Paving The Way?

Is this column really about John Edwards or is Ms. Estrich rolling out the Sleaze Carpet for the return of Willie the Zipper to Washington?

The biggest derailment of the Hope & Change Express has been the fact that the government will soon be polluted with Clintonites again. While some of us have always known that you can’t get rid of Bill, Hill and the Flying Monkeys who serve as their minions, many on the Right were hoping that the Sleaze Circus had been relegated to the periphery of the Democratic party.

Yes, you’re wondering why I’m turning a column about John Edwards into a blog post about the Clintons. Simple, now that they are back in the thick of things, it’s always about the Clintons. Have you people not been paying attention?

The theme of Estrich’s argument for Edwards is what set the Clinton alarms (I have them installed all over my brain) off. She trots out the wearisome “Should what a man does in his personal life affect his professional life?” line of non-reasoning.

Must we preface the return of the Democrats to the White House with moral equivocation? Couldn’t we at least wait until breakfast time on January 21st (the first time Bill lets the zipper fly) to get this garbage rolling?

The gist of the argument for Edwards:

If he has something to add — and I think he does — should he be disqualified from doing so because he is a lying lout?

Then:

Washington is full of lying louts.

“Everybody’s doing it” is an excuse a high school boy uses to get his girlfriend drunk and horny, not one that bolsters the resumé of a prospective United States Attorney General.

Quick question: will any prominent voice in the Democratic party stand up and say that marital infidelity is wrong? It shouldn’t be that difficult.

Edwards managed to up the sleaze factor several notches by cheating on a wife who is battling cancer. He out-Clintoned Clinton!

Yes, I believe people should be given second chances. I don’t, however, believe that Edwards should be given the jobs that Estrich mentions. A man who comfortably and publicly lied shouldn’t be the head of the Dept. of Justice. Likewise, a man who publicly humiliated his family shouldn’t be in charge of Health and Human Services.

Estrich also gives a nod to the “only because he got caught” idiocy too.

Her passionate argument for dismissing egregious sleaze made a wave of Clinton fatigue wash over me. You could swap Bill Clinton’s name for John Edwards in any of her moral equivalency arguments and it would be 1998 all over again. If I had the time today I’d look to see if half this wasn’t taken from an old article of hers.

Edwards made his own bed. Then he invited a woman who wasn’t his wife to sleep in it. Now he’s not going to be a Cabinet member. He’s still filthy rich from his ambulance-chasing money and his wife is still married to him. It’s going to be difficult find many tears for him, Susan.

But Bill and Hillary are coming back to the Executive Branch. You might want to keep a few versions of this column ready for the future.

Cross-posted from America Needs Me