n layman’s terms, this is called a con.

July 13, 2006 3:20 PM

"Mortgaging Old Black People" --Abramoff, Ralph Reed, the Black Churches Insurance Program, with the old folks' benefits going to Abramoff. They had previously tried it with the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Tribe of El Paso. (original GQ story here)
posted by amberglow (18 comments total)

1) takes out life insurance polices on metafilterians
2) ???
3) profit! $_$

But seriously, just disgusting. Same as when Wal-Mart was recently caught taking out "dead peasant" life insurance policies on their associates laborers. Sick and wrong.
posted by SenshiNeko at 3:37 PM on July 13, 2006

Reed and Abramoff are also being sued by another Texas Tribe.
posted by amberglow at 3:47 PM on July 13, 2006

God wow. I'm not sure if it's really a crime but OMG that just sounds so skeezy.
posted by delmoi at 4:43 PM on July 13, 2006

What a hustla.
posted by pwedza at 5:12 PM on July 13, 2006

Did Grover Norquist get his cut of the action?
posted by nofundy at 5:13 PM on July 13, 2006

So why would people just voluntarily sign over their life insurance benefits?
posted by gyc at 6:14 PM on July 13, 2006

I hate to tell you guys this, but Reed is a very serious contender in the race for Lt. Governor in GA. The fact is that the party faithful on both sides have become so immune to charges of malfeasance and corruption, that they are more concerned with a candidate's stand on gay marriage/abortion/the war on terror/the war on civil liberties than whether or not the candidate is actually a decent, honest person. Those of you who live outside the bible belt cannot understand just how entrenched the support for people like Reed is; accusations against Reed are dismissed as muckraking, while the swift boat propaganda is accepted as proof that Democrats are traitors. It is part and parcel of the right's war on education in the guise of no child left behind and equal time for superstition (AKA intelligent design). I fear it will get worse before it get better (as I write this I am listening to a Reed commercial on TV ).
posted by TedW at 6:47 PM on July 13, 2006

And lest any of you think backwoods Georgia politics is irrelevan nationally, there is one peanut farmer (and nuclear engineer) who used it as a springboard to bigger things.
posted by TedW at 6:57 PM on July 13, 2006

I wouldn't say that residents of backwoods GA are in favor of Reed. I would say the temple money changers in the Metro 16 think he's godly. The folks in the sticks that I've talked to realize he's a dirty, pandering whore. Admittedly, though, that's a very small sampling.
posted by crataegus at 7:47 PM on July 13, 2006

I hope you are right, crataeguus.
posted by TedW at 7:51 PM on July 13, 2006

Walmart does the same-- it takes policies out on un-healthy employees.

It all reminds me of Gogol's Dead Souls.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 8:06 PM on July 13, 2006

If that little cunt Ralph Reed really thought this was a good idea, he should be drawn and quartered.
posted by jayder at 8:31 PM on July 13, 2006

Holy shit! You broke my sleaze-meter.
posted by gamera at 10:49 PM on July 13, 2006

All you people who are savvy about creeps like Reed need to rabble-rouse. The arsewipes are going to keep getting elected until the decent people start out-voting them.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:59 PM on July 15, 2006

Former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed conceded defeat about 9:50 p.m. in Georgia's Republican primary for lieutenant governor.
"Tonight my candidacy for lieutenant governor comes to an end," he said.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:46 PM on July 18, 2006

woot!!! I bet this story had something to do with it, too. He has much more dirt that hasn't even come out yet.

I'd heard that people were going to vote for him in the primary just to ensure that he'd be the one to be up against. (i guess it's an open primary?)
posted by amberglow at 9:41 PM on July 18, 2006

I actually thought about voting for Reed for the reason amberglow mentioned, but if it backfired I would feel even worse than usual on election night. It is an open primary in GA.
posted by TedW at 6:35 AM on July 19, 2006

ahhh...well, i thought that if he had won, there's so much crime and sleaze associated with him, the Dem would win even if he sucked.
posted by amberglow at 10:33 AM on July 19, 2006