Some ‘splainin’ to do

It’s not just Marcos and the SLORC. Mobuti Sese Seko, Siad Barre, Ibrahim Babingida, the Chinese government’s oil company, the Saudi royal family. All hired people who work or raise money for the McCain campaign as lobbyists. (Not mentioned: Charlie Black’s former client Jonas Savimbi, the Angolan terrorist and ally of the South African Nationalists.)

And no, signing up a lobbying client is not like representing the defendant in a criminal case. There’s no Fifth Amendment right to a lobbyist. Most criminal defendants have no ongoing interest in influencing U.S. government policy. And criminal defense lawyers are supposed to defend against charges of past crime, not facilitate current and future crime. Lobbyists for terrorists and thuggish regimes can’t make the same claim.

At some point, will a member of McCain’s worshipful personal press corps dare to ask him a question about whether he feels comfortable taking money and advice for paid agents of hostile foreign powers?