Colombians Heart Clintons

At the moment, the Colombians -- our staunched Latin American friends in trade and the drug war -- have a bit of a problem with right-wing extremists infiltrating the highest levels of their government and then murdering trade unionists.

Now some nosy Democrats in congress want to stop sending them more money than we send anyone we haven't actually invaded this decade until they do something about all the paramilitary death squads.

The Colombian government, though, has found an easier approach:  give Bill Clinton an award and then hire Hillary's own Mark Penn (via his PR firm Burson-Martseller ).

Barack Obama (and fellow Dem "candidate" Chris "Eyebrows" Dodd) made a point of denouncing the Colombians just as their President showed up to give Bill his special prize and parade Shakira before him.

In an unrelated story no one can remember having seen or heard from Chris Dodd in going on two months.

 Democrats Push Colombia on Terror Groups [CBS]