BlatherWatch

Former presidential hopeful John Edwards faces trial

The anger, disgust and disappointment of fellow Democrats will be felt by John Edwards as he goes on trial tomorrow for allegedly misusing campaign finance money to help keep secret his affair with another woman. 

Reuters reports: "Edwards is accused of accepting more than $900,000 in campaign funds from two wealthy donors, knowing the exposure of his extramarital affair "would destroy his presidential campaign," prosecutors said in a trial brief.

The candidate at the time was a married father of three, whose late wife, Elizabeth, had breast cancer.

Jurors will hear opening statements the federal courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Edwards, 58, is accused of conspiring to solicit the money, receiving more than the $2,300 allowed from any one donor, and failing to report the payments as contributions.m He faces six felony counts, each carrying a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Edwards admits personal failings but insists he broke no laws.

Edwards' defenders say the government is overreaching with its prosecution of Edwards, the son of mill workers who earned his fortune as a trial lawyer in North Carolina before being elected as a U.S. senator from the state in 1998.

His defense lawyers dispute the Justice Department's interpretation of federal election laws, arguing the donors would have given the money regardless of the campaign and did so knowing it wouldn't be used for campaign purposes.

The money was not spent to influence the election but rather to conceal the affair and resulting pregnancy from Edwards' wife and children, they said.

Edwards never personally received any of the payments, nor did his campaign. The money was used to cover living expenses and medical care for his mistress, campaign videographer Rielle Hunter, rather than traditional campaign activities.

"This is expanding the scope of the definition of campaign contribution," said Ron Wright, a law professor at Wake Forest University who is not involved in the case. "It is an unprecedented definition."

And now you know what will be on Talk Radio in the coming weeks, obliterating all other news. 

Breaking: Santorum suspends campaign

To the surprise of no one, today Rick Santorum has suspended his campaign for President of the United States.

"We made a decision to get into this race at our kitchen table, against all the odds, and we made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race is over for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting," Santorum said during an address in Gettysburg, Pa.

During his 14-minute speech, Santorum did not endorse Mitt Romney.

The Pennsylvania Republican had taken a break from the campaign trail for several days to tend to his ailing daughter Bella. He had pledged to continue campaigning through the upcoming Pennsylvania primary. But the combination of his daughter's sickness and recent poll numbers showing him possibly losing his home state apparently prompted the early departure.

Why use the word "suspend", and not "quit"?

It's a political distinction rather than a legal one, said Michael Toner, a prominent Republican election lawyer and former Federal Election Commission chairman.

"It gives you more flexibility politically" and "political cover to get back in the race," if a candidate chooses to do so, Toner said. "It gives you more wiggle room."

By not officially terminating a campaign, a candidate can continue to raise money to retire debt. A candidate would not be allowed to "terminate" their campaign -- in the technical sense with the FEC -- unless they paid off their obligations and debts.

This leaves a clear path for Romney and the nomination, unless significant brokering takes place at the convention this summer.

We have some questions

Talk radio and the Intertubes are still in a frenzy over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. The right wing news heads have worked very hard to explain all the ways the 17 year old could have avoided being shot, including not wearing a hoodie sweatshirt, and "talking respectfully" to George Zimmerman. They have spent an equal amount of time describing the horrific accounts of Zimmerman's injuries from the scuffle and how he narrowly escaped being killed by Trayvon.

From KOMO News we can see ABC News video from a surveillance camera in the police station in Sanford Florida. Do you see evidence of a broken nose? Blood? Looking like one has rolled on the grass with an attacker or had his head slammed several times on the sidewalk?

The cop who "frisked" Zimmerman AFTER they got out of the car checked his jacket pockets (assuming they already had the gun and were not looking for that), then checked his pants pockets, found something, and took it off Zimmerman and put it in his own pocket, jabbing several times to get it down into his pocket. Has anyone mentioned the cop taking something out of Zimmerman's pocket? Did that object ever made it into evidence?

Image(Joe Oliver, BFF of George) Why has Joe Oliver quit his job to "testify" for his "friend" George, when, in an interview with Lawrence O'Donnell (The Last Word M-Th 7p-8p MSNBC), he was so easily shown to be an acquaintance at work? He said he considered himself more of an "older uncle" figure. Who is paying him so he can quit his job?

The American people have heard all the 911 tapes and, tonight, have seen the police surveillance video. Why did Zimmerman's father just release a statement that "George said Trayvon told him 'You are going to die tonight' " ? Does he think viewers will now ignore what they heard on the tapes? Does the fact that the elder Zimmerman used to be a judge have any bearing on why the police were told to drop the charges against George, and that request was made by the Chief of Police and State Attorney? We look forward to the Grand Jury hearing next month so our questions might be answered.

Can't we all get along?

  Talk radio has spent a lot of time the last few days debating the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Was George Zimmerman justified? Was it an  act of racism or self defense?  Are gun laws too lax? Too strong? Whatever the side of the issue callers fell under, one thing was consistant--everyone agreed that this was a tragic event.

Well, almost everyone. Over on the TeeVee, Fox news reported the story and invited people to comment on the network's blog. The result was a whole lot of ugly. We can't print most of it here because it is just TOO ugly, but here are a few examples:

-- "What a shame—a tragedy, really— because the dead lil’ gangsta could’ve used “‘A-FIRM-TIV AK-SHUN” to go to kollige an play footballz and make lotsa cash munny!”

-- "Zimmerman was attacked by the man and defended himself with a gun. Zimmerman’s wounds were verified by police."

-- " Why should anyone care about this kid? Because he is of color? People don’t value kids period. They are property. BTW, I am a conservative that cares a great deal about kids. We follow hundreds of cases each year, many white babies and children, none of them get attention. But he does??"

