Chris Christie praises himself in apology

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.
illustration by Jack Brummet

In his 108 minute "apology" Thursday, Governor Chris Christie never really apologized.  He did, actually, but not for anything he did. “I’m telling you: I had nothing to do with this.” As David Letterman said, he "boldly took responsibility by blaming everyone but himself."   And then he told us about himself:

• “I’m a very loyal guy.”

• “I am not a focus-group-tested, blow-dried candidate.”

• “I’ve worked for the last 12 years in public life developing a reputation for honesty.”

• “I’ve engendered the sense and feeling among the people closest to me that we’re a family.”

• “I’m a person who cares deeply about doing my job well.”

• “I’m incredibly loyal to my people.”

• “I was the class president and athlete.”

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Another rough day at The White House

By Jack Brummet 

They're having a lot of them of late.

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Five years ago today on ATIT: It wasn't the babes, it was the bucks: Eliot Spitzer brings down yet another prostitution ring

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed

It wasn't the babes, it was the bucks, according to Brian Ross on the ABC News website. And get this: they're thinking of prosecuting him under an obscure law for "structuring," which is more or less money laundering to cover up the source of cash (which is just what he did). Curiously, this is the third prostitution ring the former Attorney General of New York brought down. . .this one by accident.

"The federal investigation of a New York prostitution ring was triggered by Gov. Eliot Spitzer's suspicious money transfers, initially leading agents to believe Spitzer was hiding bribes, according to federal officials. "

They didn't start out investigating the hookers prostitutes call girls escorts. It was Spitzer they were onto after his bank notified the feds of suspicious financial activity. The FBI uncovered his emails and wiretapped his phones. It seems Elliott didn't follow his own advice:

"Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when you can wink, and never write an e-mail because it's death. You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need," Spitzer told ABC News two years ago.

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Anthony Weiner: Dead Man Walking

In his delayed press conference this afternoon, Congressman Anthony Weiner said basically: I lied multiple times. I did it all. But, I'm not resigning.

#deadmanwalking

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Did BHO play hide the salami with Vera Baker, or did The Enquirer pillage their medicine cabinet again?

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

The story of an alleged Barack Obama affair is based on unconfirmed allegations and the flimsiest possible whisperings.  As you know, however, The Enquirer has broken other unlikely/unbelievable stories in recent years; we're hoping they jumped the gun this time.   It's not a new story; let's face it, it's not even a news story. . .but it's breaking wider this time around. 

Earlier incarnations of the story were usually brushed aside as the ravings or deliberate disinformation of deranged bloggers.  However--and how times have changed!--the Enquirer picking up the story almost grants their (rather dubious)  imprimatur to the rest of the press.  Or at least the rest of the press willing to go way out on a limb.

The story alleged that BHO was caught in a Washington, D.C. Hotel with a former campaign aide, Vera Baker.  Baker was the Finance Director for Barack Obama's 2004 Illinois Senate campaign

The Enquirer writes:  "A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions."

Interestingly, the Wikipedia has an article on her under consideration for deletion.  There are numerous pictures floating around on websites and blogs that may or may not be Vera Baker.  By all reports, she is a good looking woman, for whatever that's worth.  You'd think it wouldn't be that hard to track down--she was an Obama campaign official in 2004. 

Investigators (not clear whose--Obamas?  The National Enquierers?) are searching for a hotel surveillance videotape.   According to The Enquirer, Baker has insisted in the past that "nothing happened" between them.  The magazine also reports that top anti-Obama operatives (could that be you Ex-Gov. Palin, tossing around your $12 million in royalties?) are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Someone has apparently offered cash to a limo driver who says that he took Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous in a Washington hotel where Obama was staying in 2004.   "A reporter confirmed the limo driver's account of the secret 2004 rendezvous and has also learned that on-site hotel surveillance video camera footage could provide indisputable evidence to the investigation."

