John Edwards, Ed Schultz and Eric Bolling in Hall of Shame
I’d like to propose three items to include in the file labeled “Wrong is wrong,” and you have to pay the consequences.
First, from the WSJ:
“WASHINGTON — Justice Department prosecutors and lawyers for former Sen. John Edwards are in last-ditch plea agreement talks that could avert felony charges over alleged campaign-finance violations, people familiar with the matter said.
If the talks fail Wednesday, Justice Department prosecutors are expected to seek a grand-jury indictment against Mr. Edwards, these people say….
Prosecutors have been examining whether donors to various political entities affiliated with Mr. Edwards funneled money to a woman with whom Mr. Edwards had an extramarital affair and with whom he fathered a child, these people said. More than $1 million was allegedly paid to the mistress and to an Edwards aide who Mr. Edwards initially said was the child’s father. The money was allegedly aimed at keeping the affair quiet and avoiding problems for Mr. Edwards’s 2008 campaign.”
Edwards has been trying to squirm and wriggle his way out of accountability for this lurid mess for several years now. The gig’s up, dude. Time to face the music, although whatever the law hands out in penalties can’t fully square accounts.
And in less important but still notable matters, MSNBC host Ed Schultz and Fox Business News host Eric Bolling are both in hot water — and deservedly so — for their rhetorical excesses. In a rant on his radio show, Schultz called conservative talk-radio host Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut” and a “talk-show slut.” On Twitter, Bolling condemned President Obama for being in Ireland “chugging 40s” instead of returning home to deal with the tragedy in Joplin. (Bolling is also the genius who accused Obama of spending $200 million a day on his trip to India, telling people that he wasn’t making up that fact because he found it on the Internet.)
I don’t know what’s going to happen to either man, and in a larger sense it almost doesn’t matter. What matters is that we live in a culture where there is a market for such viciousness.
– Jay Bookman
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460 comments Add your comment
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
5:57 am
mornin’.
Ed’s apology is, blessedly, not a non-apology but a real one, that owns up to his misdeed in full.
http://ed.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/25/6719607-an-apology
Edwin Davis
May 26th, 2011
6:01 am
Please add Patrick McHenry to your Hall of Shame for his egregious,shameful treatment of Elizabeth Warren in his House sub-committee hearing.I hope his behavior generates scrutiny of his background,education,and motivation[who he's carrying water for].
Independent
May 26th, 2011
6:27 am
Honest politician. There’s an oxymoron for you.
Gordon
May 26th, 2011
6:34 am
Saw Ed’s apology last night and I have to say it was genuine. Refreshing change from the non-apologies you usually see.
AmVet
May 26th, 2011
6:41 am
Morning, early birds. Getting any worms?
stands, that is without a doubt, the most protracted and seemingly sincere apology I have ever seen by a person in a position of power. At least in regards to having a national audience.
As rank amateurs, many of us here say things on this forum that are also vile. Certainly, me included. I make no excuses and in retrospect, more often than not, regret those choices of words. I have also apologized to some of those I have offended and have worked hard to cage my own demons.
The good news is that the rank invective that plagues other such forums has been kept very much under control by our host. For which I am grateful. And his leadership makes me want to be less insulting, inciting and needlessly provoking.
I still fail occasionally, but often remember the old adage about healing oneself.
So with that, I offer you all some shared healing. Enjoy!
Have a great day, duty calls!
(Listen…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILeuZcTrYgI
USinUK
May 26th, 2011
6:53 am
URGH. Just found out one of my friends in Ringgold had his house BOSCHED by a 100+ year old oak in his front yard. and that’s BEFORE they’re about to be pummeled by a storm.
what the heck is going ON over there!!??
Jack
May 26th, 2011
6:59 am
Politics and show business come under the same heading. Morals take a back seat in those two trades.
Jay
May 26th, 2011
7:00 am
This is what happens when we elect a Mooslem president, USinUK.
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:04 am
what the heck is going ON over there
Not a climatologist, don’t play one on TV, so it’s hard for me to know for sure just how out of the ordinary this year’s shaping up.
