Posted on 06/09/2011 6:46:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
John Edwards is a vain, lying scum who cheated on his wife while she was dying of cancer. But one thing far worse than his contemptible conduct is the government's effort to put him in jail for it.
In this case, prosecutors are exploiting a vague, confusing law to criminalize conduct that has not been treated as a crime before. The only good news is that its prosecution is so ill-founded and over the top that it is likely to fail.
Federal prosecutors have a checkered record of late when it comes to high-profile public officials. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who talked for hours on wiretaps about his sleazy schemes, was convicted on only one of 24 counts in his first trial. His brother was convicted on no counts.
After Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted in 2008 of taking gifts and lying about them, the judge cleared him because of outrageous prosecutorial misconduct.
In 2009, a former governor of Puerto Rico was acquitted on all nine corruption counts. Last year, the mayor of Ridgefield, N.J., won his case, and a former Jersey City assemblyman got his vindication soon after.
Edwards didn't have to go to trial. He turned down a plea bargain that would have let him keep his law license and serve no more than six months in prison. If convicted on all charges, however, he's likely to get upward of five years. Fighting the government, as usual in criminal cases, carries a huge downside -- which is a way to coerce the innocent to plead guilty.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Give them all cell phones so they can send each other cell phone photos of their weiners too! LOL
Not even close.
The money never went into a campaign fund, but the government says that it SHOULD have gone into the campaign fund because it was an “in kind” contribution, in that attempts to keep his affair and bastard child a secret were more about the campaign than about his personal life.
Edwards got “friends” to pony up cash for his girlfriend, but none of it was campaign money and no amount of leglalese is gonna help the government prove it as such.
The government has a WEAK case and Edwards is gonna WALK.
Delay is gonna WALK, too, upon appeal.
Another political prosecution that won’t stand up to judicial scrutiny.
Blago IS guilty as sin and prolly his brother too. But with the Jury Pool that Patrick Fitzgerald has to draw from -- And in the Northern District of IL that consists of COOK county, DuPage County, Will County, Lake County and Kane County, and maybe more.
The odds were that Cook County RATS would there, and in big numbers. Even though 'Red' and 'Blue' folks may have been equal. So Fitz had an uphill battle from day one as he couldn't exclude everyone from Cook County. All Blago needed was ONE die-hard democrat from Cook County on that jury and he got it.
But we shall see what we shall see with Blago's 2nd trial.
This guy needs to blow it out his ear. Edwards stole money meant for another purpose, a special Constitutional purpose meant to serve the public, and gave it to his whore to shut her up. I mean Whore in the nicest way. She may be a great girl, a great mother, but she is nothing but his "chippee", his back door girl. She deserves nothing but our contempt, and John Edwards, he deserves 25 years to life. Put the fear of God into these sleazeball politicians. It is just as bad as Madoff did, with a lesser amount of cash. Words cannot express my wish to be the sitting judge in a case such as this. Throwing the book at him would be the minimum. He has taken the most important thing our nation needs from its "leaders" TRUST. No person in public service should be allowed to do this, and THEY need more punishment, not less than common criminals.
This is the same attitude that has generals in a war respecting each other, while the grunts are told to die for their country. Old Patriarchal models where our “betters” get punished enough, by having themselves shamed should be placed far in the past. Our leaders need to punished MORE HARSHLY, because of positions THEY SOUGHT AND BENEFITTED FROM, not lesser slaps on the wrist. In a sane country, he would be stripped of his wealth, leaving poverty level subsistence for his posterity, and the money given to a school for unwed mothers.
Good article thanks for posting this.
The prosecuters can get back to their favorite pass time now, licking Clinton’s butt. Lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick.
Hmm. In truth, that is quite banal and we all intuitively know it. But in terms of the GOP nomination, who is making the most calculations right now? Was it too few calculations that led Romney to utter his stupidity on global warming? How about if the calculations are not obvious to us?
Well, there was a report just yesterday that the primary piece of evidence against Edwards is the death-bed deposition that Elizabeth gave just before her death. She apparently spelled out exactly what he did, and how he did it and the word is that the case is built largely upon her deposition.
If that is true, he is toast at a trial. There isn’t a juror in this Country who wouldn’t savor the chance to convict the Breck girl and make sure he goes to prison for a lot more than six months.
With Delay it was the opposition taking a man down in his prime of political power.
With Edwards it is his own team going after him when his career is over.
Apples vs. oranges. Innocence vs. Guilt, Vendetta vs. stupidity.
I am torn. Edwards is pond scum, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him burn for any breach of law. But, in this case it seems that Edwards did not skim money from general campaign contributions for personal use, but took money from 2 specific donors for a specific purpose (whether those donors knew the specific purpose or not.) That, to me, does not seem like something you go to prison for.
Sorry. I ended that sentence with a preposition. Let me restate: “That, to me, does not seem like something for which one goes to prison.”
Well, I'm uncomfortable that Mark Levin is uncomfortable with this turn of events. It is most unsettling that he would show any sympathy for Edwards and cite principle as the reason. That is usually the way of people of less integrity. Fortunately Levin is not a politician so I don't have to wonder about his motives. He's just "of another opinion."
“he in essence embezzled a million dollars from campaign funds and funneled it to his mistress.”
The money she got wasn’t from campaign donations, it was sent directly to her.
If there is any crime it is that she didn’t pay income taxes on it.
Romney is a dim bulb. Not enough voltage getting to the old filament, so to speak. A oratory blunder from him was inevitable.
I’m not too worried about John’s future.
Ted Kennedy makes him look like a saint.
And Ted became the Democrat “Lion of the Senate”
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