RIP Bernie Mac.

Big Tent Democrat is taking the weekend off from blogging. I'm taking the day off. I'm not sure what TChris is up to.

Here's a an open thread for you. Keep it civil and I'll be back in time for tonight's Olympics. Hopefully, we won't have "technical difficulties" like we did last night from a rain storm. Neil Young:

Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 20th Century.

Here's the transcript of the Nightline interview with John Edwards. (Short video clip from interview here.)

I think it raises more questions than it answers.

Here's the video of Edwards initial denial of the affair.

Thoughts before we put this story to bed?

Update: According to Nightline, Sen. Barack Obama told them today he didn't think either Elizabeth or John Edwards would be attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Update: I have a new theory, outlined below. It's just my speculation and it has nothing to do with Edwards' morality or elections. It's about crime. I orignally put it in the comments but it's too long for a comment. Read it and let me know what you think?

A McCain campaign adviser says Joe Lieberman is being vetted as the Republican vice presidential nominee. As John McCain's puppeteer loyal friend, Lieberman seems an ideal choice.

“Conservatives would be pissed as hell – I think you would have a revolt, but sometimes John does what John wants to do,” the McCain adviser said.

It's difficult to believe that Joe Lieberman is too liberal for conservatives, but Grover Norquist calls Lieberman "completely unacceptable" while evangelical leader Richard Land thinks the pro-choice senator would be a catastrophic pick (William Kristol is a notable exception). At least we know that Lieberman is experienced at losing vice presidential elections, not to mention Democratic primaries. As to his future in the Senate:

Mr Lieberman has left open the possibility that he would speak at the Republican National Convention, a move that would probably ensure that Democrats would strip him of his chairmanship of the committee on homeland security.

With tarring and feathering to follow.

Here's the problem:

Beginning with their stunning inability to defeat the most detested politician in American history, Richard Nixon, and continuing through their stunning inability to defeat the most detested politician in the world, George II, the Democrats are the masters of blowing it. And they don't just simply "blow it" - they blow it especially when the electorate seems desperate to give it to them.

In his new book, Mike's Election Guide 2008, Michael Moore explains what Barack Obama can to do to lose the presidency again. The extract published here ends with these words:

We can't take four more years of this madness. We need you to be a candidate who will fight back every time they attack you. Actually, don't even wait till you have to fight back. Fight first! Show some vision and courage and smoke them out. Take the offensive. Keep asking why these lobbyists are McCain's best friends. Let's finally have a Democrat who's got the balls to fire first.

Here's a thread for the Olympics in case you're watching. I am.

There are also China protests going on around the world.

And I thought of all the bad luck,
And the struggles we went through
And how I lost me and you lost you
What are these voices outside loves open door
Make us throw off our contentment
And beg for something more?

...And the more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought Id figured out
I have to learn again
Ive been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But everything changes
And my friends seem to scatter
But I think its about forgiveness
Forgiveness

Peace to John and Elizabeth Edwards. This is an open thread.

I just watched ABC's World News Tonight. It shows the interview with John Edwards without sound, using text overlay for some of his quotes. You'll have to watch Nightline to hear him in his own voice.

The interview does provide these dates:

• Edwards says he met Rielle Hunter in 2006 -- after she was hired as a campaign videographer. The affair was in 2006.
• He told Elizabeth about the affair in 2006. She was furious.
• Edwards launched his presidential campaign in December, 2006.
• The National Enquirer reported the affair in October, 2007, and Edwards denied it.
• Edwards came in second in the Iowa caucuses in January, 2008 and dropped out a few weeks later.
• The baby was born in Feb. 2008.
• He denies being the father because the affair ended before Hunter would have conceived.
• Edwards met with Hunter last month at the hotel in Beverly Hills to convince her to stay quiet about their affair. He doubts the authenticity of the Enquirer photograph showing him holding the child.

More...

I was going to write a post about why John Edwards' private life, like John McCain's or Bill Richardson's or Bill Clinton's, have nothing to do with our lives or whether they should be elected officials. Instead, I am going to resist the urge to pontificate and will link to this diary posted today by Elizabeth Edwards on Daily Kos.

Speaking for me only

Scott Muschany, a Republican state legislator from suburban St. Louis, joined other Republican legislators and Gov. Matt Blunt last March in urging the Supreme Court to uphold the death penalty for the sexual assault of children. Muschany was indicted this week for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Muschany is fortunate that the Supreme Court didn't agree with his position.

Update: John Edwards has just released this statement. It ends with:

In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up -- feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.

I don't know anyone who thinks having an affair should disqualify one from public office, even the presidency. Certainly no one in my social circles.

The problem with John Edwards is not that he had an affair in 2006, the year he decided to run for the Presidency a second time, but that in 2007 when confronted with it by the media, he denied it.

By denying it, he ensured that if discovered, he would become cast as untruthful, deceitful and someone who can't be trusted. As Jane Hamsher says, had Edwards won the nomination and then this came out, we'd be looking at a McCain presidency.

Edwards put the Democratic party's chances of taking back the White House at risk. Not because of the affair, but because of his dishonesty. [More...]

In December, 2007, Katie Couric interviewed all of the Democratic and Republican candidates about their views on infidelity and whether they thought it should disqualify a candidate from being President.

Bill Richardson:

I don't think so. I think that, you know, infidelity is ... a serious problem in any marriage. But, you know, everybody sins. And it's whether you're forgiven, whether you forgive yourself, whether you have faith in God. You know, perfection ... is something that politicians, they should not stand themselves for perfection. Nobody's perfect.

Barack Obama: [More....]

Depending on how you feel about using legislation to protect American jobs, you may agree or disagree with John McCain's opposition in 2003 to proposed amendments in a defense spending bill that would have "prohibited any money from being used to pay a foreign express cargo carrier." McCain chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, and was successful in defeating the amendments. That cleared the way for "the sale of Airborne Express cargo service to a German conglomerate that owns DHL."

The sale isn't playing well in southeast Ohio now that "DHL wants to combine operations with rival United Parcel Service and close its huge hub" in Wilmington, a move that would cost 8,000 to 10,000 jobs immediately and as many as 30,000 in the long term. Here's what's even worse for McCain:

[T]he Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, previously worked as a lobbyist for the German group, Deutsche Post World Net, and was paid $185,000 to help engineer the 2003 deal, plus another $405,000 for other work. Davis helped Deutsche Post overcome objections in the Senate when the German company was negotiating the purchase, the paper reported.

Jake Tapper reports that this isn't the only problem with letting lobbyists run a campaign. [more ...]