Does Anybody Know About the Ralph Reed/Bush/MICROSOFT Connection?

[The Cleaner]

According to Wikipedia:

Reed's $20,000 per month contract with Microsoft proved a minor embarrassment to the Bush campaign in the summer of 2000 when it was revealed that the software giant, which was being prosecuted for anti-trust violations, had hired a number of Bush aides as consultants and lobbyists. Reed apologized for the "appearance of conflict" but continued to accept the money until early 2005, when Microsoft terminated Reed in the midst of the Indian gaming scandal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_E._Reed%2C_Jr.

This doesn't encourage me to go out and buy a PC anytime soon. Maybe I'll stick with Mac after all.

[blogslut]

1. Americablog concentrated on that story

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/04/microsoft-paying-religious-right.html

AMERICAblog.com has learned that Microsoft is currently paying a $20,000 a month retainer to former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed's consulting firm Century Strategies. Which now begs the question of whether Reed was in any way involved with Microsoft's recent decision to abandon its decades long support for gay civil rights in order to curry favor with anti-gay bigots of the radical right...

[tomreedtoon]

2. The connection? All three are evil!

Well, duh.

Microsoft Digital Rights Management, Bush's war, Reed's pogroms...maybe that's it. Maybe Gates read about Reed, saw the word "pogroms" and thought "programs," and figured this was something else he could steal.

[alfredo]

3. MS was also giving money to Ashcroft. When it came time to

dole out punishment for their crimes, MS and DoJ negotiated the punishment. MS offered the DoJ a plan they could live with, DoJ gave a counter offer that was more generous than what MS demanded. I don't remember the details, but it was a real scandal on the tech sites.

What was interesting that MS was negotiating after they were found guilty? What other criminal has the opportunity to negotiate their sentence? You don't give a convicted thief the money he stole, or a murderer back the gun he used?