Sandrarose.com claims "the Hillary Clinton campaign dug up background information on Barack Obama’s mistress, Vera Baker, in 2008, but decided not to run with the scandal — probably because Hillary knew she would lose the campaign and might need a favor from Obama later on."

Another blogspot blogger writes that "the woman was purportedly sidelined from her duties after Senator Obama’s wife, Michelle, became convinced that he had developed a personal friendship with her."

Without any new, concrete evidence, it seems like this story is destined to fade away quickly, just as it has when it has appeared before in the fringe press, or, new media as they prefer to be called.

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2009 Political Scandals: Ruh-roh! Where to start?

By Pablo Fanque (All This Is That National Affairs Editor) and Jack Brummet (Illustrations, "fact-checking," and research)

Here are All This Is That's top fourteen political scandals of 2009. It wasn't quite up to the high bar set during the Monica-gate year, but 2009 was pretty good; by a wide margin the fallen, debilitated, resigned, and neutered were from the "Republican Family Values" wing of the G.O.P.




John, with son

Baby Daddy John Edwards - After dropping out of the Presidential race in early 2008, Edwards steadfastly denied paternity of Rielle Hunter's baby. However, a DNA test apparently proved otherwise. Edwards wanted to admit he was the father, but his dying (and pretty cool and smart) wife didn't want him to do that. I guess it's in limbo. This almost doesn't qualify as a scandal. No one really cares. But we consider it a scandal, since we were among the dupes who actually supported Smilin' Ex-Senator John Edwards. . .and even sent him money. The scandal, really, is how could we have been so dumb when we think we're so astute?


click to enlarge Crazy Joe

Pants On Fire! - Republican Representative Joe Wilson's shouted "You lie!" during President Obama's speech to Congress on health care. Wilson said it was "completely spontaneous," and he apologized. [Jack note: If you believe the laughable claim it was spontaneous, then you must admit, this guy is spooky]. It was highly disrespectful, and an egregious breach of Congressional Rules. but I kind of like it. On the other hand, this isn't England. On the other, other hand, Joe Wilson has always been, and is now officially, a deranged and dangerous no-op.


Ex-Representative William Jefferson, headed for the hoosegow

The Freezer Cash Dude - Ex-congressman William Jefferson, hid $90,000 in dirty cash in his freezer and was sentenced to 13 years in prison for accepting bribes--the longest sentence ever imposed on a congressman for bribery. And there have been a few of them!


It's all about the ice

Climate-Gate - Late in the year, a scandal erupted over e-mails that suggest global-warming scientists used "tricks" to boost their warming theory. The scandal permeated the climate summit in Copenhagen and gave new hope and vigor to the flat-earth movement of climate change doubters and skeptics.


The President, VP, Cop, and alleged miscreant Gates share brewskis

Obama's Suds Summit - The arrest of Obama pal and one-time Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates by a white Cambridge, Mass., cop, prompted the president to hold a race-laced "beer summit" outside the Oval Office. Since the summit, tensions in the case have eased. This wasn't a scandal so much as just weird.



Live Mike Nightmare - Republican Mike Duvall, an Ex-assemblyman in California resigned after his hot sex comments were picked up by a live microphone during a September assembly meeting. In the video, the married family-values crusader (of course!) from Yorba Linda talks in graphic detail about two women he said he slept with -- at least one of whom was a lobbyist with business before his utilities committee. He sounded amused that he was cheating on both his wife and a
mistress.

“Oh, yeah, Sher, Shar, Shar,” Duvall said. “Oh, she is hot! I talked to her
 yesterday. She goes, ‘So are we finished?’ I go, ‘No, we’re not finished.’ I go, ‘You know about the other one [Barsuglia], but she doesn’t know about 
you!’”

Hiking the Appalachian Trail - Yes, hiking the Appalachian trail was how South Carolina Gov. Mark "Hasn't resigned yet" Sanford explained it to his wife, family and aides. He was actually heating up the sheets in Buenos Aires with his Argentinian mistress. He's been reprimanded by the legislature and dumped by his wife. U.S. News and World reports that his South American love quest may have even jeopardized his Top Secret security clearance.

