The "free" ways to gain access offer an important hope - that bona fide issues are issues beneficial to the interests of the nations are being discussed without the explicit taint of preferential access in exchange for cash supplied to the ruling party.

Barry Sherman provides us with a special reminder of one method whereby a single donor limit of, say $1,500, can buy influence.  Google "Barry Sherman, Joe Volpe, 11 year old twins" to get yourself up to speed.

Then you can return to your feckless partisan defense of the indefensible without the same vacuousness to hide behind.