Schaffer relives past good times with Jack Abramoff

Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer is reminding voters of his connections with disgraced D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff. No, really.

In talking up his immigration views to the Denver Post, Schaffer gave props to the Northern Mariana Islands and its guest-worker program. Schaffer got a firsthand look at the American territory in the South Pacific (also called Saipan) in 1999 thanks to Abramoff, who was working for the islands back then, valiantly lobbying against laws that would have put an end to sweatshop work conditions there.

The folks at Colorado Pols are besides themselves and even ProgressNow is bewildered that Schaffer would bring up his links with Abramoff. No less perplexing is that Schaffer is mentioning the Marianas as a positive example: the islands have a brutal human-rights record, including forced abortions.