The Biggest Political Scandals Of 2008

In terms of political scandal, 2008 might not have been the sleaziest or the dirtiest year. After all, a corrupt president wasn't forced to resign or impeached. A decorated Marine didn't help sell arms to Iran and FBI officials didn't dress up as Arab sheiks to trap elected officials.

But who can ever purge their minds of the indelible image of Eliot Spitzer keeping his black socks on during his romps with high-priced prostitute Ashley Dupre? And who can forget Rod Blagojevich's impressive use of the f-word and even-more striking Elvis pompadour?

So, follow along and enjoy this slideshow of the political scandals of 2008:

• • • • • • • Former presidential candidate John Edwards' political future and reputation were tarnished when he admitted having an affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter (pictured to left of Edwards in 2006) amid accusations that he had fathered her newborn baby.

Comments

[LiseLives]

Review of the election highlights - KO

[williamg]

The good old days!!!

[LiseLives]

I don't think I'll ever get tired of reviewing it all ! Not ever !

[kevineight]

The new main thread seems to be fast-posting.

[peacefulworldcitizen]

Only under pseudonyms.

[zippitydoo]

watch it, that is why i am going to la la land early.

[Bitsko]

Zip a dee doo dah and good night, zippitydoo.

[Bitsko]

This looks a whole lot better:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/29/bush-enjoys-vacation-as-m_n_154031.html

When has Dubya NOT been on vacation? Sooner or later, you folks have got to face the fact that you supported and continue to support the worst president since Andrew Johnson.

[peacefulworldcitizen]

I am going to have to disagree with you on that one. The worse president we have ever had is Bush, second would be Buchanan and third would be Hoover.

What do the three have in common? Buchanan was president when the Civil W_ar began and he did nothing to prevent it. Hoover, of course, was president when the Great Depression began and did nothing to stop it, and Bush had both an unnecessary war and the Great Depression 2.0 in which he was responsible for both.

Most historians rate Buchanan as the worst president.

[AliMB]

i think most people on the hill are on vacation... but I'm sure President Obama in 2009 will work the days between christmas and new years.

[shockmagog]

With the patented Swift-Mod FastPost de-threading system, it's no wonder!

[apoliticalchick]

Some delicious Blago bites:
http://democralypsenow.blogspot.com/2008/12/warning-thickly-haired-rats-spotted-in_16.html
http://democralypsenow.blogspot.com/2008/12/blagos-future-jail-cell-or-padded-walls.html
http://democralypsenow.blogspot.com/2008/12/obama-and-blagojevich-as-different-as.html
http://democralypsenow.blogspot.com/2008/12/say-it-aint-so-blago.html

[zippitydoo]

I think I am being watched.......
So I am going to bed now......
draw your own conclusions..........

s e e y o u a l l t o m o r r o w........hopefully

sweat dreams friends!!

[HumeSkeptic]

Good night, zippity.

[peacefulworldcitizen]

Nite!

[myangeldog1]

Nte zippity!!

[LiseLives]

Leaving so soon ??? Well, okay then ....sweet dreams right back at you ! ; )

[Bitsko]

Sleep, perchance to dream... of a word without tr0lls!

[williamg]

Good ole John Edwards!

After learning his wife has cancer, and while running for president, this clown decided to have an affair with some strange hanger-on lady. Even better: he paid her a ridiculous salary with his supporter's donations. Then, he has one of his campaign officials pay her millions to, one assumes, keep the lovechild a secret. What a nu.tcase!

Be happy Democrats - the party dodged a bul.let.

[kevineight]

No kidding. How embarrassing. I'm sorry, he should never be in the national spotlight again.

[NochlessMonster]

I never liked him and hopefully will never have to see him again... I always thought he acted badly towards his wife and children...

[LiseLives]

Amazing turn of events - & lucky for us that we focused all our belief in Obama - (sigh of relief) ;

[Revelation1118]

The left was cuddling with E_dwards and Kucinich even as I kept saying Obama Obama Obama..

It was only after their favs lost that the left embraced Obama, with the exception of the cougars.

[Revelation1118]

gee we sure love to hate the fallen. And over what? sax?
What a sick and prudish nation; almost like Saudi Arabia!

Let's try a different perspective:
His wife was sick and there was no marital you know what. The animal in him took over the operation of his brains and he f**ked up, or down, whatever. What is totally s_tupid of this man was not his affair (please do try to think like an Italian or a French man), but his inability to use a c_ondom.

