"Lend prestige"? What does that mean? According to the article, the guy's company received no state grants, contracts, economic incentives or state appointments. They could only get McDonnell on nonreporting gifts, and had to invent something vague about "lending prestige" for the quid pro quo to get him on corruption?
If that is the standard, didn't Obama "lend prestige" to Solyndra by visiting the factory and yucking it up with the executives? Didn't people connected to Solyndra make gifts to Obama's campaign? At least Solyndra got something a lot more real than "prestige", they got federal loan guarantees.
The Post sniffs: "McDonnell never explained why he and his wife had allowed such a man to become so closely entangled with their lives."
Suddenly, the Post is so high-minded! How about all the low-lifes "entangled with" Obama and the Clintons?
It's always a different standard for Republicans as opposed to Democrats.
One could say (crudely) that Clinton would “lend prestige” to BJs in the Oval Office....