John Edwards confirmed to ABC News today that he had an extramarital affair with a novice filmmaker during his presidential campaign, even as his wife was fighting a recurrence of cancer. Classy. However, the woman’s baby isn’t his (he says). And the good news: He isn’t the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
So much for Edwards’ prospects of becoming Barack Obama’s running mate or attorney general.
“Republicans, once hailed as the ‘party of ideas,’ have become the party of stupid,” wrote columnist Paul Krugman.
“Now, I don’t mean that GOP politicians are, on average, any dumber than their Democratic counterparts. And I certainly don’t mean to question the often frightening smarts of Republican political operatives.
“What I mean, instead, is that know-nothingism — the insistence that there are simple, brute-force, instant-gratification answers to every problem, and that there’s something effeminate and weak about anyone who suggests otherwise — has become the core of Republican policy and political strategy. The party’s de facto slogan has become: ‘Real men don’t think things through.’”
Krugman’s examples include the selling of the Iraq war and the current oil drilling debate.
A former driver for Osama bin Laden was convicted of supporting terrorism, but the dismissal of conspiracy charges and his short sentence (he could be out in about five months, after getting credit for time served) are a major rejection of the U.S. government’s case. Prosecutors had sought at least 30 years and tried to portray Salim Hamdan as a hardened al-Qaida warrior.
It took a while for the full impact of the 2nd Congressional District primary to sink in — a moderate beat a high-profile conservative in a GOP primary in August. That’s not supposed to happen in Kansas. That may be one reason a RealClearPolitics blog called state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins’ defeat of former Rep. Jim Ryun “perhaps the upset of the night,” also noting Jenkins’ disadvantage in cash and name recognition. Now Jenkins would seem to have a real shot over Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka. The blog observes that Boyda “has a record close to the middle of the House, but in a Republican district based around the state capital in Topeka in a presidential year, the freshman Democrat is going to have real trouble holding on to her seat, and national Republicans see it as one of their top targets.”
Wait a second. Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Tom Winters was criticized during the primary campaign for raising taxes to pay for an aviation training center. But now that Winters has lost the GOP primary, his opponents, Republican Karl Peterjohn and Democrat Marcey Gregory, say they won’t block the center and repeal the tax increase (as was done on the jail expansion). If what Winters did was so wrong, why support it now? And why didn’t Winters get more visible support during the primary from business and aircraft industry officials who said the tech center was essential to maintaining Wichita’s status as Air Capital of the World? Some thanks Winters got for sticking his neck out.
“Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback says China will spy on Olympic visitors, including journalists and human rights activists. To which President Bush said, ‘Since when do you need an Olympics to do that?’” — Comedy writer Jim Barach, quoted in Newsday
Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, is correct to have “serious concerns” about the new request for proposals for the Air Force tanker contract. The Government Accountability Office determined that the previous contract awarded to Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. had “significant errors.” But this new process appears to be even more unfair by giving “extra credit” for larger planes. The Air Force’s previous contract specifications indicated it didn’t want a jumbo refueling tanker. Now there may not be enough time for Boeing to rework its proposal based on a larger plane.
John Edwards confirmed to ABC News today that he had an extramarital affair with a novice filmmaker during his presidential campaign, even as his wife was fighting a recurrence of cancer. Classy. However, the woman’s baby isn’t his (he says). And the good news: He isn’t the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
