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John Edwards is hitting the speaking circuit with an appearance on June 6, the AP reports.
“Edwards has remained largely out of public view since his May 2012 acquittal on one charge of campaign finance fraud. A judge declared a mistrial on five other criminal counts after jurors couldn’t agree if Edwards illegally used campaign money to hide his pregnant mistress as he ran for president in 2008.”
Ezra Klein: “The crucial ingredient for a scandal is the prospect of high-level White House involvement and wide political repercussions. Government wrongdoing is boring. Scandals can bring down presidents, decide elections and revive down-and-out political parties. Scandals can dominate American politics for months at a time.”
“On Tuesday, it looked like we had three possible political scandals brewing. Two days later, with much more evidence available, it doesn’t look like any of them will pan out. There’ll be more hearings, and more bad press for the Obama administration, and more demands for documents. But — and
this is a key qualification — absent more revelations, the scandals
that could reach high don’t seem to include any real wrongdoing, whereas
the ones that include real wrongdoing don’t reach high enough.”
“An attempt by the National Republican Congressional Committee to embarrass Democrats went awry on Thursday, when the group published a blog post riddled with errors,” the Huffington Post reports.
Here’s one to pre-order: Dog Whistle Politics by Ian Haney-Lopez.
Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), “known for his hard-line stances on immigration, is strongly considering a run for governor in 2014,” the Denver Post reports.
“In 2010, Tancredo ran in a tumultuous gubernatorial contest as a third-party candidate, netting more than 35 percent of the vote in a lopsided Democratic victory by then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Republican candidate Dan Maes received 11 percent of the vote.”
Tancredo has since switched his party affiliation back to Republican.
Former Rep. Ben “Cooter” Jones (D-GA) writes in the Boston Globe about being dis-invited to a fundraiser for Rep. Ed Markey’s (D-MA) U.S. Senate campaign.
“It isn’t every day that one makes preparations to go and play music for some friends but instead ends up being portrayed in the national press and on the Internet as some sort of antediluvian racist who should not be seen in the company of someone aspiring to the Senate. But that’s what happened to me Tuesday.”
“We’re broke, broke, broke.”
— Alabama Democratic Party Chair Nancy Worley, quoted by the Birmingham News, announcing the party was evicted from its headquarters for not paying rent.
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds Rep. Ed Markey (D) is consolidating the Democratic base ahead of the June 25th special election for U.S. Senate.
Markey now leads Gabriel Gomez (R) by 7 points, 48% to 41%.
Just published: Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era by Joseph S. Nye.
Todd Eberly: “What happened to Bush between Election Day 2004 and the Democratic victories in the 2006 election is a cautionary tale that the Obama Administration would do well to consider… Bush had presented himself as a competent manager and a reliable leader – a stark contrast to Kerry. That image collapsed in spectacular fashion in latter half of 2005.”
“Like Bush, Obama was reelected by the same 51% bare majority. Obama’s narrow popular vote victory was bolstered by a more substantial Electoral College victory. Like Bush, Obama was rejected by 49% of the electorate and exit polls showed a majority of voters favored full or partial repeal of the President’s signature legislative accomplishment – health care reform. Much like the Bush 2004 strategy, the Obama campaign spent millions defining Mitt Romney as an unfit leader. Obama was portrayed as the reliable and competent manager who understood there was a positive role for government to play in improving people’s lives. If Obama is not careful, that image will collapse in spectacular fashion.”
“Insiders with ties to the Obama administration tell The Cable that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has become the heir apparent to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon — a post at the epicenter of foreign-policy decision making and arguably more influential than secretary of state, a job for which she withdrew her candidacy last fall amid severe political pressure.”
Said one source: “It’s definitely happening.”
New York Times: “Thwarted on Capitol Hill, stymied in the Middle East and now beset by scandal, President Obama has reached a point just six months after a heady re-election where the second term he had hoped for has collided with the second term he actually has.”
“The challenges underscore a paradox about the 44th president. He presides over a government that to critics appears ever more intrusive, dictating health care choices, playing politics with the Internal Revenue Service and snooping into journalists’ phone records. Yet at times, Mr. Obama comes across as something of a bystander occupying the most powerful office in the world, buffeted by partisanship and forces beyond his control.”
The Week highlights five things we learned from last night’s White House email dump.
A new Qunnipiac poll in Virginia finds Terry McAuliffe (D) leading Ken Cuccinelli (R) in the race for governor by five points, 43% to 38%.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “The governor’s race remains tight and could well go all the way to November as a close contest. The 17 percent of voters who say they are undecided will determine the Commonwealth’s next governor. At this point neither man seems to have much of an edge.”
Responding to a question from a viewer concerned about her cheating husband, Pat Robertson said that married men “have a tendency to wander” and it is the spurned wife’s job “to focus on the positive and make sure the home is so enticing, he doesn’t want to stray,” the Huffington Post reports.
Said Robertson: “Does he provide a home for you to live in. Does he provide food for you to eat? Does he provide clothes for you to wear? Is he nice to the children… Is he handsome?”
First Read points out there a danger for Republicans in pushing the IRS scandal too hard.
“Already, the Benghazi talking-point emails don’t reveal the political conspiracy that many Republicans and conservatives had openly theorized, and they also reveal that Susan Rice — whose reputation was dragged through the mud — was a relatively innocent victim (though no one likes to be exposed as someone who was simply following a set of talking points about which they had little input). What’s more, the Benghazi emails have all come down to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland’s concerns. Were they simply about trying not to hinder the investigation into the Islamic extremists in the attack (as Democrats say)? Or were they about trying to clean the State Department’s hands (as Republicans allege)?”
Greg Sargent: “The key thing to keep in mind is it’s an open question whether the GOP base will let Republicans ‘pace themselves.'”
“I’m not advocating everyone go out and run around with no clothes on and smoke pot. I’m not a libertarian. I’m a libertarian Republican. I’m a constitutional conservative.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by the Daily Beast, while speaking to a group of social conservatives.
Washington Post: “The most corrosive political scandals are the ones that feed a preexisting story line — which is why the White House could have difficulty putting the current ones behind it any time soon. In the view of President Obama’s adversaries, recent revelations add evidence to arguments that they have been making about the president all along: that he would do or say whatever it took to get reelected; that his is a philosophy of rampant, invasive big government; that he has not acted within the constraints of the Constitution; that he regards those who oppose him with contempt.”
The Week: Have the scandals already reached their peak?
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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