The Truffle

Can anyone make sense of this? I can't. Sen. Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee if John Edwards had been caught in his lie about an extramarital affair and forced out of the race last year, insists a top Clinton campaign aide, making a charge that could exacerbate previously existing tensions between the camps of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama. "I believe we would have won Iowa, and Clinton today would therefore have been the nominee," former Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson told ABCNews.com. Given that Obama kept beating back La Hill even after Edwards withdrew from the race, Wolfson's comment makes about as much sense as David Gregory's speculation that Edwards' philandering would affect the Obama campaign. Dear Senator Clinton: Next time you run for any elected office, hire better people for your campaign staff. Please.

David Gregory on the Edwards kerfuffle: Tonight: the Edwards affair. He admits an extramarital affair dating back to 2006, telling ABC News, wife Elizabeth learned of it that year. He lied repeatedly to cover it up as a presidential candidate. And now, questions about his future abound in the party and whether this creates another shadow over Barack Obama as he gets ready for the conventions. Allow me to introduce you to a new word, Mr. Gregory. The word is "nonissue." Mediamatters , via Atrios .

It really sucks that an extramarital fling can sink a politician's career in America. In other countries, it's sort of expected that elected officials can be horndogs, just like everyone else. Thus, when someone is running for office or actually holding office, there's are simple solutions for whenever he feels "the urge": a. Manual stimulation below the belt. In private , dummy. b. Buying Playboy (as I've mentioned, you can always say you read it for the articles). c. Inviting your significant other for a night of hot nookie. Predictably enough, people like David Vitter, Eliot Spitzer, and John Edwards avoid any of these options. In fact, Edwards' little peccadillo may not have been his first (and I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't). This isn't a matter of scoring partisan points (insert references to Newt Gingrich and John McCain here). In the red and blue camps, you'll hear politicians who blather about morality and are later ex...

Now, the discussion turns to healthcare. La Hill explains her healthcare plan would cover everyone--"It is a universal system." But it's not government-run. I have my doubts about this. Insurance companies would be required to cover everyone at "affordable rates." Again, I'm suspicious. Folks? Free markets and healthcare don't mix. But I guess it's socialist to say that, eh? Obamarama is up next. The universal healthcare plan wouldn't cover illegals. There are not enough resources, he says. "The only way we're going to be able to overcome the insurance companies, the drug companies, and the HMOs is if we are having all the negotiations in a public setting," he said. No drawing up plans behind closed doors. Inform the American people. At least there aren't any wires under anyone's jackets. Edwards claims that his rivals took money from drug/insurance companies. Obamarama denies this. "The problem is not that...

Ya know, La Hill's sniping at Obamarama really makes me dislike her. Yo, Hill. Shaddap already. He never said he was a fan of Reagan. He said Reagan was a "transformative figure" in American politics. Just a statement of fact, and what he's doing is no doubt trying to attract Republicans and independents. You yourself said you admired Reagan's communication skills. Enough already. She got booed, too. Yikes! Anyway, it's MLK Day and the Congressional Black Caucus is hosting a debate. Edwards is talking about subprime mortgages and proposing new laws to crack down on predatory lenders. "We need a national predatory lending law." He also wants to teach financial literacy. La Hill's moratorium on foreclosures sounds way weak. Now for Barack, who says that America has "a history of preying on low-income people." He also supports laws against predatory lending and "access to financings." Since I am not a homeowner, I ...

Months ago, I realized that Crazy Annie had tremendous potential to help raise money for all sorts of cool progressive causes. It's really simple. Here's how it goes: Crazy Annie makes one of her insane remarks about liberals or journalists or Democratic presidential candidates or feminists or non-whites or gays or Arabs or people to the left of Bush. Left-wing candidates and organizations post the footage, sound files, or text on their Web sites while urging their supporters to donate! donate! donate! "Send Ann Coulter a message! We're everything she's afraid of, and with your help, we can ( insert name of progressive goal here )!" Looks like John Edwards has already figured this out. This is the second time that Team Edwards has used Crazy Annie's words against her. In fact, I suspect that Elizabeth Edwards called Annie knowing she'd say something stupid and knowing that it would be great for a fundraising pitch. Perhaps Michelle Obama shou...

Of course, they just HAD to pre-empt Countdown with Keith Olbermann for the great Dem Q&A session last night. Before then, I had completely forgotten that so many people were running for president! And everyone came out a winner. Yes, each candidate, whether first- or second- or third-tier, deserves some sort form of recognition for his or her performance that night. Most calculating candidate: La Hill. Man, she knows how to say all the right things in front of the cameras. Except one. Nobody's heard her say, "My vote for the war was a mistake." And nobody's heard her say, "Here's how we can exit Iraq." Most atypical performance by a blabbermouth: Joe Biden. Yes, the politician who has single-handedly contributed the most to global warming with his hot air managed to keep his bloviating in check that night...more or less. Most disappointing: John Edwards. C'mon, where's that inner fire? He could've been more forceful when ta...

Normally, Ann Coulter is so predictable and utterly nonsensical that she isn't worth a blog entry. Blathering in that weird upper-class hoity-toit voice of hers, she spouts the same variations on "LiBRulz R teh SUX0r!!1!1!" at the same lectures and on the same installments of "Hannity & Colmes." She's becoming quite boring, if you ask me...but not so boring that she can't be of some use to Democratic candidates. She unwittingly volunteered for the job of DNC fundraiser when she called John Edwards a "faggot." Team Edwards didn't need No-Doz to stay awake during her ramblings. They decided to use her little outburst to raise campaign money. While Mitt Romney (who introduced her) is trying to distance himself from the twit, John Edwards' campaign crew is hoping to raise $100,000 in "Coulter Cash." If the other candidates are smart, they'll follow Edwards' lead and use Coulter's outbursts to motivate future...