No sooner was Novak talking about Doug Goodyear, McCain’s convention chairman, than he was drop-kicked by the campaign for ties to a lobbying firm that had worked for the Burmese junta.  “Republican Convention Chairman’s Ties To Monstrous Government That Starves Its Cyclone-Ruined Nation” is probably not a headline McCain wants to see.  Goodyear got the job when Paul Manafort, one of Rick Davis’ partners, was passed over.  Manafort has represented Yanukovych in the past, so true to his standard Russophobia McCain instead opted for someone whose firm, as it turns out, had worked for an infinitely more despicable government.  Doesn’t anyone in the McCain camp check into these sorts of things before hiring high-profile employees?  I have a suggestion that may help avoid future embarrassments: stop hiring the associates of your lobbyist friends for key positions!