All I know is that for all the noisy storms that have brewed the past few weeks to our west, where I live it’s dry as a bone–I haven’t had to mow my lawn in a coupla weeks.
josef nix
May 26th, 2011
7:11 am
Ed Schultz
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! Oh, come on, Girlfriend, get real…you meant it when you said it and the only reason you’re saying anything now is ’cause you got called out on it…you should have just gone ahead and admitted that you’re not ready for prime time…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k80nW6AOhTs
Okay, off to the last day, staff barbecue, and looking forward to a few days of being able to come in here and waste away a few hours of my life with the day crew…
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:13 am
About your Hall?
I dunno, Jay, it’s getting mighty crowded, what with Operation Rescue joining the fray.
(and no, nothing that this wretched, evil organization does surprises me any more.)
USMC dawg
May 26th, 2011
7:16 am
“what the heck is going ON over there!!??”
Easy Answer: It’s Global Warming!
USinUK
May 26th, 2011
7:17 am
Jay –
I knew it HAD to be something like that!!
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:17 am
really should’ve included this with my 7.13…
The anti-aborts love to cherry-pick Margaret Sanger’s history to portray her as an advocate of “black genocide” (a claim made, notably, by Herman Cain — “the objective was to put these centers in primarily black communities so they could help kill black babies before they came into the world”; it’s a claim for which he received a “Pants on Fire” award from PolitiFact. Yeah, Sanger gave a speech to a ladies’ auxiliary of the Klan. Yeah, she had an interest in eugenics. If that permanently taints Planned Parenthood to the n-th generation, then I’m waiting for Cain or the people who made the Johansson video to renounce their U.S. citizenship — after all, many of the Founding Fathers owned slaves, and slavery was enshrined in the Constitution. If you believe in permanent institutional guilt, it should apply to every institution, no?
USMC dawg
May 26th, 2011
7:17 am
“John Edwards, Ed Schultz and Eric Bolling in Hall of Shame”
Yeah, this Left-Wing Hate Radio is bad for the country
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/05/25/ed_schultz_apologizes_to_ingraham_this_is_the_lowest_of_the_low_for_me.html
At least PMSNBC made Ed Schultz apologize for his misogynous Remarks. Unbelievable
USinUK
May 26th, 2011
7:18 am
although, Jay, to be fair … I thought he was a Muslin.
http://rebello.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/000638.jpg
USinUK
May 26th, 2011
7:19 am
dB – they seem to think that clinics out to help the poor should be conveniently located in rich communities.
or something like that.
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:27 am
they seem to think that clinics out to help the poor should be conveniently located in rich communities.
It’d be more convenient to bomb them that way, I guess.
USMC dawg
May 26th, 2011
7:29 am
This is disturbing regardless of what your political persuasion is:
Elementary School Uses ‘Transgender Clownfish’ to Teach Children about Sex…
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Transgender-Clownfish-Controversy-122617749.html
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:34 am
Jay used to have Atrios on his blogroll. I’ve sometimes wondered why he dropped it. hence this inside-baseball-y post to follow…
Sometimes I think it’s sentiments like this… Jay, I don’t think you necessary take this personally, but it probably hits a bit close to home, yes?
[T]he point of having smart political journalists is that those journalists should be smart enough to understand what they’re really saying. So, yes, if given their way Republicans would destroy Medicare. They would hand your social security money over to the banksters.
But for years our smart political journalists have covered for them.
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:35 am
This is disturbing
…if you’re a dumb afterBirther, I guess.
USinUK
May 26th, 2011
7:35 am
USMC – sorry, but I’d dance nekkid in the hallways if it reduced incidents of bullying. these teachers were making a valid point – that there’s no one right/wrong – there’s variety in nature – and that variety should be celebrated (or at least respected)
Stupid is as stupid does, or says
May 26th, 2011
7:36 am
Always figured the easiest way with media types (and sleezy trial lawyers) is to simpy let them talk. When they say something really stupid, you have a choice to simply not listen to them.
The guy shows he’s an idiot when he says President Obama was chugging 40s. Guinness (stout) isn’t sold in 40s. That’s more the urban malt liquor size of choice.
