…and ends his career in politics

BBC NEWS | Americas | Ex-senator Edwards admits affair
Mr Edwards said he had told his wife of the affair and asked for forgiveness Former Democratic US presidential hopeful John Edwards has admitted that he had an extra-marital affair and that he lied about it during his campaign.

Meanwhile, the following thing are still apparently okie-dokey if you are a Republican candidate for president:

• Accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from oil companies and shady foreign sources (Hess Oil, Harry Sargeant)
• Being on the receiving end of Savings and Loan bribes (Charles Keating)
• Bigamy (McCain married his 2nd wife before the divorce from his 1st was finalized)
• Adultery (Same…and there are stories about other women with McCain, including recently)
• Calling your opponent a traitor to his country (‘…my opponent would rather lose a war to win an election…")
• Lying about your prior policy positions and your Congressional voting record (MLK holiday, supporting troops, campaign funding reform, in favor of allowing torture, warrantless spying, etc.)
• Gaming the public funding system for elections, opting in and out at whim — and illegally
• Employing dozens of lobbyists as your top campaign advisers

Then let’s move on to the biggies, the things that are okay and legal and all that, if you happen to be George Bush, Dick Cheney, or have their support:

• Lying to start a war (approaching 5000 dead soldiers, tens of thousands maimed for life, and (literally) uncounted hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead or wounded)
• Concocting fake evidence to justify that war, and passing it off as factual (forged letters, faked intelligence, perjured testimony to Congress, Powell’s entire presentation to the UN)
• Torturing prisoners (and sometimes allowing them to be murdered)
• Imprisoning people forever, without trial or any requirement for probable cause
• Overturning Habeas Corpus, the right to a fair trial
• Spying on citizens without a lawful warrant
• Seizing of property without probable cause
• Destroying evidence (CIA interrogation tapes, White House emails & visitor logs, etc.)
• Obstructing justice
• Lying to investigators, prosecutors, and grand juries
• Lying to Congress
• Leaking the identity of covert CIA operatives, endangering not only that person, but everyone else with whom she has ever come into contact
• Using legal memos to declare legal things which are blatantly wrong, immoral, and illegal
• Using spurious ‘terror alerts’ to create fear, confusion, and doubt, so as to keep everyone docile — and to sway elections
• Using the federal government to support Republican candidates for office (violations of the Hatch Act)
• Selectively prosecuting Democrats on trumped up charges, while ignoring Republican wrongdoing
• Installing criminally incompetent boobs in highly important positions (‘heck of a job, Brownie’)
• Nominating candidates for judgeships (including the Supreme Court) who then perjure themselves before Congress by claiming to be impartial, when their subsequent behavior on the bench proves otherwise
• Installing political hacks in positions that are legally defined as non-partisan career civil service positions
• Ignoring lawful Congressional subpoenas and Contempt of Congress citations
• Asserting ‘Executive Privilege’ when there is no legal basis for it
• Using the Justice Department and the WH Office of Legal Counsel as an "Anything Is Legal Because We Say So" card to justify any criminal, corrupt behavior, including everything mentioned in this list
• Selectively using classification and declassification procedures to further political agendas, regardless of the consequences
• Changing factual reports on intelligence, the economy, the environment, and everything else, just to suit a political agenda
• Violating the Constitution, the Congressional intent on laws and infringing on Judicial purview by attaching ‘signing statements’ to laws
• Attempting to change laws by issuing Executive Orders — in secret, so nobody even knows what the law is
• Rigging elections through voter suppression and voting machine tampering

And it goes on and on and on.  John Edwards is done with, his proverbial goose is cooked — and this sordid affair of his is all we’ll hear about for the next sodding week.

But about GOP crimes?  Bush’s war-crimes?  About McCain accepting hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions from some guy with connections to Jordan?  About Russia apparently starting a war with Georgia?  About the whole world’s financial systems teetering on the brink of ruin, because greedy gits decided to play Ponzi with unbacked mortgage securities?  And if they give Newt Gingrich even one second to pontificate about Edwards, after his own affairs…

(crickets chirping…)