Congrats! Dems sweep the 2008 Naughtiest Politician Awards!

A national CNN/Opinion Research poll reveals the top three Naughtiest Politicians of 2008. May I have the envelope please, Vanna?

Bronze: John Edwards (D-Sleazebag), who cheated with Rielle Hunter on his cancer-stricken wife and reportedly fathered a not-so-secret love child.

Silver: Love Client #9, former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer (D-Hypocrisy), who was ensnared in the rollup of a high-end prostitution ring.

Gold: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Batsh*t crazy), seemingly involved in so many pay-to-play schemes he probably had a dedicated IT staff to keep all of the grifts straight.

Honorable mentions weren't listed, but I'm betting they included Charlie Rangel (D-Tax Man), Allan Mollohan (D-Self-made Millionaire), John Murtha (D-Porkmeister), and William Jefferson (D-Freezer Burn).

RELIAPUNDIT ADDS: LET'S DUB THIS AWARD (WHICH HONORS SCANDALOUS POLITICIANS) "THE TEA POT AWARDS" - (AFTER THE INFAMOUS TEA POT DOME SCANDAL).

AND WE CAN GIVE THE GOLD TEA POT TOO...

The Legend of Barack Obama

CLICK TO ENLARGE










This looks pretty good, so long as it remains just a movie... and not reality.

Idea for image: Reliapundit

RELIAPUNDIT ADDS:

• NOTE: THE MOVIE BAGGER VANCE IS OFTEN CITED AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE "MAGICAL NEGRO" GENRE OF MOVIES.

• ALSO SEE BELOW.

• THE SLOGAN FOR THE PHOTOSHOPPED "BAGGER VANCE" IS ACCURATE, BUT THE ONE FROM THE ORIGINAL MOVIE MIGHT ALSO DESCRIBE HOW OBAMA'S SUPPORTERS FEEL ABOUT HIM: "SOMETIMES WE NEED A LITTLE HELP TO REACH OUR DREAMS."

OBAMA IN SECRET MEETING WITH EDWARDS: IS THERE NOW AN OBAMA-EDWARDS DEAL?

NYTIMES/AP:

Barack Obama sneaked down to North Carolina Sunday and met with former rival John Edwards, who has yet to make an endorsement in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Officials at North Carolina television station WTVD said they have video taken from a helicopter of Obama leaving Edwards' home in Chapel Hill. A producer said the station was ''tipped off'' about the meeting, but said the source was confidential.

The Obama campaign confirmed the meeting. Although reporters normally travel everywhere with Obama, he left them behind to fly down in secret from his hometown.

''Senator Obama visited this morning with John and Elizabeth Edwards at their home in Chapel Hill to discuss the state of the campaign and the pressing issues facing American families,'' said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. He wouldn't comment on the possibility of an endorsement.

People close to the Edwardses, speaking privately, say they have been torn about whom to support. The former North Carolina senator is concerned that Obama may not be ready for the presidency and that his health care plan is inferior. But Edwards was highly critical of Clinton -- her policies, her ties to special interests and her character -- during his campaign, making it more difficult to support her now.

• CAN HILLARY OUTBID OBAMA?
• DOES EDWARDS HAVE ENOUGH SUPPORT TO BE THE KING/QUEENMAKER?
• WILL AMERICA ELECT A LAWYER WHO GOT THE NOMINATION BY MAKING A DEAL WITH ANOTHER LAWYER?

Prediction:

• OBAMA GETS THE EDWARDS ENDORSEMENT - THE CHICAGO MACHINE HAS MORE TO OFFER EDWARDS. AS IN $$$$$.
  

• AND MICHELE AND ELIZABETH BOTH HATE HILLARY.

• PLUS: THE UNIONS WHICH HAVE ALREADY ENDORSED OBAMA HAVE A LOT TO OFFER EDWARDS AS WELL. AS IN $$$$$.
  

Waiting for more Democrat voter shenanigans

Before the Nevada Caucuses



After the Nevada Caucuses



Hot Air:

I guess we’re just going to have to get used to this sort of after-the-fact crying foul in every single election involving a Democrat... It’s not just one diary on Kos. Here’s another. The Obama campaign itself has made the claim of “more than 200 voting irregularities” in Nevada... We never hear anything like this on the Republican side.

For those who think it's a foregone conclusion that Obama would accept an offer of the Veep slot from Hillary, here's some food for thought.

* Co-presidents: the role of VP in a Clinton co-presidency would be devastatingly slim. Consider Al Gore.

* Track record of Veeps: the track record of VPs moving on to the Presidency isn't a stellar one.

* Eight year wait: Obama's choice -- sit for as long as eight years as a third player in the White House... or secretly undermine Hillary in the '08 general election to ensure a GOP victory; and then come out swinging in 2012 (perhaps against a 75 year-old McCain).

If these thought processes are going through Obama's head, I think odds are better than 50-50 that we could see a Hillary-Edwards ticket. You heard it here first.