Nice to see you at least wrote about some dumb Dems for a change. Plenty of them, too. Must be kind of nice having these buffoons just create material on a steady basis, Mr. Bookman.
Granny Godzilla
May 26th, 2011
7:36 am
I am especially disappointed by Ed’s remarks, but accept his apology.
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:37 am
from the “disturbing story”:
“That’s a lot of variation in nature,” Gender Spectrum trainer, Joel Baum, told the students. “Evolution comes up with some pretty funny ways for animals to reproduce.”
Principal Sara Stone said the lesson on gender differences was part of a larger effort to control bullying in the school, something parents supported last year.
Knowing that kids would learn such things is going to keep anyone up nights, why?
Mick
May 26th, 2011
7:38 am
Almost a tad too much humility from ed. Rush? Hannity? Ever see or hear an apology from those guys? Especially rush when he made fun of michael j. fox, what did he do? As always, the cowards way out – we actually didn’t hear what he said, we twisted it..uh-huh….
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:38 am
variety should be celebrated (or at least respected)
or at least recognized fercryinoutloud.
I think we can add the Pacific “Justice” Institute to the Hall. What wankers.
Granny Godzilla
May 26th, 2011
7:44 am
Can we add this knucklehead to the Hall of Shame:
During the House discussion there was predictably some disagreement over whether excluding rape pregnancies from coverage was perhaps the sort of callous treatment a recently violated woman shouldn’t have to deal with. Here’s DeGraaf’s response to Rep. Barbara Bollier’s challenge, as reported by the McPherson Sentinel:
Rep. Pete DeGraaf, a Mulvane Republican who supports the bill, told her: “We do need to plan ahead, don’t we, in life?”
Bollier asked him, “And so women need to plan ahead for issues that they have no control over with pregnancy?”
DeGraaf drew groans of protest from some House members when he responded, “I have a spare tire on my car.”
“I also have life insurance,” he added. “I have a lot of things that I plan ahead for.”
USinUK
May 26th, 2011
7:44 am
“The guy shows he’s an idiot when he says President Obama was chugging 40s. Guinness (stout) isn’t sold in 40s. That’s more the urban malt liquor size of choice”
um. the code-word “urban” is the point.
USinUK
May 26th, 2011
7:44 am
USMC –
just don’t picture me dancing nekkid to “too legit to quit”
funny thing – Hammer pants seem to be making a (hopefully short-lived) fashion come-back!
USMC
May 26th, 2011
7:44 am
“USMC – sorry, but I’d dance nekkid in the hallways if it reduced incidents of bullying. these teachers were making a valid point – that there’s no one right/wrong – there’s variety in nature and that variety should be celebrated (or at least respected)”–USinUK
-An interesting viewpoint that I can ponder during the day and maybe enlighten myself.
“This is disturbing …if you’re a dumb afterBirther, I guess.”–Stands for decibels
-Utter garbage that needs not be mixed with the plastics in the recycling bin
John Edwards
May 26th, 2011
7:45 am
I would like to nominate Jay Bookman for the Hall of Shame.
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:50 am
Can we add this knucklehead to the Hall of Shame
better to mount his head on a pike just outside the Hall as a warning to others.
(whoops! Didn’t “plan ahead” for that, didja Pete?)
Peadawg
May 26th, 2011
7:50 am
Let’s see if Edwards is man enough to admit his wrong doings and take a plea deal (if it’s offered). I’m thinking his ego is too big and he’ll try his luck at a trial.
I guess 1 article about a Democrat every 2-3 weeks is good enough, Jay. Good job. You’re still a hack, though.
USinUK
May 26th, 2011
7:51 am
USMC – it’s because I’m 5 hours ahead of you … I’ve been waiting all morning to respond to your post!!
USMC
May 26th, 2011
7:53 am
Can we pull off to the side of the road. I am feeling motion sickness from all of these Posts reading my simple, little conservative mind and answering before I post
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
7:54 am
Utter garbage that needs not be mixed with the plastics
USMC, note that I didn’t actually call you “dumb”. I think you’re smart enough to recognize when you’re being played, and you appear to acknowledge as much in your “interesting viewpoint” reply to UnU.