And then, the poor f_ool thought he could bury it and run for pres. That was really the d_umb part

[williamg]

This is sick. From Bob Shrum's book:

Kerry talked with several potential picks, including Gephardt and Edwards. He was comfortable after his conversations with Gephardt, but even queasier about Edwards after they met. Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story with him that he'd never told anyone else--that after his son Wade had been kil.led, he climbed onto the s.lab at the funeral home, laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he'd do all he could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade's ideals of service. Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me later, Edwards had recounted the same exact story to him, almost in the exact same words, a year or two before--and with the same preface, that he'd never shared the memory with anyone else. Kerry said he found it chilling, and he decided he couldn't pick Edwards unless he met with him again.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1626498-2,00.html

[AliMB]

curiously enough, that "clown" was supported by many in the "progressive" community... well some of the hardcore "progressives" supported Dennis Kucinich, who claims to have seen a UFO... where is that infowarriorNY guy, he needs to get on the ball

[williamg]

If Edwards was supported by many progressives, he would have done better than winning 20 delegates

[zippitydoo]

Okay........what I was trying to say, before I was so rudelythrust into palinbabyhellcentral was...... funny how blago got rat poi son and Stevens got a Mercedes in their pics and everybody else got the girl!

It was much more elaborate when first written...........but last night is catching up to me, me thinks...scrubbyonmytail.........

[Bitsko]

So it is Balgo's baby?

[zippitydoo]

I refuse to reply for f e a r of c e n s o r ship!

[InfoWarriorNY]

Deniers and ridiculers and obfuscators are unnerved by build ing sev.en

That's when and where their T ruth-denying and obfuscating and ridiculing run into some problems

They have a quiet panic and then resort to their usual silly diversions

ROLF?

[JamesR.]

zzzzzzzz

[HumeSkeptic]

I am with you all the way, InfoWarrior, but only if you give some credit to my theory of Partial Rapture, and that the towers are now in heaven.

It's a give and take. You accept my nonsense, and I'll accept yours.

Deal?

[buckygreen]

Here have the leftover tinfoil from my leftover Christmas dinner and add it to your tinfoil collection.

ROFL?

[InfoWarriorNY]

The next one will be a lot worse, and it will originate from the same network as dallas

Read up on false-flag terr.or, else you are an irrelevant commentator, your witty tinfoil remarks notwithstanding

[Bitsko]

Diversion is the proper word for what you are so clumsily trying to say. You sound like you hae a brain in your head, it's a shame to see you wasting it on the lame-brained theories of retired Army officers trying to make a quick buck. My father was a 25 year sergeant in the Air Force, and before retiring was offered an officership. He turned it down, as he felt that to do so would make him a traitor to all the brave and dead NCO's he had so proudly served with, as well as a traitor to his working class roots as an extremely poor boy in the depths of the Great Depression, where the sight of an officer was never seen. Think of this for a moment. This world is one of rich getting richer, and poor growing poorer and more desperate every day. The present economic situation will only make things worse. We need to band together and make this country stronger, and teach the young that there is hope in this veil of tears.

[kevineight]

The two largest structures in the world, (had you ever been in them? I had. I was once in Windows on the World and the observation deck. Those were seriously large buildings) crash to the earth over a period of a few minutes, and a building immediately adjacent to them collapses.

No. Nothing can explain that!

[kevenseven]

Meanwhile, over at the Gaz a strip thread, the mode ration is tighter than a nun's fanny.

[SCG]

I like my Gaza Strip rare.

[shockmagog]

Dee-lish!

[JamesR.]

Why go there? We can talk right here about the massacer. The mawdsquad will think we are talking about Edwards haircuts.

[kevineight]

I'm fed up with the Isrealis.

[HumeSkeptic]

I wouldn't know. I'm not into nunns.

[kevineight]

You are not a complete man!

[Bitsko]

I would like to take a moment to thank all those tireless folks who volunteered, in often nasty circumstances, to work to elect the most promising president of my lifetime. Thanks for all your work.

[LiseLives]

I'd like to join hands with you, in the same sentiment - 2009, here we come !

[abby4ever]

Me too.

Btw, lise: have you noticed anything...pleasant in the last half hour? Itr worked. It's the 3rd time I've tried it, worked all 3 times. Nothing seems to quiet Rosemary's baby as well, or as quickly.

Do I get a prize? I want a prize.

[Bitsko]

I am with you all the way. We lucked out with this gentleman.

[myangeldog1]

Beautiful Bitsko!! Hear hear!

[Bitsko]

And the moment he is sworn in I will proudly capitalize the P in president, which I have refused to do with any of the rest. And I go back to Eisenhower.

[zippitydoo]

Right On!!!!

