From the Daily News:
Former presidential candidate John Edwards is out of luck if he hoped that the extramarital affairs of Gov. Mark Sanford and Sen. John Ensign would take people’s minds off his own cheating scandal.
Former Edwards aide Andrew Young says the ex-senator and his former mistress, Rielle Hunter, once made a sex tape, according to someone who has seen Young’s book proposal.
St. Martin’s Press just inked a deal with Young, who also says in his proposal that, contrary to his public statement last year, he is not the father of Hunter’s infant daughter — Edwards is. Edwards has denied that.
Ed here: Let's see--you're married, you're running for president, you're cheating on your wife and you decide to make a sex tape with your mistress. Wow. And he's a big time trial lawyer? He ever hear of blackmail? With those kind of decision-making chops, this isn't the guy you want deciding when to use nukes or not. If this is true Edwards did the entire planet a favor by running such a lousy campaign and being pushed out of history.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/06/28/2009-06-28_aides_tale_of_john_edwards_sex_tape.html#ixzz0Jl4sr4Kz&C
THE HERD MENTALITY: MICHAEL JACKSON DEATH SPAWNS ...
By Lee Pfeiffer
(This is an excerpt from a much longer (an excellent) piece on Jackson in Cinema Retro)
Although he still maintained an enormous world-wide following, for most of the general public, he was a punch line on a late night comedy show. Yet, the beatification process has already begun. It's one thing to acknowledge Jackson's well-earned reputation as a master performer and musical genius, but the news media is making Jackson sound like Mother Theresa. The immediate aftermath of a man's death is not the time to assault his reputation. Jackson's scandalous behavior in many aspects of his life has been amply chronicled elsewhere. However, one has to question the emotional stability of anyone who is now indulging in the world-wide mania for Jackson memorabilia. It stands to reason that virtually none of these people could have been induced to purchase this junk just two days ago. What comfort does it give someone to jump on a bandwagon and become an instant loyalist to a man they had virtually no interest in up until his death? It's a curious phenomenon, but one we should be used to by now. The Times of London reports that sales of Jackson's music and memorabilia is skyrocketing around the world. Why? Most of us probably already own the good songs he made (and Thriller is as standard as furniture in most households) So what motivates a person to go out and buy the second-rung music? Does one really get a sense of personal worth from wearing a cheesy T shirt commemorating Jackson, even though it was ground out by an opportunist within minutes of his death? Given Jackson's propensity for the outlandish, he would probably be complimented by all this - after all, in his world, any attention was better than being ignored. However, for many of these people, as of a few days ago, Jackson was as relevant to the contemporary music scene as Liberace. The international news media predictably deemed that there was no other story in the world worth covering than Jackson's life and career. Iran on the brink? Who cares? The health care debate in America? Big news a few days ago, now irrelevant. Violent eruptions in Iraq on the verge of the U.S withdrawal from urban centers? Yawn... The only one grateful for this is South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, the Amelia Earhart of politicians, whose bizarre disappearance and related sex scandal pushed him off the front pages.
http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/3399-HERD-MENTALITY-MICHAEL-JACKSON-DEATH-SPAWNS-MANIA-AMONG-FANS.html#extended
You observations on Edwards are dead on.
ReplyDeleteOf course, Mother Teresa wasn't quite up to Mother Teresa's hype, either.
ReplyDeleteCruel but not undeserved jokes at Jackson's expense have been cicurlating as well...perhaps the best I've heard so far runs along the lines of Farrah Fawcett arrives in Heaven, and meets Jehovah, who asks her if she has a wish, as she leaves her corporeal form. She replies that she only wants the children of the world to be as safe as possible, so Jehovah immediately kills Jackson.
On Edwards, Ed wrote: Let's see--you're married, you're running for president, you're cheating on your wife and you decide to make a sex tape with your mistress. Wow. And he's a big time trial lawyer? He ever hear of blackmail? With those kind of decision-making chops, this isn't the guy you want deciding when to use nukes or not.
ReplyDeleteIt’s kind of how I felt about the guy who became president and then decided to dick around with a 24-year-old (he thought would keep quiet?). Emails, phone calls and then hide the cigar (and then the country took a few hits home and abroad and he sent the FBI after the bad guys--the same FBI that still hasn't found Whitey Bulger). Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t necessarily make Bubba a bad person, but I sure don’t want a guy that dumb (or was it cocky?) running things.
So then I voted for and got a genuine dummy.
One reason I’ll be avoiding both parties for a long time to come (if not forever) and giving Mr. Nader his shot at the grand booby prize. I can’t reward either party anymore … one for being useless and the other for being outright criminals.
I simply don't fathom why anyone these days with any kind of public profile would ever say yes to being videotaped in bed. It's bound to be leaked by someone with more hunger for fame than conscience.
ReplyDelete"The only one grateful for this is South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, the Amelia Earhart of politicians, whose bizarre disappearance and related sex scandal pushed him off the front pages."
ReplyDeleteThe prper historical analog to Sanford is the evangelical preacher Aimee Semple McPherson, who disappeared and claimed upon her return that she had been kidnapped.