Fred Thompson And His Drug Dealing Friends Who Serve No Time In Jail

(Sing to the theme song of "The Beverly Hillbillies")

Come and listen to this story 'bout a friend of Fred
Busted twice with big weight, he got pinched by the Feds,
For sellin' sticky green, and some white powder too
Caught with 5 kees, one needs a lot of munchie food.

Weed, that is. Indo, Purple Haze.

Well the next thing you know ol' boy's a millionaire
Fred then said "that's a nice plane there"
Well jail is where his adviser should be
And that's where he'd be if he looked like me...

Black, that is.

But instead, he's livin' in big homes with swimming pools, friends with movie stars.

Friends of Fred Thompson!

Sorry about the literary excess taken with the theme to The Beverly Hillbillies, but it fit in this instance, since Thompson is from backwoods Tennessee and all...

Looks like scandal just can't seem to stay away from the wealthy and famous in the GOP. One of presidential candidate Fred Thompson's advisers is a convicted drug dealer. More on that later.

Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by this businessman and close adviser, Phillip Martin. He's one of the four campaign co-chairmen for Thompson for President, and considered a very close adviser to the presidential pretender. Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's jet have saved him more than $100,000 in expenses. But, it's not about the money he saved.

It's about the fact that this "law and order" guy who's a lawyer in real life and TV (!) would be traipsing around using the jet of a convicted drug dealer.  And meanwhile, Fred sure does talk tough about crime, punishment, and personal responsibility.

Nonetheless, it seems that his friend, Mr. Martin has been busted not once, but TWICE for drug dealing. And neither time, he's gone to jail.

Details:

Philip Martin pleaded guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. Probation for 5.5 kilograms of pot. I see.

While still on probation, he was charged in 1983 with multiple counts of felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. Martin 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. WTF??

For a moment, let's say that Martin is a person of color. He'd have just been getting out of jail now for his conviction in 1979, not to mention the second nolo contendere.  The coke bust should have netted him at least some jail time. But, Martin's not served a day. I'm not a see-racism-around-every-corner person, but clearly, if this isn't an example of white privilege, I don't know what is.

Now, let's also ask the question: while Martin's been convicted twice, how many other deals has he actually gotten away with? Are we to assume that he's the most unlucky man in America, to be pinched consecutively on his only two drug deals? Or should we believe, rationally, that he's moved a lot more weight than he's been, ahem, punished for?

And through all of this, Thompson pleads ignorance, along with everyone else. Fred's handlers say he has no knowledge of Martin's criminal convictions. Yeah, OK. One doesn't do background checks on people that loan you expensive airplanes and give you money, when you're running for president?

Yet, Philip Martin has been rubbing shoulders with bigwig GOPers in Tennessee, donating close to $100,000 over the years to his Republican associates. And, by the way, he's gotten $40 million in loans to start several businesses. That's mighty white.

So, quick question for Fred: where's the law and order? Or is that only when it's convenient for you?

DAAAA - DAAAAAAAAAN.