political scandal

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Sanford: 'I'm Dead Politically'

(Newser) - His wife and kids have moved out, and now his career path looks a little shaky, too. "I'm dead politically," South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford told a radio station today. "I am not running for another office." Sanford made the rounds of local stations today, defending...

Edwards' Mistress Appears Before Grand Jury

Proceedings are secret, but likely have to do with campaign funds

(Newser) - Rielle Hunter, former galpal and rumored babymama of John Edwards, arrived at the Raleigh federal courthouse with her daughter this morning to appear in front of a grand jury, the News & Observer reports. Hunter’s video production firm was paid $100,000 for work on Edwards’ presidential campaign, and...

Ex-Congressman Caught With $90K in Freezer Is Guilty

(Newser) - A federal jury convicted a former Louisiana congressman today of taking bribes on 11 of 16 counts in a case in which agents found $90,000 in his freezer. Former Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat who had represented parts of New Orleans, was accused of accepting more than $400,000...

Dodd, Conrad 'Knew They Scored Mortgage Deals'

(Newser) - Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad were fully aware they were getting sweetened mortgage deals, the Countrywide Financial exec who handled their loans has told congressional investigators. The testimony from the loan officer to the House Oversight and Senate Ethics committees directly contradicts the senators' assertions that they had...

Sanford: I Feel Like I Was at My Own Funeral
Sanford: I Feel Like I Was
at My Own Funeral
COMMENTARY

Sanford: I Feel Like I Was at My Own Funeral

'Broken' governor vows to be more 'humble' leader

(Newser) - A “broken” Mark Sanford says the fallout from his admission of an extramarital affair has been like attending his own funeral, but he’s “thankful for the perspective it has afforded.” In a column for the Greenville News, the disgraced South Carolina governor shares the life lessons...

Emails Don't Mention Sanford Affair; Critics Smell a Rat

(Newser) - A trove of emails from Mark Sanford's office contains no discussion of his recent disappearance or the resulting scandal, the State reports. Critics suspect the South Carolina governor is holding something back. “It’s a very legitimate suspicion,” a professor says. “Complex organizations in the 21st century...

Sanford Disappeared Last Year, Too, Emails Show

Commerce secretary didn't know where to reach guv

(Newser) - Mark Sanford’s recent Argentine excursion wasn’t the first time he had gone missing: His commerce secretary didn’t know where to reach him in June 2008, either, emails reveal. “Need contact number for (Sanford) ASAP,” the secretary wrote to a Sanford staffer on the 28th—a...

Ensign: I Won't Quit, and I'll Run Again

Disgraced senator says supporters don't want him to resign

(Newser) - Sen. John Ensign says he’ll stick with his job and run for reelection despite news of his affair and his parents’ $96,000 payment to his mistress’ family, the Las Vegas Sun reports. The Republican says his supporters are telling him he shouldn’t resign, and “I fully...

Why Sanford May Avoid Spitzer's Fate

(Newser) - The calls for Mark Sanford to resign are growing louder, but recent history suggests that the South Carolina governor has a chance to hold on, writes the Washington Times. While every politician who admits an affair faces calls to quit, only those who have committed real crimes are hounded from...

Did Looming Building Scandal Spur Palin to Quit?

Sudden announcement puts Palins' ties to building firm in the spotlight

(Newser) - With the search on for budding scandals that might have prompted Sarah Palin's sudden resignation, her ties to a building company seem the likeliest prospect, writes Max Blumenthal at the Daily Beast. Rumors are flying in Alaska that investigators have seized paperwork to look for evidence that Spenard Building Supplies...

Sanford Didn't Use State Money for Trips: Cops

Inquiry finds he broke no laws, as governor says he won't resign

(Newser) - South Carolina authorities say philandering Governor Mark Sanford did not use state funds to visit his Argentine mistress or break any laws, the State reports. “The man has been open with us,” said the director of the State Law Enforcement Division after an investigation. "We have found...

Southern Cheaters Call on God&mdash;but Which God?
Southern Cheaters Call on God—but Which God?
analysis

Southern Cheaters Call on God—but Which God?

Sanford used God-talk in confession; Spitzer, McGreevey didn't

(Newser) - Mark Sanford's liberal use of religious rhetoric in confessing his affair prompts Gustav Niebuhr to observe that whether Sanford is pandering or actually penitent, he is very much in the tradition of Southern politicians caught in scandal. Bill Clinton, David Vitter, and John Edwards all applied an ample dose of...

Jenny Sanford a Model for the Betrayed

Guv's wife 'neither enabler nor victim'

(Newser) - Jenny Sanford is showing the world “a new and improved version of the betrayed political spouse—neither enabler nor victim,” writes Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post. She’s not taking the stand-by-the-cheater for the cameras approach; she hasn’t released a “supportive” and “euphemistic” statement....

How Sanford Can Get His Groove Back
 How Sanford Can 
 Get His Groove Back   
OPINION

How Sanford Can Get His Groove Back

Four tricks up his sleeve to win back the public

(Newser) - Mark Sanford has fallen from grace, but he possesses the know-how to make his way back, writes Roger Simon of Politico. What the philandering governor has going for him:
  • "He knows how to use people." Just look at his marriage: His wife ran his campaign in 1994, when
...

Sanford Emails Apologies to Constituents

Rambling missive says new 'humility' could make him better gov

(Newser) - In an online apology to South Carolinians, Mark Sanford asks for forgiveness and explains his decision to keep his post in an effort to become “a better person,” WLTX reports. “Close friends” suggested he’d be “of more service in whatever doors God opened next in...

Sanford Scandal Divides SC Republicans

Controversial lieutenant gov would get office, jump on 2010 race

(Newser) - Term limits mean Mark Sanford must leave the South Carolina governor's office in 2010, and some state Republicans are hoping he doesn't go anywhere before then, Politico reports. They may be unhappy with his recent conduct, but should he resign, the office would go to a lieutenant governor who’s...

In Affair, Mark Became Marco, 'Canoodling Lothario'

(Newser) - Mark Sanford’s affair stemmed from his love of a woman—and his love of the “dashing new version of himself he saw in her molten eyes,” writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times. Mark, the Sanford we knew, “was the self-righteous, Bible-thumping prig who pressed...

Rush: Blame Obama for AWOL Sanford
Rush: Blame Obama for AWOL Sanford

Rush: Blame Obama for AWOL Sanford

Gov bolted because country's 'going to hell in a handbasket'

(Newser) - Rush Limbaugh has a novel theory about why Mark Sanford left the US: He was sick of the way the country’s being run. The South Carolina governor's disappearance, it seems, was President Obama’s fault, the Huffington Post reports. “This is almost like: I don't give a damn!...

Lesson Learned From Sanford: He's Nuts

Another middle-aged heterosexual leader trips up

(Newser) - Mark Sanford’s appearance yesterday taught us something important: He’s “a complete loony,” writes Gail Collins in the New York Times. We should thank him, really, for providing us with a governor “weirder than Rod Blagojevich and less responsible than Eliot Spitzer.” Once, he was...

Twitchy GOP Absorbs Yet Another Scandal

From Sanford to Ensign, Republican leaders are falling down

(Newser) - Mark Sanford caused the GOP enough of a headache when he disappeared—but coming back to South Carolina only made it worse. The second Republican sex scandal in a week has left party leaders angry and exhausted, reports the New York Times, and has them wondering whether they can mount...

Stories 161 - 180 | << Prev   Next >>