USMC
May 26th, 2011
7:56 am
“just don’t picture me dancing nekkid to “too legit to quit””
too late
“funny thing – Hammer pants seem to be making a (hopefully short-lived) fashion come-back!”
Please no! But I can handle the tight jeans that women wore in the 70’s; you know the Gloria Vanderbilt, et al “above the hip” variety. Boy I was a sucker for those
USMC
May 26th, 2011
7:59 am
“USMC – it’s because I’m 5 hours ahead of you … I’ve been waiting all morning to respond to your post!!’
And here I thought it was my slow, knuckle-dragging, Conservative mind.
Well, I am finally coming to grips with my limitations in life
Mick
May 26th, 2011
8:00 am
usmc
I preferred the micro mini skirt…
USMC
May 26th, 2011
8:04 am
“USMC, note that I didn’t actually call you “dumb”. I think you’re smart enough to recognize when you’re being played, and you appear to acknowledge as much in your “interesting viewpoint” reply to UnU.”
Stands, I didn’t take your afterburner/birther??… or whatever comment, too seriously; no offense taken.
Carry on, Lad, I will be in the area all morning
Interested observer
May 26th, 2011
8:06 am
Well, you just can’t fix stupid.
USMC
May 26th, 2011
8:09 am
“I preferred the micro mini skirt…”-Mick
You know Mick, you and I have a lot more in common than we may think
I will say though, please don’t bring back that hideous “Disco Belt”; you remember the really thin belt that people would wrap around themselves twice? Just hideous!
DebbieDoRight
May 26th, 2011
8:18 am
DeGraaf drew groans of protest from some House members when he responded, “I have a spare tire on my car.”
“I also have life insurance,” he added. “I have a lot of things that I plan ahead for.”
What an idiot.
poison pen
May 26th, 2011
8:18 am
Stands,
Ed’s apology is, blessedly, not a non-apology but a real one, that owns up to his misdeed in full.
http://ed.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/25/6719607-an-apology
These people speak for a living so how can someone know when it’s real or not? I think it’s obvious what’s in his heart and I don’t think that changes the next day.
I’ll bet if your job was on the line you would start crying & begging not to get fired.
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
8:26 am
Oh, come on, Girlfriend, get real…you meant it when you said it
[…]
how can someone know when it’s real or not? I think it’s obvious what’s in his heart and I don’t think that changes the next day.
Ok, two very different people who’ve said essentially the same thing.
First off, to address PP’s point—by “real” I mean the content of the message being delivered. There were no weasel words, nothing even verging into the “if I offended anyone”; he even pre-emptively cut off any talk that it was somehow excused because it was just ad-libbing on the radio show, outside of his msnbc tv gig. That’s what was I perceived as “real.”
As to whether it was truly heartfelt, actually meant or not? I don’t claim to know.
But I’d like to know how you and J-Nix seem to know for certain what lurks inside this man’s soul, particularly when you’re basing it on a 53-second audio clip.
JKL2
May 26th, 2011
8:36 am
USinuk- what the heck is going ON over there!!??
It’s Bush’s fault…
GT
May 26th, 2011
8:43 am
“These people speak for a living so how can someone know when it’s real or not? ” You hit the nail on the head. We have allowed these guys margin because they are half journalist and half entertainment. When they make a comment that is off the line of logic of most Americans it was entertainment. They defend their position by entertaining, to some intellectually challenged, not by facts. The KKK, I’m sure was started with a few racial jokes. There are a huge number of people in the country that have no mental compass. They were brought up thinking what they heard on radio or television was gospel truth. The news agencies respected that trust and tried to deliver the news with some professionalism, they had a code. Broadcasting today is like pro wrestling. And there is a huge number of people out there who think what they are seeing in that ring is real. And there are many that know it is not real but enjoy the make believe world more than the real one. And like wrestling some people make more money doing this than in a real job which will always encourage more join in.
poison pen
May 26th, 2011
8:46 am
stands for decibels
May 26th, 2011
8:26 am
Oh, come on, Girlfriend, get real…you meant it when you said it
[…]
how can someone know when it’s real or not? I think it’s obvious what’s in his heart and I don’t think that changes the next day.
