reality-based educator

From the Washington Post:

Republican presidential candidate Fred 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."

Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation have saved him more than $100,000, because until the law changed in September, campaign-finance rules allowed presidential candidates to reimburse private jet owners for just a fraction of the true cost.

Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation.

Thompson's campaign said the candidate was not aware of the multiple criminal cases, for which Martin served no jail time. All are described in public court records.

The Thompson campaign whines in response to the story that "There's not a campaign in the world that has the ability to research every one of its supporters going back more than 20 years."

Can you image if HRC used that excuse about Norman Hsu instead of giving back the $800,000 that Hsu raised for the Clinton campaign?

Can you imagine if HRC was flying around in a plane paid for by a coke dealer?

Oh, the hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing that story would engender in the usual Beltway CW crowd.

I wonder if this story will even get mentioned by Tweety Bird, Pumpkinhead and the rest?

So far they've managed to ignore the "Rudy knew Kerik was a made guy in the mob" story while doing all they can to expose the "corruption" of the Clintons.

I guess we're going back to the future - the Clinton Rules are back in session.

If the Clintons do it, it's a crime; If Saint Rudy or Good Ole Boy Fred Thomspon do it, it's just a mistake.