John Edwards

I’ve been trying to stay out of the tabloid mania that is John Edwards, but this caught my interest today:

Young also said another copy has been turned over to the FBI, which has been investigating the money that exchanged hands during Edwards' second White House campaign.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.

Unless that video tape shows Edwards paying this lady then why in the hell does the FBI even need it? Edwards has admitted everything, including fathering the child, and having sex isn’t illegal, so what could this possibly add to the investigation? I can’t think of any reason.

There is no argument that when it comes to our politicians and their little sexcapades we have a double standard in this nation – a standard clearly divided amongst party lines.

Take John Edwards, Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer or Jim McGreevey. These four Democrats suffered severely for their extramarital affairs. One was impeached, two were force out of office and the other has no political future.

But when we switch to the Republican side and look at Mark Sanford, John Ensign, David Vitter and Larry Craig, they were able to continue. Craig of course decided not to run again, but that was his choice. Mark Sanford and John Ensign have vowed to stay in office even though the hypocrisy now triumphs over any good they can do. These were men who adamantly yelled for Bill Clinton to be impeached. Now that they are swimming in the same pool, impeachment isn’t an option.

So why is this? I can only assume that Democrats are held to a higher standard by the public and their own beliefs. This really puts a damper on the Republican Party being the party of values, since every value they claim to believe they end up ignoring.

Republicans have a major problem moving forward. Not only are they viewed poorly on every issue across the board, but the one issue they always did have is now gone. That issue is family values. People like Tony Perkins try to hold on to yesteryear and thinking the Republicans are the superior moral beings, but the people have realized that Republican superiority is now synonymous with hypocrisy.

Ta-Nehisi Coates delivers that truth about the Clinton campaign:

Woflson claims that Edwards and Clinton voters were the same. Really? What happened in Wisconsin? What happened in Indiana? (you know what I mean) What happened in Virginia? This is, ultimately, why I'm glad Clinton lost. Accountability does not exist with these guys, and in that, they really are Bush-lite. They had millions of dollars, front-runner status and, allegedly, the greatest politician of our era stomping for them--and they got their asses handed to them. But they can't come to terms with it.

(emphasis added)

Instead of moving on and accepting their own failures (see Mark Penn), Wolfson continues to try and bring down the whole party by finger pointing their way out of any fault for their loss. They tried to make the Clinton campaign a campaign of old, attacking and slandering the opponent at every turn. Voters are tired of this, especially in the Democratic Party, and the longer Howard Wolfson keeps this up the more damage he will do to any of Clinton's future plans for a White House run. Hillary Clinton needs to throw Wolfson under the bus now. He is on a destructive path that threatens to bring down his own candidate.

Since the news of Edwards affair broke on Friday, I've been waiting for this:

"I believe we would have won Iowa, and Clinton today would therefore have been the nominee," former Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson told ABCNews.com.

Does the Clinton campaign really want to base their loss on an affair? If they want to go there, then perhaps an argument could be made that Hillary would have won if people were positive Bill could keep it in his pants. I hate using an analogy like that, but with Wolfson saying this, I am sure more people will raise the same point now.

If I was Hillary Clinton, I would release a statement saying that Howard Wolfson no longer speaks for the campaign. It's time to throw this sore loser under the bus and move on.

John Edwards has admitted to the rumors of his affair, and already the right is in a frenzy.

So, can anyone refresh my memory? When was it John McCain started dating Cindy? When was it that they applied for their marriage license? Oh yeah - while McCain was married to the woman who waited for him while he was a POW and become severely injured.

And while on that subject, how is Newt Gingrich, Larry Criag, David Vitter, Mark Foley and all those other members of the GOP doing?

There is a big debate going on if John Edwards said "I voted for him" or "I voted for 'em" on MSNBC this morning. Here's the video and the entire interview is damn good.

More at the HuffPo

He gave a great speech yesterday. The difference between his and Giuliani's was like night and day, so I decided to post it if anyone missed it:

Also telling is how well Obama and Clinton responded to Edwards' dropping out. Last night there was hardly any talk of Giuliani from the Republicans, yet Edwards' former opponents had nothing but praise. This shows a serious difference between the two parties.

MSNBC is reporting that John Edwards will pull out of the race today. They aren't saying it's 100% but the tea leaves are looking that way.

Good for him

When it comes to protecting the rule of law, words are not enough. We need action.

It's wrong for your government to spy on you. That's why I'm asking you to join me today in calling on Senate Democrats to filibuster revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that would give "retroactive immunity" to the giant telecom companies for their role in aiding George W. Bush's illegal eavesdropping on American citizens.

The Senate is debating this issue right now -- which is why we must act right now. You can find your Senators' phone numbers here or call the Senate Switchboard at 1-(202)-224-3121.

Granting retroactive immunity is wrong. It will let corporate law-breakers off the hook. It will hamstring efforts to learn the truth about Bush's illegal spying program. And it will flip on its head a core principle that has guided our nation since our founding: the belief that no one, no matter how well connected or what office they hold, is above the law.

But in Washington today, the telecom lobbyists have launched a full-court press for retroactive immunity. George Bush and Dick Cheney are doing everything in their power to ensure it passes. And too many Senate Democrats are ready to give the lobbyists and the Bush administration exactly what they want.

Please join me in calling on every Senate Democrat to do everything in their power -- including joining Senator Dodd's efforts to filibuster this legislation -- to stop retroactive immunity and stand up for the rule of law. The Constitution should not be for sale at any price.

Thank you for taking action.

John Edwards
January 24, 2008

You can find out how to reach your Senator using the Contact Congress box in the far right sidebar. We need to make sure this immunity bill doesn't go through. Hopefully Clinton and Obama will do the right thing and head back to D.C. next week to help block it.

"Grow Up"!

Perhaps Hillary and Obama should have reminded themselves that there was a third candidate on that stage and that candidate would try to profit from their childish argument.

Tonight was excellence in broadcast journalism. Instead of playing the waiting game until the heat got to high, like Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann took the bull by the horns and made an on air apology tonight. The apology wasn't for something Keith did, but rather for something Lawrence O'Donnell did. Last night on Countdown O'Donnell said that John Edwards was not a factor in the Democratic race. While many might agree with him, O'Donnell didn't disclose the fact that he wrote a piece last week calling for Edwards to quit and saying how he was the southern white man standing in the way of the black man. I blogged about that piece here.

UPDATE:

Not a big surprise by the idiotic pundit, but what is interesting (besides the fact that he ignores Edwards is in a 3-way tie for Nevada) is that Morris thinks Edwards should pull out and put his support behind Obama. The hatred he has towards the Clinton's is very obvious, including yesterday when he called them racists.

Thankfully she is fine. We all know that family has gone through enough.

MSNBC and their latest ranking has John Edwards at third. No surprise there, but look at their commentary:

Former North Carolina senator Last Ranking: 3
Does he really want to be the white guy, playing the white candidate?

All this crap about sex and race is not an issue to the voter. The media is making it an issue so they have something to talk about. They want to throw this in everyones face 24/7 in hope of creating another news cycle. After Don Imus, does MSNBC really want to play this game?

Things aren't looking good for John. I blame the media and their constant attention to Hillary and Obama for this. Really I do. They pick the front runners - not us.