The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff

Gary S. Chafetz, a Boston journalist, set out to chronicle the scandal involving the gun-for-hire and super-lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Instead, he uncovered a Shakespearean tragedy of deceit, betrayal, and political vendetta, in which the true villains were 2008 Republican nominee for President, Sen. John McCain; The Washington Post newspaper; and the US Department of Justice--all of whom participated in the railroading of an essentially innocent man. (Abramoff's transgressions were minor.) Chafetz benefited from exclusive and unconditional secret access to Abramoff and to many never-before-released documents (Chafetz interviewed Abramoff--without the knowledge of the prosecutors with whom he was cooperating or his own lawyers--for two years, both before and during his imprisonment.) The blizzard of stories--Abramoff even graced the cover of Time Magazine--painted Abramoff as an implausibly greedy lobbyist who cheated Indian tribes, bribed politicians, and corrupted the political process--a fascinating tale, but, ultimately, untrue. The true story, that Chafetz recounts in The Perfect Villain, is an even more riveting and compelling story.