870 Big Bad John
So the Newt of the left, John Edwards, finds himself in some legal hot water. While his wife’s health deteriorated, John-Boy was busy making a baby with a girlfriend and covering it up. And now he’s been indicted on half a dozen federal felony charges having to do not so much with the girl and the baby but with the hiding and the shifting around of money -- which either was or wasn’t campaign bucks for his presidential run.
Glad they waited for the wife to die before indicting. She had enough trouble without having to layer this emotional nonsense atop her ultimately fatal cancer.
Did Edwards break the law? That’s for a jury to decide. Or maybe he’ll cop a plea and law license.
But it doesn’t much matter either way because either way the guy is washed up and good riddance. Don’t confuse southern charm with southern smarm. Snake oil salesman in an Armani suit, giving a bad name to both snake oil salesmen and Armani suits.
Never mind that his pal lied for him and claimed HE fathered the kid. Never mind that the hush money trail is so convoluted as to prevent accurate forensic accounting. And never mind that another “family values” presidential candidate and ex senator practiced what he preached against.
It’s the cover-up. Period. Nixon found that out. Clinton came close to finding that out.
And it’s the response. “I take full responsibility for my ‘mistakes...” blah blah blah. What does that mean? The focus group says it means nothing.
So a hot shot lawyer from a place Jimmy Breslin called “one of the low- I.Q. states” comes up with a few good ideas as a candidate and then throws it all away, whether or not illegally?
This is a dummy.
John-Boy: if you get a do-over, go find a sex toy, you know -- an inflatable doll or somesuch. Or if you must find a live woman willing to find out what -- if anything -- is beneath the suit, follow Dr. Ruth’s advice and “always use prrrotecccction.”
AP Shrapnel:
--Putting right wing apologist reporter Nedra Pickler on the Edwards story is like putting Keith Olbermann on the Newt Gingrich story of the same kind. Pickler busts the AP’s 165 year tradition of straight-down-the-middle neutrality as if it were meaningless. Which it’s becoming.
--How does a Pickler get a big national job with the most important news service in the country? Easy. Just wait 165 years for a non-up-through-the-ranks non-journalist salesman gets the top job at the news agency.
--So there’s a sales guy from USA Today running the AP, and you figure they got a guy who can bring in the bucks, which they need. And while news conditions have changed on his watch, you’d still expect the non-profit, user-owned wire service to make whatever non-profits call their profits this week, but it hasn’t been. Loss for 2011 was about $14 million and ‘09 would have been a loser year too if they hadn’t managed to sell a major European asset, their German language service.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com.
© WJR 2011
So the Newt of the left, John Edwards, finds himself in some legal hot water. While his wife’s health deteriorated, John-Boy was busy making a baby with a girlfriend and covering it up. And now he’s been indicted on half a dozen federal felony charges having to do not so much with the girl and the baby but with the hiding and the shifting around of money -- which either was or wasn’t campaign bucks for his presidential run.
Glad they waited for the wife to die before indicting. She had enough trouble without having to layer this emotional nonsense atop her ultimately fatal cancer.
Did Edwards break the law? That’s for a jury to decide. Or maybe he’ll cop a plea and law license.
But it doesn’t much matter either way because either way the guy is washed up and good riddance. Don’t confuse southern charm with southern smarm. Snake oil salesman in an Armani suit, giving a bad name to both snake oil salesmen and Armani suits.
Never mind that his pal lied for him and claimed HE fathered the kid. Never mind that the hush money trail is so convoluted as to prevent accurate forensic accounting. And never mind that another “family values” presidential candidate and ex senator practiced what he preached against.
It’s the cover-up. Period. Nixon found that out. Clinton came close to finding that out.
And it’s the response. “I take full responsibility for my ‘mistakes...” blah blah blah. What does that mean? The focus group says it means nothing.
So a hot shot lawyer from a place Jimmy Breslin called “one of the low- I.Q. states” comes up with a few good ideas as a candidate and then throws it all away, whether or not illegally?
This is a dummy.
John-Boy: if you get a do-over, go find a sex toy, you know -- an inflatable doll or somesuch. Or if you must find a live woman willing to find out what -- if anything -- is beneath the suit, follow Dr. Ruth’s advice and “always use prrrotecccction.”
AP Shrapnel:
--Putting right wing apologist reporter Nedra Pickler on the Edwards story is like putting Keith Olbermann on the Newt Gingrich story of the same kind. Pickler busts the AP’s 165 year tradition of straight-down-the-middle neutrality as if it were meaningless. Which it’s becoming.
--How does a Pickler get a big national job with the most important news service in the country? Easy. Just wait 165 years for a non-up-through-the-ranks non-journalist salesman gets the top job at the news agency.
--So there’s a sales guy from USA Today running the AP, and you figure they got a guy who can bring in the bucks, which they need. And while news conditions have changed on his watch, you’d still expect the non-profit, user-owned wire service to make whatever non-profits call their profits this week, but it hasn’t been. Loss for 2011 was about $14 million and ‘09 would have been a loser year too if they hadn’t managed to sell a major European asset, their German language service.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com.
© WJR 2011
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