We have the best politicians money can buy.

Our government for sale, would bet money it's mostly Reps who stuff their faces and pockets at these parties. The average taxpaying citizen has no influence or power.

Man - what congressman isn't going to want to attend these lavish parties? Meanwhile the rest of us may not be having much of a lavish Christmas thanks to the economy, the housing crisis and high gas prices.

Dear Brian Ross, Hello, I'm a regular American in my thirties who does not have a vehicle, my wife and I walk to our 6 and 9 dollar and hour fast food job, barely make it from pay check to paycheck and when we flip it on night line, (we watch Brian Willams mostly) my grandma wathes Charles Gibson though. But on nightline we got see Jolly old Bush (the crookedest man on the planet) partying in the White House..Oooh Ooooh Let me run to the T.V. We DO NOT GIVE A CRAP about his little crooked buddies having A Christmas party. Or the lobbyists. We all know that they lavish themselves and each other for thier personal intrests. Its not news. Show us news about catching criminals who robbed a charity's toys in Atlanta a few weeks ago. Or wounded soldiers actually getting the care they deserve. Geez, this party stuff really hits us where it hurts. Thanks. But no thanks. Until Impeachment precedings start America doesn't care anything about the Bush Administration. Just to let you Know..Sincerely, and Merry Christmas! Adam

This is the best ABC can do on how Congress has been bought out??? what a laugh.... All the Bush bashing you guys do and the real theives and liars in Washington party hardy... Thanks ABC

What an @ss kickin parties eh? meanwhile in the outskirts of rural America, millions of residence still have no power, water, running out of food. Cause by ice storm, contributed by global climate change.

The beer wine and whiskey flow like Niagra, smoke em if you got em for tobacco, but if you smoke pot, even to treat a terminal illness then it's off to jail for you while the pigs wallow in thier own filth.

Mr. Ross,

Tonight's broadcast (12/12), ended with the women in the Capitol removing nametags of congressional guests stating, "..it's not polite...private party."

Why is a party in the Capitol private? Isn't the nation's capitol for all Americans? Isn't what occurs there, a party with a few dozen types of beer, educational, a part of transparent government?

Will you please address this?

Thank you for reading my request.

Very sincerely,

Cherri

Brian thanks to you and the team for excellent reporting on this story...
It's always business as usual with these Morons in Washington...

so lobbyists - who are reprentatives of people by profession, interest, career, etc shouldn't be allowed to interact socially at parties with Members of Congress - who are representatives of people based on geography? I'm missing what your point is. great "investigating"

It's no longer "We the people", it's "We the lobbyists." Well, finally it's come out that the lobbyists run the country. Why even vote at all when your state rep or senator doesn't even care to remember who their "real" employer is. US! Nope, as long as you have deep pockets and plenty of influence you can buy just about anyone on Capital Hill. Congressional cowards are greedy gluttons too! Congressional swine!!!!!

Just remember one thing...The Congress themselves made the rules, not the lobbyists. Remember that on election day!

why isn't this illegal? our government can be bought? i thought we elected officials that had integrity. perhaps i was wrong..

This story is designed to get ratings, not to educate you. These parties will be outlawed on 1/1/08, and anyone who believes that votes are bought for the price of a beer needs education. The real "money trail" story is that campaign contributions flow from individual citizens - nurses for example - to national PACs like the Amer. Nurses Assn. - to candidates for office - to TV networks for campaign ads. The "Money Trail" ends in ABC's pocket. Please take these "lavish party" stories with a dose of skepticism.

The misguided do not realize that the D's, R's, I's and any other politicals all have paid groups of people who practically live in the lobby of the Capital, House, and Senate. The public even foots the bill for the offices and furnishings of the mass histerical media. What are the odds of finding an honest one among the whole lot of them? AS far as lobbyists goes, not one, because money, favors and "gifts" area ALWAYS involved.

Thanks for this glimpse into power hill! It's good for us to see how our congressfolks work so hard to represent our interests in Washington. I was so thrilled to see our religious right congressman lamborn participating in an educational beer tasting. Can I pun, here's what ales our country!

Well look on the bright side of it..With all the booze flowing like Niagra Falls, we wont see the likes of Teddy Kennedy until February..

Adam Kington, you're wrong. It is news that the public needs to have rubbed in its face until they (we)rise up and go on work and tax strikes until we grind this mafia government to a halt and get their attention.
These can spend 2 million ddollars a minute running up the national debt, but they can't let big-windfall oil have any taxes levied on it to help pay back some of the hundreds of billions that industry is stealing from the consumer at the gas pump. They can't let children of middle class have health care, and no repeal of windfall taxcuts to the super wealthy. The roadblock Republicans will be sure they protect big business. That's what these parties and orgies of lobbyist wining and dining are all about: not a crumb for Americans, but trillions in profits for crooked business and politicos. So don't say it's not news. It needs to be ground into Americans' faces so they can see who their oppressors are.

I appreciate your airing stories like this. Such stories seem mysteriously not to be put on during the daytime when the average American might see the gross, mafia-like excesses to which our "public servants' go in order to get the best of everything at OUR expense. We the people pay the onerous taxes and do without basic life needs so that the wealthy and powerful can tell us what to do and deny us a decent life and arrogate to themselves all kinds of power over us without our having any say in it or representation.

In case you weren’t aware of it, ABC News, there is huge anger out here abroad in the land, but our ruling oligarchs couldn’t care less. They are like mafia dons or like the Romanovs prior to the Russian Revolution; or like the French aristocracy prior to the French Revolution. They live high on the hog but pass down harsh laws giving the peasants less food, more of the gallows and a swift kick in the ribs if we peasants so much as peep about our condition. These high and mighty bureaucrats have spies everywhere and they surveil us so they can hustle us off to jail, as they (the mighty-powerful) demand from us ever more taxes, more personal sacrifice in unending wars, and ever more onerous public debt. We are supposed to get ever less than nothing and like it.

Asa Eslocker and Joanna Jennings.....Thank You for the holiday slap in the face. Like we really needed this story about GREED, GREED and more GREED during this time of year. With so many of the American people suffering with low paying or no jobs, homes being foreclosed and paying outrageous fuel costs for home and transportation, you rub our noses in this drivle. That is the problem with Washington, they have no compassion anymore for the common person in this country. You elitist polticians are fast becoming the scrooges of the American way of life. Instead of praying for peace during this holiday season, I might have to change my prayers to...Pray for honesty, compassion and conscience for all our politicians.