The Albanians are a natural constituency for John McCain. They nod their heads no, and shake their heads yes, at least traditionally. Some of them have now adopted the opposite head motions. Such ambiguity is the perfect climate for McCain's brand of straight talk.
There are two Albanian scandals in the news today, and it is only a matter of time before we find the connection.
A group of 20-something arms merchants from Florida used Albania as a transit point for illegal Chinese arms shipments. They were aided by State Department people in the U.S. Embassy in Albania.
Now, it turns out that McCain Campaign Co-Chairman Tom Ridge just happens to be a lobbyist for the Albanian government. Though Ridge was well paid for his work as Maxwell Smart on behalf of the tiny nation, he somehow neglected to file the paperwork.
This is in keeping with his forgetting to inspect cargo ships and other blunders during his tenure as the chief of Homeland Security.
So, the question becomes, was the State Department directly or indirectly influenced by the fact a former Cabinet officer with big suck in the Bush Administration was an unregistered lobbyist for the Albanian government.
When we know the answer to that question, we will know how big the scandal will become.
But since McCain continues with his lobbyist-driven campaign, you might wonder if the United States should consider hiring a lobbyist to represent our country within the McCain campaign. You certainly wouldn't want a situation where the Albanians got all the graft and Americans were entirely forzen out from the pork dispensed by their own government.