Man, those Republican presidential candidates can pick ‘em. Rudy Giuliani had a drug guy and a mob pal. Romney had toe-tapping Larry Craig, and now Fred Thompson.
Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing.
Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the “first day founders.” Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as the head of “Thompson’s Airforce.”
Sounds more like Air America. And not the radio network.
“But…but…Hillary & Hsu…Bill…Lincoln Bedroom…interns…”
There. Jay and his sick ilk have been pre-empted.
Touche’!
“And Edwards’ haircuts!!!! Plus Obama’s black (and has Hussein as a name)!!!!”
More on drug smuggling and Republicans here:
http://www.madcowprod.com/10292007.html
The big secret is the war against drugs is really just a war against competition in smuggling drugs into the US. Almost every American war since WWII seems to involve flying weapons into the war zone and drugs out. Oliver mentions Air America, but there was Iran-contra, with weapons shipments into Latin America and cocaine back to the states (remember Hasenfus?), and weapons to Iran and heroin out(for ex, Monzer al-Kassar). What with Afghanistan up to full production of opium America uses Victor Bout flying weapons and drugs for all sides.
The CIA/DEA/OSS folks have been doing this since Lucky Luciano. So when the party of morality is up to its ass in drug dealing why should anyone be surprised?
Why, thank you, Randy. There certainly are parallels, but Thompson’s friend committed his crimes and served his sentence, and has managed to keep his name clean AND become a very successful person despite his earlier problems. He paid his debt to society, and was apparently reformed by it.
Hsu, on the other hand, became one of Hillary’s most renowned fundraisers while he was still a fugitive from the law, somehow getting through her campaign security AND the Secret Service while still a wanted man. (Who, by the way, is now trying to get the charges dismissed on the “no speedy trial” argument — the government didn’t do its part in trying to apprehend him while he was on the lam.)
Another good comparison might be Sandy Berger, Hillary’s foreign policy adviser. No, that won’t work, either; he still has yet to complete his sentence (still on parole, still denied security clearance, still hasn’t taken the agreed-upon polygraph test.)
I guess the best comparison with Martin is probably Bill Clinton — had to surrender his license to practice law over a little matter of lying under oath. I guess if we can forgive him a couple of years after his admission of error, we can forgive Martin for something he did — and paid for — a couple of decades ago.
J.
Jay-bronie, you know the black-and-white photo in the second article below this one? The one entitled “A Black Hole Opens Up”?
That’s you.
In a nutshell.
Good day.
Sorry Jay, but Hsu, Sandy, and Bill are not flying Hillary around on their private jet. Try again.
You’re right. Hsu was just dumping tons of money into her coffers, Sandy’s got her ear on matters of foreign policy, and Bill is one of her closest advisors on pretty much everything and (allegedly) sleeps with her.
I can see how those pale in comparison to flying her around on a private jet…
More to the point, he served his sentence and has rebuilt his life remarkably successfully. He’s paid his debt, moved on, and made a tremendous success of himself.
Apparently you’re giving up the mantle of being the side of compassion, the side that cares about people, that believes in redemption and rehabilitation, that once someone commits a crime, they’re forever tainted.
Unless, of course, you’re a Democrat. What’s the acronym — “IOKIYAD?”
It’d be fascinating to go through the ranks and find every single person of both parties that has been convicted of breaking laws, and bounce them out of office. Can we start with Ted Kennedy?
J.
An excellent tu quoque, Jay! Well done. Strangely, I suspect that none of this will make Fred Thompson look better, though. Flying crack into the country is frightening to voters; merely invoking the name “Bill Clinton” is not.
“Why, thank you, Randy. There certainly are parallels, but Thompson’s friend committed his crimes and served his sentence, and has managed to keep his name clean AND become a very successful person despite his earlier problems. He paid his debt to society, and was apparently reformed by it.”
I suspect you would think differently if there was a D after Thompson’s name.
An excellent tu quoque, Jay!
Hey, no fair! Doc Handjob got a tu quoque and I didn’t. Can I have American cheese on mine, Jay?
Not really, Strowbridge. As long as the person involved in the offense has completed their sentence AND kept their nose clean for a while, I have no problems with them trying to make something of themselves and rejoin productive society. That’s the whole point of sentences less than death or life — give the offender a chance to make right.
Unlike Ted Kennedy, who’s used his family connections to skirt on numerous incidents that should have ended his career. Or Sandy Berger, who has YET to complete the terms of his plea bargain. Or Norman Hsu, who jumped bail and fled his trial back in 1993.
Tell you what, Strowbridge. you cite a parallel case — top Democrat or aide or advisor who was convicted of crimes a while ago (Martin’s were over 20 years ago), has stayed out of trouble all that time, and now wants to make some sort of meaningful contribution to the political process, and I’ll cheerfully acknowledge the fairness of treating them the same. Heck, I might even give you one with George Soros — my opposition to him is independent of his conviction for insider trading.
I am a smidgen disappointed he resigned, though. can’t blame him, but I would have liked to see Thompson say “he screwed up when he was younger, but he’s kept to the straight and narrow ever since, and I’m proud to call him friend and have him on my staff.” But Martin didn’t want to do that, and that’s his right.
J.