Rio de Janeiro Wins Olympic Bid

Recently conservatives have been attacking Obama for trying to get the 2016 Olympics for the United States. Now that the Olympic Committee has chosen Rio de Janeiro over Chicago, the first change in the right wing line has become to root against America if it means a loss for Obama. I bet it won’t be long before we start hearing more attacks from the right on Obama for failing to get them to choose the United States.

Update: Talking Points Memo shows  Conservatives Revel In America’s Olympic Defeat. Sam Stein demonstrates that  Conservatives Revel In Obama’s Olympic Bid Failure.

Edwards and Letterman Sex Scandals Dominate News

edwards-rielle

Two affairs dominate the news and gossip today. The first is the latest on John Edwards’ affair with Rielle Hunter. I hate to use The National Enquirer as a source, but so far they they have been right with regards to the news they have broken on the affair. John certainly gave Elizabeth plenty of reason to leave him, but she had stuck with him after the news of his affair came out. According to the report in The National Enquirer, finding out that he has had other affairs was the last straw. Previous reports claimed that Elizabeth made John sleep in the barn after learning of the affair and has been bashing Hunter in anonymous blog comments. Now she reportedly is planning to divorce him and reveal all the dirty secrets of his political career:

Elizabeth Edwards has finally had enough – she’s threatened to divorce her cheating husband John and claim her share of their $53 million fortune!

The ENQUIRER has learned Elizabeth dropped the divorce bombshell after learning a former campaign aide is claiming Rielle Hunter, the mother of Edwards’ love child, isn’t the only woman he seduced on the campaign trail!

Furious at his betrayals, Elizabeth – still battling Stage 4 breast cancer – has vowed to destroy her husband of 32 years by disclosing everything she knows about his political career in divorce court, insiders say.

“Elizabeth had always sworn she wouldn’t divorce John. But every person has a breaking point, and Elizabeth’s friends believe she’s reached hers,” an insider told The ENQUIRER.

“Elizabeth made it clear to John that she will take him for everything he’s got. She will divorce him and claim their $53 million fortune.

“Elizabeth knows every dirty little secret in her husband’s political past. She’s been his confidant for years, and she’s always kept quiet. But now she’s prepared to reveal all his secrets in open court.”

I will be looking forward to those secrets coming out.

Last night David Letterman (video above) reported an attempt to blackmail him for $2 million dollars over having had sex with female staffers. A major contrast between the two was in how they handled news of their affairs.  John Edwards made matters even worse by denying the affair, leading to reports coming out over months showing that he not only was unfaithful to his wife but was dishonest to the country. In contrast, Letterman could have tried to deny any wrong doing but admitted to having had sex with female staffers:

“My response to that is, yes I have. Would it be embarrassing if it were made public?  Perhaps it would,” Letterman said.  “Especially for the women. But that’s a decision for them to make if they want to come public and talk about the relationships.

Letterman called the series of events “a very bizarre experience.”

“I feel like I need to protect these people — I need to certainly protect my family,” he said.

Conservatives who already hate Letterman are bound to make a lot of noise over this, but most likely this will quickly blow over now that everything is out in the open.  The manner in which he revealed this turned out to make for a great hour of television. It also helps Letterman that, instead of cheating on a wife who was batting cancer, Letterman’s relationship occurred before he got married. We do not know the nature of the relationship with the woman he later married at the time and whether they were exclusive. It was foolish under any circumstance to have such sexual relationships with women working for him. This also raises the question of whether their was any sexual harassment of employees involved, but is also quite possible that this was consensual with Letterman’s fame likely to lead some women to have such interest in him.

Another crucial difference here is in the role of the two. David Letterman’s role in my life is basically to have an entertaining television show which I watch occasionally. This does not change. It is not like the entertainment industry is composed of a group of saints. On the other hand, we do expect more out of people such as John Edwards who aspire to be President of the United States. Those who supported him for the 2008 Democratic nomination also have good reason to feel betrayed.