[For those of you who saw the movie Waiting, yes, this post's headline is a secret reference!]

RELIAPUNDIT ADDS: I THINK OBAMA MIGHT STILL WIN THE NOMINATION. AND HERE I POSTED A LIST OF HIS LIKELY VP PICKS. THEY WORK WELL FOR HILLARY, TOO.

SILKY WAS REARED IN A PINK HOUSE

HERE'S JOHN EDWARDS POSING IN FRONT OF HIS CHILDHOOD HOME.

IT ALL BEGINS TO MAKE SENSE....

HIS SOCIALIST POLICIES AND HIS EFFEMINATE DEMEANOR...

JOHN EDWARDS: PINK FROM THE GET-GO.

EDWARDS - LIKE HILLARY - IS A COMMIE

AND HIS BARELY VEILED COMMIE THREATS - NOT UNLIKE THOSE OF HUGO CHAVEZ - COME IN HIS OWN TV COMMERCIAL (VIA IAN SCHWARTZ):

AFSCME - THE UNION OF TAX-RECEIVERS - ENDORSES HILLARY

• WE ARE THE TAXPAYERS. THE FOLKS WHO WORK IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND SWEAT IT OUT IN THE COMPETITIVE MARKETPLACE.
  

• THE UNIONS WHO WORK FOR THE FEDERAL, STATE AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS ARE THE TAX RECEIVERS. LEECHES.
  

• THE TWO BIGGEST UNIONS REPRESENTING THE TAX-RECEIVERS ARE SEIU AND AFSCME.

• THE SEIU IS A CHIEF BACKER OF ACORN AND THE WORKING FAMILIES PARTY - BOTH ARE FRONTS.

• THE NATIONAL SEIU WON'T ENDORSE ANYONE YET, BUT MOST OF THE STATE CHAPTERS HAVE ENDORSED EDWARDS.

• NOW, THE OTHER BIG TAX-RECEIVER UNION - AFSCME - HAS JUST ENDORSED HILLARY.

• BOTTOM-LINE: THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IS THE PARTY OF HIGH TAXES, AND TWO OF THE MAJOR BENEFICIARIES OF THESE REVENUES ARE THE SEIU AND AFSCME.

• IF YOU ARE A TAXPAYER, THEN YOU SHOULD VOTE AGAINST ANYONE THEY ENDORSE.

IF EDWARDS WAS A SERIOUS PERSON, THEN...

HE'D DROP OUT OF THE RACE AND ENDORSE OBAMA RIGHT NOW - BEFORE IOWA.

• HE'S GOING NOWHERE, FAST. AND OBAMA MIGHT BE SAID TO REPRESENT "THE OTHER AMERICA."

• IT WOULD BE THE ONLY WAY THEY COULD STOP HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON.

• BUT EDWARDS IS NOT A SERIOUS PERSON. HE IS A SELFISH, LYING, HYPOCRITICAL LEFTIE DEMAGOGUE.

JUST SAYING.

JOHN EDWARDS SAID A VERY ANTI-BLACK AND RACIST THING

NRO:

Asked about what he could do about "inner-city kids partaking in violence" at the MTV/MySpace Forum yesterday, Democratic candidate John Edwards offered an apocalyptic prediction for young black males:

“We cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem. And the idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating — pretty soon we’re not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They’re all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two.”

• I THINK HE SHOULD APOLOGIZE AND QUIT THE RACE.
• HE IS UNFIT FOR OFFICE.

THE FACT THAT NEITHER THE LEFT, THE MSM, JESSE JACKSON OR AL SHARPTON HAS DEMANDED EDWARDS APOLOGIZE AND QUIT PROVES THEY'RE HYPOCRITES. AND PARTISANS.

*******UPDATE: GATEWAY HAS THE VIDEO!

WHAT EDWARDS SAID SOUNDS EVEN WORSE WHEN YOU SEE AND HEAR HIM SAY IT!

IT'S FREAKIN' OUTRAGEOUS!

TWO OF THE BIGGEST CLASS-ACTION LAWYERS INDICTED

WILL EDWARDS BE NEXT?

(The NYTimes calls them "prominent" lawyers, but I think that's an oxymoron.)

John Edwards In Iowa

My mother visited John Edwards in Osceola, Iowa, Monday. Mom is a die hard Democrat and likes Edwards. My mom met Edwards and told him she was a breast cancer survivor and had lost a young son (my brother Jeff). Edwards put an arm on mom's shoulder said "God Bless You" and gave her a little hug.

Now I really don't like Edward's policies, but I have to say that mom's story humanized him a lot for me. BTW mom (who is about to turn 88) thought Edwards was really handsome.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

EDWARD'S: AMERICANS SHOULD SACRIFICE THEIR SUV'S

From ABC News (via Drudge):

Edwards: Americans Should Sacrifice Their SUV's

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told a labor group he would ask Americans to make a big sacrifice: their sport utility vehicles.