-- " How does anyone know what this 17 yr old said, Most likely he threw the race card out ” you stop me because I*M B L ACK” and then became threatning. The media alway plants the seed of doubt when when a B l ac k is sh ot by a caucasian".

-- " I’m just glad Zimmerman didnt miss and hit an innocent bystander."

-- " THIS IS PURE RACIST!! When do you ever see the DOJ investigate the death of a white child??"

-- "This is pure B.S I want to see the kids police record even if something is expounged also why was he removed from facebook it says account terminated.Why because his parents are trying to cover his tracks just like if you hit a bus they see Dollar signs. People have dragged data about Zimmerman out where is the kids past.Don’t say he was a good boy prove it. Ask yourself what is more likely to happen any 17 year old kid when you ask a question. A smartass reply I have never and I mean never seen a teenager run unless he did something wrong.I guess no crinimal has ever cased a place when they went to a store. It takes me aback the way all these facts are quoted by people who read one story on a issue."

-- " They should have a hunting season in Florida for these drug crazed gang members."

Posters on the CNN website were not above the fray, either:

"Come on people, lets be sensible here. Why do african americans get labeled the way they do? Well because their own people give them the horrible name that is been placed on them. I live in suburb outside of Chicago that is mostly White and Hispanic. We get a TON of break-ins in garages and houses. Guess who police catch doing 80-90% of these break-ins? Black. I dont even want to mention the recent mob actions that have been going on in the yuppie neighborhoods in Chicago where black teenagers/men are going into these white neighborhoods and beating people to within a inch of their lives."

Local talk radio has been all over this as well, and listeners have been weighing in on the station websites. From MyNorthwest.com:

--" just because you are not of the same race as the other person involved does not make you a racist. Shooting someone of a different race when they are breaking into your home does not make you racist. Getting into an argument with someone of a different race does not make you racist. "

--" I love how Zimmerman says it was self defense when he was clearly chasing after the kid. Is it so hard to believe that this 17 yr old kid was walking home and then is scared for his life because some guy with a gun is chasing him, for reasons he doesn't know? You clearly hear the kid screaming for help while Zimmerman pumps a lethal shot in him. Where is the self defense? If there was blood on Zimmerman, it would be very possible that the kid tried fighting him off. Hell, he was being chased by some crazy guy with a gun. I would try to fight off somebody chasing me with a gun. Zimmerman needs to be arrested and charged. This is sending a horrible message to the public."

From KOMO Radio website:
-- " Why was the kid in a gated residential community? Did he live there? Let the whole story come out and then let the people responsible to review the case decide what to do. We shouldn't charge or not charge based upon public opinion. Somewhere the rule of law has to count, thus the meticulous investigation and someone down the line there may be a murder charge cased upon that investigation, not based on online polls. "

If YOU were to call in to Beck, Hartmann, Hannity, Carlson, Ross, Burbank, Monson or Schultz, what would you say?

Open thread: republicans' truth 'not intended' according to sen. jon kyl and... stephen colbert

Back during the federal budget fight, smarny liar Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl claimed  that over 90% of the services performed by Planned Parenthood were abortions.

Last weekend, the dim, right-wing chuckle buddies at Fox & Friends said that Walgreen's offered many of the same services as Planned Parenthood.

Stephen Colbert, our favorite conservative hilariously debunked them all.

It ain't easy running against Fox news ...

Rachel shows how hard it is to run in the Republican 2012 primaries without help from the "fair & balanced" network, also known as "Republican Party TV." Iowa is being called "the Murdoch primary." Just ask Ron Paul... or Newt Gingrich. Even buffaloons such as Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain got more air time and positive props than those two- even as they led the polls. What a way to run a party!

(Of course they're all wack-a-doodles who never had a chance against the deeply boring, establishment-anointed Mitt Romney, the conservative-come-lately whose slow and steady is winning the race. The only Republican we ever feared as a real competitor to President Obama in this bevy of boffos was Jon Huntsman, and he's never not been in the single digits).  

The dark side of Mitt Romney

HuffPo's Jason Linkins writes: "[Fox News] Channel ran a graphic that didn't quite capture the way he's been performing in the Iowa polls. Anchor Megyn Kelly previews this chart of the current poll standings by noting that Newt Gingrich's 'support may be fading,' but if you look closely, Romney's done anything but fade. In fact, he sort of has that 'Kenyan anti-colonialist' look to him, you know?

Michael savage offers $1million to newt to drop out; glenn beck calls tea party newt fans racists; bugs bunny withdraws support from michelle bachmann

The war torn GOP remains just that despite Newt Gingrich has strong poll numbers. Within a prty in which the ideological base resides in talk media, the radio iside sure ain’t all lined up for Newt. Monday, Michael Savage offered Newt $1 million to drop out of the race in 72 hours to let Romney prevail by default.

You might say Michael Savage hasn't had a salacious, mendacious headline in at least a year; or you might say, he speaks for a Tennessee shitload of other conservatives across the fruited plans... From the Savage site:

O dear: billo gets a taste of his own tactics (he doesn't like it much)

(photo: Billo, comb-over askew, umbrella blown out, runs from questions like a tabloid philanderer- which he is, actually)

In Washington last night, Bill O'Reilly scuttled like a beetle to avoid a protester's question- "Were you at Newt Gingrich's fundraiser, Mr. O'Reilly?"

Actually, he was his way out of the White House where he attended one of what the invitation called a "holiday party," which had caused a couple of days of pious War on Xmas derision by Fox News Christian soldiers.

The communist muppet conspiracy

If you're not terrified and outraged enough by The War on Xmas, the gay takeover of Xmas carols, how about the Muppet conspiracy to brainwash your kids to hate capitalism? It's the latest moronic winger fake outrage from Fox News’s craziest host, Eric Bolling.