Sen. John "hasn't resigned yet" Ensign's Affair - Nevada Sen. John Ensign's extramarital affair with an aide who is the wife of a former aide. The Senate Ethics Committee is investigating.

The State dinner gate crashers - Michaele and Tareq Salahi, are under various investigations, including one by a House committee probing how they got in without an invite and skated past the White House Social Office. The Secret Service seems largely to have sloughed off any blame. It looks like it will be the WH functionaries and bureaucrats who take the fall on this one. Yeah, it's not a big story really, and much like the Balloon Boy story. . .just a bold plea for attention, and their own reality show.



ACORN - What can you even say about this one? First they were attached by the right-wing, and were later seriously caught with their pants down.

Ex Governor Rod Blagojevich - The former Illinois Gov. was impeached on charges he sold, or tried to sell Ex-Senator Barack Obama's seat in the Senate. Rod had a notable head of hair, and has been seen on at least one reality TV show (joining Tom DeLay) since leaving office.



Ex Governor Sarah Palin - Sarah Palin's unexpectedly quitting as Alaska governor, months after a brutal and losing vice presidential campaign, was a shock to most everyone. She's gone on to make millions with her autobiography, Going Rogue, a mega-bestseller still riding the charts, and is toying with a presidential bid in 2012. Maybe.


Liz Becton -click to enlarge

"Don't Call me Liz!" - Elizabeth Becton, office manager for Jack's personal congressman--U.S. Representative Jim McDermott, (Seattle-Democrat) is a complete freak. On May 22, 2009, Becton sent a snarky email to an executive assistant at McBee Strategic in response to the individual calling her “Liz” in an email instead of Elizabeth. The alternately pissed-off and apologetic chain of e-mails went on for about nineteen volleys, with the assistant apologizing six times if she had somehow “offended” Becton. The emails went viral all over the internet and around Capitol Hill. Time magazine posted one particularly twisted one:

“In the future, you should be very careful about such things. People like to brag about their connections in D.C. It's a pastime for some. It's also dangerous to eavesdrop, as you have just found out. Quit apologizing and never call me anything but Elizabeth again. Also, make sure you correct anyone who attempts to call me by any other name but Elizabeth. Are we clear on this? Like I said, it's a hot button for me. And please don't call the office and do not leave a message. My colleague told me you called while I was away. ... I do sometimes leave my desk.” — "Don't call me" Liz Becton



The Birthers - OK, I guess someone needed a new wack cause, as the US did the 9/11 attacks movement started to die out. And the birther movement was launched.
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Elizabeth Edwards discusses her douchebag husband with Oprah

Elizabeth Edwards recently told Oprah Winfrey she has "no idea" whether the former presidential candidate is a new dad. The New York Daily News previewed tomorrow's Oprah show here.

Winfrey asked Edwards directly whether she's still in love with her husband. "You know, that's a complicated question," she said.

In an interview set to air Thursday, Oprah Winfrey asks Elizabeth Edwards (who is suffering from terminal cancer) about speculation that Ex-Senator and Ex-Presidential Candidate John Edwards is the father of campaign "videographer" Rielle Hunter's one-year-old daughter.

"I've seen a picture of the baby. I have no idea. It doesn't look like my children but I don't have any idea," Edwards told Winfrey.
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Gov. Blagojevich considered naming Oprah to fill Obama's Senate seat. Did "O" fail to cough up the requisite $$$?

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the soon to be ex-Illinois governor, in the middle of an impeachment trial told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the idea of nominating Oprah Winfrey came to him as he looked at candidates for the job he is now accused of trying to sell to the highest bidder.

"She seemed to be someone who would help Barack Obama in a significant way become President," he said. "She was obviously someone with a much broader bully pulpit than other senators."

