Politics corrupts money.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Briefly Noted - Alex Gibney - Brief article

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"Is the story of Abramoff a tale of personal corruption," Alex Gibney asks at the beginning of his 2010 documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money, "or the story of what our democracy has become?" Gibney inclines sharply toward the latter view. His insistence on presenting the career of lobbyist-cum-convicted-felon Jack Abramoff as an illustration of money's corrupting influence on politics mars an appallingly amusing movie that is really about politics' corrupting influence on money.

For Abramoff, Gibney claims, "The buying and selling of politicians was the...