[InfoWarriorNY]

Brand new frontman for the Anglo/American/Izzyreeli global domination

He's got all the tools to pull the wool over your eyes

[Bitsko]

If I'm right in assuming you're from NY, as in the City, come by the Reade Street Pub in lower Manhattan two Fridays from now and look for the guy with the white hair and beard sitting by the front windows at the end of the bar. it would be my pleasure to buy you a drink or two and we can discuss a gentleman whom I consider a very interesting person.

[AliMB]

what happens if the president (with a capital "P") doesn't do what he pledged in his campaign... what happens if the president continues some of George Bush's policies...
an honest question, i am curious to know how much slack the new president will be cut...

[myangeldog1]

I must make myself clear...I am NOT a conspiracy minded person though I have ALWAYS questioned EVERYTHING !

I am the third grade child who was made to stand in the corner for asking my Priest...."If Adam and Eve had Cane and Abel....then where did the rest of us come from".

LOL!! No joke!

[LiseLives]

LOL - very good point !! That's why I'm agnostic -

[myangeldog1]

Ditto!! : )

[ethancorso]

HA! I had nearly the exact same experience for asking the same question. I was later kicked out of Sunday school for asking why the B i b l e says, in Genesis 6:2 "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose."

I found it odd that the plural 'sons' was used. My teacher tried to tell me that 'sons' is a reference to human males, but I reminded her that a clear distinction was made between humans and 'sons of God'.

[myangeldog1]

Yet they wonder where the 'guilt trips' come from!! Funny thing is......they NEVER have an answer!!

[athenasword]

This is why the Catholi.cs don't really read the bi.ble. They just hand out paraphrased writings - ends all those annoying questions! (especially from highly intelligent children!)

[JamesR.]

Quite profound actually, for a third grader.

[myangeldog1]

Mom had just told me about the birds and the bees......so I was curious! Never have gotten an answer that makes sense.

[zippitydoo]

You are my mirror self!!! I refused to be confirmed because I did not understand and would not confe ss it.

[myangeldog1]

roflmao!!! Sounds like we could share a story or two!!

[athenasword]

I was in trouble at around the same age for proposing that the b.ible stories were just myths in the ilk of Greek and Roman mythology. The visiting Jesuit students were entertained and wanted to discuss it. The priest was not at all amused.

[AliMB]

Did everyone notice that the majority were democrats? But i've been told that the Republicans is the party of the corrupt, immoral, and criminal...

[HumeSkeptic]

They don't report Republican misdeeds anymore. It's considered normal.

[AliMB]

okay, thats good to know!

[kevenseven]

Just unremarkable. Like dog bites man. Never makes the paper.

[Vinca]

THE TV NEWS MEDIA IS AVOIDING THA, MIKE CONNELL STORY< FOR SURE, IF THERE'S WAS NO SUSPICION OF FOUL PLAY< POINTING AT KARL ROVE< YOU KNOW THEY WOULD REPORT THIS STORY, IT COULD OPEN UP A CAN OF WORMS< I 'M VERY CONVINCED, ALREADY, BUSH HAD FLA AND OHIO RIGGED FOR HIM

[buckygreen]

You were told correctly. The fact that you cant comprehend is not our problem.

You had two things right though: The Republicans are or the Republican party is corrupt, immoral and criminal...

[AliMB]

so does that mean that everyone who is a republican is corrupt, immoral, and/or criminal? and does that mean the democratic party is the party of the transparent, moral, and law-abiding?

[myangeldog1]

The Repubs are c o r r u p t, immoral, and criminal.

[Cherubim]

For me the biggest scandal of 2008 was that Michael Jackson did not
finish his new album. Maybe, next year.
Meanwhile ....
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=caZCGlpozns

[Pete2069]

I have posted on a lot of web sites and I have never seen as much censorship as Huffington post and the democratic undergroud...

How can they talk of Fox news media one sided censorship???

I have found no logic for their censorship except the person's personal wishes to eliminate post which they just do not care for....

[HumeSkeptic]

Try Freeper. I got banned even before my first post appeared. And all I did is encourage a typical Right Winger to post more nonsense, because I was enjoying it so much.

[Sabreen60]

I don't think it's personal. It's about "spelling" certain words that cause posts to go into pend!ing. Get creative.

[kevenseven]

Have you been to freeper to talk up Obama?

[shockmagog]

It's the right wing that has caused much of this self-censorship to escalate.

Witness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_PGqHdJudY

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/26/oreilly-fascists/

[JamesR.]

Time marker 11:38-12:48. Our tax dollars at work.

http://democracynow.blip.tv/file/1619688/

[clausnitzer]

John Edwards... so much promise in that pomp and smile. That one bummed me out, all the rest got what they deserved... especially Kilpatrick.

If you are bored, check out thenewgreenmusic.com

love to have some new listeners.

-SMC