The governor dropped the idea, 'though, because he felt it would look like a gimmick; he also thought that she would not accept the position. Of course, it's also quite possible she was unwilling to cough up the cash he required for the slot. . .
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Gee Whiz! Jersey City Councilman Steve Lipski popped for whizzing on crowd at nightclub

Click to enlarge councilman Lipski

A hammered Jersey City, New Jersey city councilman has been popped for urinating on a crowd of music fans from the balcony of a Washington D.C. nightclub, according to the cops and club sources.

"He was very drunk," one source said. "We've dealt with this man before. He's never peed on anybody, but he gets really belligerent and drunk."

The New York Daily News reported Sunday that two-term Jersey City councilman Steve Lipski has been charged with assault.

The 44 year-old Lipski was kicked out of the 9:30 Club Friday night during a concert by a Grateful Dead tribute band when club staffers saw him relieve himself onto the crowd from a second floor balcony. No one seems to know whether it was musical criticism or just another drunken politician doing what comes naturally.

This sort of behavior isn't unknown in Jersey City, just across the river from New York City. The lurid incident marks the second time in recent years that a Jersey City pol was caught with his pants down. Photos showing Jerramiah Healy, another councilman at the time, naked and passed out on his front stoop were circulated all over the Internet in 2004, just days before he won election as mayor of Jersey City.

Lipski told reporters outside his home this weekend "I've resolved not to touch alcohol again," He called the incident "deeply humiliating, very embarrassing" and "troubling." The two-term Democrat also refused to admit he'd actually whizzed from the balcony of the 9:30 club. "I can't comment on that," Lipski told Fox 5 TV. "I'm going to continue to do all the good things, and I'm not going to let this overshadow me."

"I spoke to one of his contributors this morning, and he's denying the whole thing," one source said. "He's telling people he spilled a drink. It's ridiculous. He's already said he's not resigning. He's telling people that."
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John Edwards: Meet the Press

The mainstream media hung fire when it was a "National Enquirer story," but now that he's let the cat out of the bag, those very same journalists seem to be rather enjoying the drawing and quartering of John Edwards

click to enlarge

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Politico.com puts John Edwards' Rielle Hunter confession into perspective

Politico.com put the John Edwards confession of an affair with Rielle Hunter into perspective. Not only did he cheat on his wife, and lie, but he risked sinking the entire Democratic party:




"Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who cast himself as the most electable of Democratic presidential hopefuls, admitted Friday that he held — and lied about — a secret that could have destroyed his campaign and his party’s hopes for the White House.

"Edwards’ confirmation of an extramarital affair with a woman he met in a New York bar shakes the public persona of a man whose image was deeply linked to his role as a devoted husband. It effectively rules him out as a vice presidential nominee, and it may cost him a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention — though Edwards is still considering a convention appearance." Jump here to read the full Politico.com story.

Recent John Edwards stories on All This Is That:

Attorney General John Edwards
Ex-Senator John Edwards confesses to sex with Rielle Hunter and admits he is "a lying piece of dog s**t"
John Edwards to take DNA Test in hopes of tamping down baby mama story?
National Enquirer new claim: Rielle Hunter is receiving $15,000 a month hush money/child support from John Edwards' pal
John Edwards takes a final swipe at Sen. Barack Obama, who he says may be living in never-never land
John Edwards/Andrew Young: Who's the father of the "love child"?
The Enquirer John Edwards Affair Story...
John Edwards caught in an affair/"love child" scandal?
The John Edwards-Rielle Hunter "love child" story bubbles along with no new facts or information
Does the paternity of Rielle Hunter's baby determine our next Attorney General?
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Ex-Senator John Edwards confesses to sex with Rielle Hunter and admits he is "a lying piece of dog s**t"

"Former Democratic presidential candidate [and All This Is That favorite] John Edwards on Friday admitted to an extramarital affair while his wife was battling cancer.

"The story is false, it's completely untrue, it's ridiculous," John Edwards, October, 2007.

He denied fathering the woman's daughter. Edwards told ABC News that he lied repeatedly about the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter but said that he didn't love her. " Jump here to read the sordid story.
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