ...........

[Bread and Circus]

1. If there's anything I'm randomly against on a pious moral ground, it's gambling...

for some reason I can't put my finger on, it's an affront to me.

I guess I hate the whole notion that wealth can be "created out of nothing".