A Rough Week for the Political Class...

I started this post a week ago, but time constraints have severely limited my online time. This was initially going to be titled “A Rough Week for the Right,” focusing on Karl Rove being cited for Contempt of Congress and Senator Stevens (R-AL) being indicted for “impersonating a Democrat,” but the recent Edwards affair has changed that dynamic and made this overall, “A BAD Week for the Political Class.”

On consecutive days, Senator Ted Stevens was indicted and Karl Rove was cited for contempt of Congress.

In Stevens case, the infamous “bridge to nowhere” Senator seems guilty of “acting like a Democrat,” in that he’s charged with receiving over $250,000 in gifts and services from VECO Corp., a powerful oil services contractor, and its executives.

NBC reported, “The indictment says Allen and other VECO employees were soliciting Stevens for "multiple official actions ... knowing that Stevens could and did use his official position and his office on behalf of VECO during that same time period."

“VECO's requests included funding and other aid for the company's projects and partnerships in Pakistan and Russia. It also included federal grants from several agencies, as well as help in building a national gas pipeline in Alaska's North Slope Region, according to the indictment filed in Washington.

“Stevens has maintained he didn't do anything for VECO that he didn't do for any other constituent or pro-Alaska interest. The indictment stops short of charging Stevens with bribery or other traditional corruption crimes.”

Karl Rove was cited for defying a subpoena to answer questions about the dismissals of several federal prosecutors earlier this year.

Rove has denied any involvement with Justice decisions, and the White House has said Congress has no authority to compel testimony from current and former advisers.

While both Rove and Stevens are engaged in ongoing legal battles, John Edwards, the Left’s favorite moralist (“If we really want a more moral nation, it has to start with each and every one of us.”) has admitted to the affair The National Enquirer disclosed months ago.

Mainstream reporters knew the story to be true shortly after the Enquirer broke it. After all, if an ambulance chaser doesn’t file suit against a tabloid over a charge, then it’s almost certainly because the charge is true!

Still, they waited...and waited...and waited...UNTIL John Edwards, trying to head off further controversy, disclosed it himself.

There’s no question the mainstream press KNEW that Fred Baron, Edwards campaign finance chairman and longtime confidante, had been providing financial assistance to both Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young, a former campaign staff member who professes to be the father.

This week, the former North Carolina senator, who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004, confessed to ABC News that he had lied repeatedly about the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter. Hunter's daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, was born on Feb. 27 this year. There was no father's name listed on the birth certificate, which was filed in California.

It’s amusing (not really) how the rabidly biased mainstream media (MSM) rationalizes smearing Conservatives on the grounds that “they preach morality, so it’s vital to expose such hypocrisy,” while equally moralistic Leftists, like Al Gore and John Edwards seem to escape their pseudo-wrath.

At any rate, all things considered, this has been a bad couple of weeks for the entire American political class. With any luck, it might do some good – turning off many idealistic folks from politics and their affinity for politicians.

John Edwards, Well...“Edwards’ Himself"...Yet AGAIN!!!

You’ve gotta love John Edwards, for in his own mind he must believe that he still lives in the 19th Century when news travels so slow that you can say one thing to one group and something completely antithetical to another without either of them hearing of the other before an election.

Previously he opined about “other” Democratic candidates taking monies from News Corp.

Apparently he figured his own profiting off of News Corp would go unnoticed...IT DIDN’T. In fact, one of News Corps house organs (the New York Post) made sure of it.

Still, you’d think that Uber-Capitalist, john Edwards would realize the futility of his attacking “greedy Capitalists,” like himself. See, when you parody yourself like that, most people prudently presume your tongue is planted firmly in cheek.

A few months ago, Edwards explained his raking in millions from his stint managing a Hedge Fund as “trying to better understand the chasm between wealth and poverty.”

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OK, what better way to do that, then raking in millions in Hedge Fund profits?
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And more importantly, what better way to better understand what side of the wealth/poverty divide one wants to be on?
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Now it turns out that Edwards has profited off of a hedge fund tied to subprime lenders who foreclosed on victims of Hurricane Katrina. Now there's nothing at all wrong or illegal about that. Hypocritical, yes, illegal...no.

It seems, Edwards, who has denounced such lenders, invested $16 million of his $30 million in assets in Fortress Investment Group. The Wall Street Journal reported that 34 New Orleans homeowners struggling to overcome Katrina's aftermath faced foreclosure suits from sub-prime-lending units of Fortress.

A spokesman for the Edwards campaign said he didn't know how quickly Edwards would be able to divest the controversial funds. Of course, not! There’s some serious profit and loss considerations at stake here!

The spokesman also declined to say whether Edwards would give back the adviser's fee or the campaign contributions. Uhhh, for all those wondering, that "no comment," is a resounding "NO."

Ironically enough, Edwards has made the plight of Katrina victims a recurring theme of his bid for the Democratic nomination. He even chose New Orleans to kick off his campaign in December, when he vowed to help poor residents recover from Katrina. In April, he returned to the city to promote his plan to end the "shameful lending practices" of subprime-mortgage firms.

Asked yesterday if his investments damaged his image as a poverty fighter, Edward's said: "No. Everyone knows I am completely committed to eliminating poverty in this country."

Me TOO!

I’m completely committed to eliminating poverty (my own family's) in this country...I can only presume that’s what John Edwards means too – he’s completely committed to eliminating the Edwards’ family poverty in this country.

Come on John, you’re a Capitalist and a good one, just revel in it and stop embarrassing yourself with all the anti-capitalist talk!

John Edwards Ironic Impact on Breast Cancer

As a trial lawyer, John Edwards made his fortune suing OB-GYNs over junk science that connected cerebral palsy to problems with deliveries. The impact of those lawsuits is that insurance companies paid out billions in malpractice premiums (a relative pittance to each “victim” and reportedly over $400 million to John Edwards), causing malpractice premiums to skyrocket, along with physician prices – the REAL COSTS are always passed onto the consumer, to the point where in many states, few physicians delivered babies any more.

Recently Debbie Schlussel made a great point about John Edwards’ ironic impact on breast cancer, “Breast cancer is a devastating, frequently fatal disease--which also strikes men. But, the fact is that John Edwards' multi-millions in lawsuit verdicts contributed greatly to the cost of health care for the rest of us in America. The average woman doesn't have the gazillions Mrs. Edwards does to get every treatment (several NOT covered by HMOs) available that the rest of us can't afford. Her husbands' lawsuits didn't make those treatments more possible for the rest of us. Nope, those lawsuits made effective treatment more expensive and less available.

“Don't be fooled by this smokescreen book and John Edwards' pronouncements on Oprah about his and his wife's fight against breast cancer. When it comes to your fight, he made America's women more vulnerable.

“And so do the thousands of other medical malpractice plaintiffs' lawyers like him around America who voted for him and gave generously to his and Kerry's campaigns.”

Debbie Schlussel, March 22, 2007


Actions have consequences. When juries are unable to recognize junk science (there is NO established link between cerebral palsy and child-birth), it costs the public billions in (1) costs, as the costs of goods and services (like health care) rise in response to such actions, (2) higher taxes and (3) a reduction of those willing to offer those services in the future.

People who care about others look to promote prosperity, by decreasing regulation, reducing taxes and government spending/services and rewarding investment and jobs creation.

Many of those claiming to endorse “economic equality,” of “economic justice” are motivated by a resentment of the prosperity created by the investor class and seek to punish and restrict that prosperity. In some cases that's misguided, in others it's deliberately evil.