In 1992, John McCain was made chairman of the board of the International Republican Institute, an organization then only nine years old. Today, the New York Times begins a story about the Institute that is clearly intended as an assassination over his ties to the group—there are lobbyists involved! There is money and finagling with foreign government! Yes, they are something of a relic of end-of-the-Cold War, Central-American interventionists. Very spooky! (By which I mean, a friend to the black-ops spooks.) But with a close reading, the story actually becomes the very opposite of a takedown. Despite all its teasing up top about dirty lobbyists and access to donors, it all makes McCain look pretty great!

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