On Wednesday's edition of The Stephanie Miller show on "progressive" radio and Current TV, Miller and her impressionist sidekick Jim Ward expressed "how frustrating the mainstream media can be" for treating the John Edwards mistress-payments trial as a serious, newsworthy matter instead of just dismissing the whole thing as a "lousy case."
But then it got funnier when they said the media failed on the Edwards trial because, as Ward said, "They're afraid of Fox News." Yes, we're sure the liberal media were shaking in their fancy boots:
MILLER: The Justice Department announced yesterday it will give up its criminal case against John Edwards. Good. Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics says, as noted by nearly very campaign finance lawyer who considered the matter, this was a lousy case.
Can I just say I think that goes to our friend was just talking about how frustrating the mainstream media can be? Cause they’re so afraid of being seen as liberal, I think they go too far the other direction, obviously, and I think I have to say the Justice Department, they did the same thing cause they knew they would be seen as being biased if it didn’t prosecute John Edwards and it was a lousy case. Like of course he’s a dirt bag, but it’s like -- (Ward interrupts)
JIM WARD: But they’re afraid of Fox News.
MILLER: Right, they’re afraid tha,t you know, Fox News would go 'Oh my God,' you know, so I think they went out of their way to say oh yes, see, we’re being even-handed, we prosecute both sides.
The openly gay Miller further elaborated on Edwards -- and the inherent unreliability of male politicians and their sex organs -- in an online commentary on June 2:
Speaking just for myself, I think he’s a sleazebag who lied, fathered a child out of wedlock then denied that she was his, and cheated on his wife who was dying of cancer. But hey, judge not, less ye be judged, right?
Here’s the problem: when he was running for president in 2008, Edwards eloquently articulated the message of the “Two Americas,” his description of the fundamental problem of income inequality in our nation. He was right, of course. What makes me so sad is that John Edwards’ important message is now being dismissed by the National Enquirer as mere rhetoric, no more sincere than his protestations of fidelity to Elizabeth.
What can we learn from the John Edwards experience? That all politicians — despite what they would have us believe – are human. The important thing is to believe in our own values and hold our elected officials to a standard, not of sainthood, but of political accountability. They need to do what they say in their jobs, even if they screw up in their personal lives. We are are not electing kings, divine though that would be. Our job is to hold their feet to the fire for the promises they make.
Penises will always go where they will. That’s why women always make better elected officials.
Happy Weekend!