The former North Carolina senator told a forum by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, yesterday he thinks Americans are willing to sacrifice.

Edwards says Americans should be asked to drive more fuel efficient vehicles. He says he would ask them to give up SUVs.

Reliapundit adds: What has he EVER sacrificed? He's nothing but a leftist hypocrite. And a would-be dictator. If there were no SUV's on the road we'd reduce gas consumption by about 2%. THIS IS NOTHING.

If rich folks like him gave up their 2nd and 3rd homes and their AC we'd save MORE. And how about him giving up JETS. We know his wife would give up fruit.

THESE HYPOCRITICAL LEFTISTS ALWAYS SEEM TO WANT US TO SACRIFICE. FOR THE COMMON GOOD: higher taxes - for the common good; a draft - for the common good; nationalization of industry - for the common good.

I'd like leftists to STFU - for the common good.

This policy put forward by Edwards is typical leftist thinking: They are bossy utopianists. And hypocrites. Don't fall for it.

UPDATE: An hour after this was first posted VDH weighs in - nearly exactly echoing TAB:

SUVs Again [Victor Davis Hanson]

Doesn't John Edwards know that the one taboo subject for elite Democratic candidates-is the SUV? We all know that they like them for themselves and hate them for others, and somewhere tucked in the their multi-door garages one sits hidden behind the Priuses.

John Kerry, once upon a time, got into trouble, saying he was against them before he owned (more than one of) them. And now Edwards apparently wants everyone to give them up. There's an argument to be made that they guzzle too much fuel and should, and must, be made more efficient—the market is already doing that—but the logical question then follows:

Can't Americans give up their 30,000 sq.ft homes, or private jet rides, as some small token of their commitment to energy efficiency?

08/29 11:31 AM

MISSISSIPPI: THE FATTEST STATE AND THE POOREST

FACTS HERE (poor) AND HERE (fat).

I ... er .... um guess, Mr. Edwards, that poverty and starvation don't go hand in hand... ??? [MORE ON EDWARDS DEMAGOGUING POVERTY AND HUNGER HERE. (EXCERPT:

"According to Edwards, an amazing “one in eight” Americans lack “enough money for the food, shelter, and clothing they need,” caught in a daily “struggle with incredible poverty.”]

From the fat article:

Poverty and obesity often go hand in hand, doctors say, because poor families stretch their budgets by buying cheaper, processed foods that have higher fat content and lower nutritional value.

THIS WHOLE THING STRIKES ME AS BEING SIMILAR TO THE UNFALSIFIABLE CLIMATE CHANGE ARGUMENTS WE HEAR FROM THE CLIMATE DEMAGOGUES:

CO2 CAUSES WARMING AND COOLING,
DROUGHTS AND FLOODS, SALTIER OCEANS AND LESS SALTY OCEANS,
EARTHQUAKES, DESERTS, HURRICANES, TORNADOES,
BLIZZARDS, AND POLAR ICE CAP MELTS.

Demagogues - flim-flam fraudsters of fear - can always find some angle and something to scare you with.

I SAY: If people want to smoke, drink hooch and eat too much fatty food it's THEIR business, NOT THE STATE'S.

And the nanny-state demagogues should just STFU.

MORE CLASS-BAITING DEMAGOGUERY, LEFTIST LIES AND PROPAGANDISTIC PANDERING FROM JOHN EDWARDS

Edwards said that NAFTA was bad and had cost the USA jobs.

He is either an idiot or a liar who thinks he can win by pandering to idiots.

WHY?

SIMPLE:

NAFTA was passed in 1992, an since then the USA has added more than 30MILLION jobs to the economy.

Edwards is wrong on the facts. Typically wrong - just like a typical leftist. DETAILS HERE.

Edwards is a lying SOB leftist who would turn over the federal government and the economy to his left-wing comrades.

Which means he'd make a GREAT NOMINEE FOR TODAY'S DEMOCRAT PARTY!

UPS AND DOWNS

Go here to see my version of who is up and who is down this week along the lines of how the Beltway Boys do it, only LMC style!!

EDWARDS A SPOILER?

I was talking to a political contact of mine and she confirmed that John Edwards doesn't have a prayer of getting the Democrat nomination. It is a no brainer when you look at the daily gaffes his political campaign seems to make.

Yet, she did bring up an interesting point. She said that the only thing Edwards might accomplish is to be a spoiler by splitting the Hillary vote. I had never thought of that. Could Edwards take enough support away from Hillary to give Obama the nomination? Food for thought since I consider Obama to be more of a threat than Hillary.

JOHN EDWARDS' CAMPAIGN MANAGER HAS TERROR TIES

Atlas Shrugs discovers that John Edward's campaign manager, David Bonior has "terror ties, is an Islamist apologist and an anti-semite". Somehow this doesn't shock me when we know that Edwards has already said himself that, Israel is “the greatest short-term threat to world peace”.