You know, if the Bush administration is all about spreading freedom and democracy, how come so damn many of them have links to the most dictatorial governments in the world? Take the newly minted Budget Director, Rob Portman. In his former job as U.S. trade representative, one of his most notable accomplishments was inking a free-trade agreement with Oman, a country ruled by a hereditary monarch and not exactly known for its enlightened worldview. Of course, Portman's success in the deal shouldn't have come as any surprise. Before getting elected to Congress in 1992, the man was a lobbyist for -- that's right -- Oman.

Oh, and before that, he worked for a law firm that lobbied for infamous Baby Doc Duvalier, the charmingly psychotic dictator of Haiti from 1971 to 1986. Nice.

Rob Portman, alleged Tonton Macoute