Protectionist Gephardt Becomes Mouthpiece for Turkey

A double irony involving Dick Gephardt here. First, that the most stridently protectionist politician in the second half of the twentieth century is now in the employ of a foreign government. The man who - most notably in his failed bid for the 1988 Democratic Presidential nomination - assailed proponents of free trade as putting the interests of other countries before those of Americans is now in fact paid ($1.2 million this year) to represent the interests of a foreign country.
Second, that Gephardt - who increasingly framed his opposition to trade deals as a matter of protecting human rights for workers abroad - is working to quash a long overdue denunciation by the U.S. Congress of Turkey's 1915 massacre of Armenians. Evidently Gephardt supports free trade (at least in lobbying services) and ignores human rights when it is convenient to do so. Just another example of why I am relieved this man no longer leads the Democrats in the House.