Quotes from Jack Abramoff

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

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

I'm not exactly the endorsement people are seeking.

You can't beat somebody with nobody.

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.

Lobbying is not a bad thing. I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't have lobbyists or we shouldn't have lobbying to petition our government. It's in the Constitution, and it's something that should be honorable and good.

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.'

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

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

I try to avoid saying anything positive about any presidential candidate for fear that if I actually like them then I will kill their campaign.

I'm not a complete libertarian. There is a proper role in some areas of the government to have rules and regulations - I'm not an anarchist.

I did this within a philosophical framework, and a moral and legal framework. And I have been turned into a cartoon of the greatest villain in the history of lobbying.

I am much chastened and profoundly remorseful. I can only hope that the Almighty and those whom I have wronged will forgive me my trespasses.

Washington's a dangerous place.

I'm trying to avail myself of the various technologies to get the message that Washington needs to be cleaned up, that the system that's in place is not what's beneficial in the country.

I think the American people deserve somebody telling them what is really happening in Washington.

Human beings are weak.

Everybody's a complex person. Everybody. Everybody's nuanced.

Congress doesn't hate Congress.

I got into lobbying kind of against my will at first. I frankly didn't want to be a lobbyist, but I realized that in lobbying I could do things politically that were interesting to me and do some what I thought would be good. I'm not sure it all turned out like that, but at least that was some of the initial thinking.

I'm not trying to become popular.

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

Many of my e-mails have been maliciously taken out of context, another effort by those assaulting my career.

All I have, really, is my creativity.