Ok, two very different people who’ve said essentially the same thing.
First off, to address PP’s point—by “real” I mean the content of the message being delivered. There were no weasel words, nothing even verging into the “if I offended anyone”; he even pre-emptively cut off any talk that it was somehow excused because it was just ad-libbing on the radio show, outside of his msnbc tv gig. That’s what was I perceived as “real.”
As to whether it was truly heartfelt, actually meant or not? I don’t claim to know.
But I’d like to know how you and J-Nix seem to know for certain what lurks inside this man’s soul, particularly when you’re basing it on a 53-second audio clip.
You can only judge a man by his words. Have you listened to him everyday to know what’s not in his heart? I doubt it.
poison pen
May 26th, 2011
8:50 am
GT, well said, they are all in it for the money and as I stated earlier if someones very lucrative job was at stake they could sell you the London Bridge in their apology.
JKL2
May 26th, 2011
8:55 am
USMC- I can handle the tight jeans that women wore in the 70’s;
Ditto. On the fashion side, can me move menswear back to the 80’s too? I hate the fact you can’t buy a pair of men’s short that don’t go past your knee (Making them actually knickers instead of shorts). When your shorts are soooo big you have to wear a second pair underneath them (NBA types) something is seriously wrong.
Bosch
May 26th, 2011
8:56 am
So is the new verb for having your house crushed by a 100 foot oak tree, “bosched” — I’m not quite sure if I’m comfortable with that.
Bosch
May 26th, 2011
8:59 am
And as for Edwards — what more is there to say than shame on him and I hope he gets the punishment he deserves. I don’t know if I think he should go to prison, but certainly he should have to pay out the nose for his transgressions. I’m really glad he had already stepped down before the Georgia primary because I was planning to vote for him and I’d have been pissed.
Don't Forget
May 26th, 2011
9:02 am
Wow, Mladic fianally caught
Chris Matthews
May 26th, 2011
9:05 am
NO!!!! That would be Obama, Reed and Puloosey! They have wrecked our country!!!!!!!!!
Joe Mama
May 26th, 2011
9:26 am
Dave — “Mary Elizabeth, science is that which can be proven true repetitively and without interpretation.”
No. You are clearly not a scientist and didn’t grow up with a professional scientist in the house, as I did.
Science doesn’t claim to *prove* anything true; simply to establish that, under the same test conditions and circumstances, replicable and predictable results can be achieved. Science is constantly revisiting and revising its own findings, because nothing — not even things previously accepted as valid — is beyond questioning, retesting and reevaluating.
Science is self-correcting and does not claim to have all the answers. Dogmatism claims to have them, but won’t bother explaining or testing itself.
GT
May 26th, 2011
9:50 am
We talked on the blog about a wonderful subject matter of the game changing. Excellent topic Jay brought up. When we pay for the hot air entertainment we contribute to the demise of this country, economically Real journalist are not that well paid in the scheme of things. They do what they do for a higher purpose and find their reward on a higher plain. I don’t blame people for going for the bucks, but we as the suppliers of the bucks should expect more for our hard earn money. You can get most of these talk show guys in a barber shop for free. They are not illegal so why is their price going up so much. It is like recycling, garbage has become a commodity.
marc
May 26th, 2011
9:59 am
stupid is as stupid does….enough said.
Bill Orvis White
May 26th, 2011
10:02 am
Pure and simple, Bolling’s right and the Socialist-Democrat from PMSNBC is wrong. Hussein Obama really did spend that kind of money going over to sleep in some prince’s house and he did pound the devil’s elixer in Ireland. Lil Hussein had a habit of drinking a lot of Maddog 20/20 as a hardcore young adult in Chicago and sometimes when he’s around certain folk, he goes back to his younger Chicago days.
Amen,
Bill
Junior Samples
May 26th, 2011
10:41 am
maybe the liberal hero (((((Rachael Maddow)))) can step in and take over for Schultz.
She’s kind of cute for a boy.