Joe Biden And The Culture Of Corruption

MBNA cut Joe Biden's son a big check just before the Senator voted for a credit overhaul bill that MBNA wanted.

It's a good thing that Biden's a Democrat, otherwise someone might suspect corruption.

Update: More here.

When Sen. Joe Biden's son Hunter needed investors to help buy a New York-based hedge fund, the first financier to step forward was a Chicago lobbying firm and one of the senator's top campaign contributors.

After the first attempt to buy the fund soured, one of Joe Biden's top advisers, who co-owns a lobbying and communications firm, jumped in to provide public relations help, and was later identified in court papers as a new investor.

Both deals came to light only after one of the parties -- who describes himself as a longtime acquaintance of the Bidens -- filed a fraud lawsuit against Hunter and James Biden, the senator's younger brother and a partner in the hedge fund.

The case, still working its way through New York's courts, illustrates an often-mentioned vulnerability of Joe Biden after 36 years in the Senate: his ties with Washington lobbyists, including those of his son Hunter.

Democrats were hoping to avoid Republican attacks and insider dealings when they chose the Delaware Democrat to join presidential hopeful Barack Obama and his message of political change.

But the legal dispute has offered inside glimpses of the deals, including revelations that a corporate counsel working for the Hunter Biden-led venture was awaiting sentencing on a federal money-laundering charge, and allegations of drug abuse by one hedge fund's senior officers and prior owners.