June 27, 2007 12:47 PM

Lobbyist Fred Thompson Says S&L Schemers & Foreign Human Rights Violators "Deserve Representation"

Via reader Steve Josselson, the Associated Press is the latest media outlet to finally (and belatedly) report on Fred Thomspon's career as a corporate and foreign lobbyist. Responding to the article, Thompson defiantly said, "Nobody yet has pointed out any of my clients that didn't deserve representation." Right after that, of course, the AP notes this:

"Thompson, who likes to cast himself as a political outsider, earned more than $1 million lobbying the federal government for more than 20 years. He lobbied for a savings-and-loan deregulation bill that helped hasten the industry's collapse and a failed nuclear energy project that cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars. He also was a lobbyist for deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was widely criticized for endorsing 'necklacing,' the gruesome practice of execution where gasoline-soaked tires are thrown over a person's neck and set ablaze."

I hope Thompson keeps telling folks that no one should have any objections to his career as a paid shill for S&L deregulation that led to economic collapse, energy boondoggles and foreign human rights violators. Such a line of rhetoric is at least as hilarious as his initial response claiming that corporate lobbying "is an honorable endeavor that goes back to the beginnings of this republic" - as if being a high priced K Street mercenary is a patriotically heroic endeavor akin to George Washington crossing the Delaware.

Thompson's fledgling campaign is being run by a who's who of K Street lobbyists, so this probably explains his laughable explanations. I'm trying to guess what his next response will be. Maybe he'll start telling us that being a corporate lobbyist is a form of community service, like volunteering at a soup kitchen. Or maybe he'll say that the skills he honed transforming truckloads of corporate cash into legislative favors uniquely qualifies him to serve as commander in chief defending America against the terrorists.

Keep digging, Freddy, keep digging...