The Narcissistic Culture of Ego!

In his public statement admitting an affair with Rielle Hunter while his wife Elizabeth fell ill with cancer, John Edwards said, "I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic."

Do you remember during the run up to the 2006 elections how the Democrats and media spent billion of barrels of ink talking about the "Culture of Corruption"? They attacked Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley and Larry Craig. The Democrats and media kept up a constant attack right up until the elections. Cunningham and Foley resigned. Senator Craig still serves.

Well, John Edwards has added a new phrase to the political lexicon. The narcissistic "Culture of Ego". Democrats seem to believe that they can say and do anything and no one will notice. Well you and I are beginning to notice.

Who are card carrying members of the "Narcissistic Culture of Ego" club? Let me name just a few:

William Jefferson, Democratic Congressman, Louisiana - Jefferson's investigation began in mid-2005 [he was re-elected in 2006], after an investor alleged $400,000 in bribes were paid through a company maintained in the name of his spouse and children.

The money came from a tech company named iGate, Inc. of Louisville, Kentucky, and in return, it is alleged, Jefferson would help iGate's business. Jefferson was to persuade the U.S. Army to test iGate's broadband two-way technology and other iGate products; use his efforts to influence high-ranking officials in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon; and meet with personnel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, in order to facilitate potential financing for iGate business deals in those countries.

On 30 July 2005, Jefferson was videotaped by the FBI receiving $100,000 worth of $100 bills in a leather briefcase at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Jefferson told an investor, Lori Mody, who was wearing a wire, that he would need to give Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar $500,000 "as a motivating factor" to make sure they obtained contracts for iGate and Mody's company in Nigeria.

A few days later, on 3 August 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson's home in Northeast Washington and, as noted in an 83-page affidavit filed to support a subsequent raid on his Congressional office, "found $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers." Serial numbers found on the currency in the freezer matched serial numbers of funds given by the FBI to their informant.

Jim McGreevey, former Democratic Governor of New Jersey - McGreevey was criticized for appointing as homeland security adviser Golan Cipel, because he lacked experience or other qualifications for the position. In addition, Cipel could not gain a security clearance from the Federal government, as he was Israeli and not a U.S. citizen. McGreevey had met him in Israel during a trip there in 2000.

According to McGreevey in The Confession, The Record was the first newspaper to break the news of a relationship between McGreevey and Cipel. McGreevey brought up Cipel's name six weeks into his administration in a February 14, 2002, interview with The Record's editorial board at its offices saying: “ We will not skimp on security. We actually brought on a security adviser from the Israel Defense Forces, probably the best in the world.” The interview prompted news investigation into Cipel's background.

On February 21, The Record published a profile of Cipel, calling him a "sailor" and a "poet." The article stated,“Democrats close to the administration say McGreevey and Cipel have struck up a close friendship and frequently travel together”, prompting McGreevey's own mother to confront him about his sexual orientation. Various media organizations sent reporters to Israel to ask questions about Cipel and his background. In August of 2002 at McGreevey's request, Cipel stepped down from his position as homeland security adviser.

On August 12, 2004, faced with threats from Cipel's lawyer Allen Lowy that Cipel would file a sexual harassment lawsuit against him in Mercer County Court, McGreevey announced at a press conference, "My truth is that I am a gay American."

Elliot Spitzer, former Governor of New York - On March 10, 2008, The New York Times reported that Spitzer had previously patronized a high-priced prostitution service called Emperors Club VIP and met for over two hours with a $1,000-an-hour call girl New York City singer going by the name Ashley Alexandra Dupré (legal name Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro, born Ashley Youmans). This information originally came to the attention of authorities from a federal wiretap. Spitzer had at least seven or eight liaisons with women from the agency over six months, and paid more than $15,000. According to published reports, investigators believe Spitzer paid up to $80,000 for prostitutes over a period of several years while he was Attorney General, and later as Governor.

Spitzer first drew the attention of federal investigators when his bank reported suspicious money transfers, which initially led investigators to believe that Spitzer may have been hiding bribe proceeds. The investigation of the governor led to the discovery of the prostitution ring.

In the wake of the revelations, Spitzer announced on March 12 that he would resign his post as Governor effective at noon of March 17, amid threats of his impeachment by state lawmakers. "I cannot allow for my private failings to disrupt the people's work," Spitzer said at a news conference in New York City. "Over the course of my public life, I have insisted — I believe correctly — that people take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor."

David Patterson, Democratic Governor of New York - One day after Paterson's inauguration as the Governor of New York, both he and his wife acknowledged having had extramarital affairs, one with a state employee. Paterson's self-admissions are in contravention to what the press has dubbed the "Bear Mountain Compact", a practice by lawmakers that their transgressions north of the Bear Mountain Bridge will not be reported south of it.

Kwame Malik Kilpatrick, Democratic Mayor of Detroit - In 2002 Kilpatrick was criticized for using city funds to lease a car for use by his family and using his city issued credit card to charge thousands of dollars worth of spa massages, extravagant dining, and expensive Moët et Chandon champagne. Kilpatrick would later pay back $9000 of the $210,000 credit card charges.

In May 2005, the Detroit Free Press reported that over the first 33 months of his term, Kilpatrick had charged over $210,000 on his city-issued credit card for travel, meals, and entertainment. At a May 2005 campaign rally, Kilpatrick's father, Bernard "Killer" Kilpatrick, made controversial statements equating recent media reports about his son to Nazi propaganda that led to the death of 6 million Jews in Europe. He later apologized.

In January 2008, The Detroit Free Press examined and revealed the existence of more than 14,000 text messages exchanged between Kilpatrick and his chief of staff Christine Beatty on their city issued SkyTel pagers between September–October 2002 and April–May 2003. The dates are of importance because they encompass the time periods of the alleged Manoogian Mansion party and the ouster of Gary Brown respectively. The text-messages are the nucleus of an $8.4 million secret deal settlement by the city of Detroit.

On March 24, 2008, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced a 12-count criminal indictment against Kilpatrick and former Detroit Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, charging Kilpatrick with eight felonies and Beatty with seven. Charges for both included perjury, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice. Worthy also suggested that others in the Kilpatrick administration could also be charged.

Johnny Reid "John" Edwards, former Democratic Senator from South Carolina, VP running mate to John Kerry and Presidential Candidate - Starting in October 2007, The National Enquirer began a series of reports alleging an intimate affair between Edwards and a former campaign worker, Rielle Hunter. By July 2008, several news media outlets speculated that Edwards' chances for the vice presidency may have been harmed by the allegations, which now included that he fathered a child with Hunter and had visited her and the baby girl Frances Quinn, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Edwards stated "I've responded, consistently, to these tabloid allegations by saying I don't respond to these lies and you know that."

However, in an August 8, 2008 statement, and an interview with Bob Woodruff of ABC News, Edwards admitted that he had an affair in 2006 but denied that he is the father of the child. He acknowledged that he had been dishonest in denying the entire Enquirer story, admitting that some of it was true, but said that the affair ended long before the time of the child's conception. He further said he is willing to take a paternity test. A campaign aide, Andrew Young, claims that he, not Edwards, is the child's father.

This pattern is consistent, pervasive and chilling.

Today we are faced with another Democrat running for President. He is Barack H. Obama. Maya Soetoro-Ng, Obama's half-sister states, "I also think we were a little untethered, that our lives involved a lot of sort of drifting in and out of worlds, here and there."

The media calls him a rock star, showers him with attention, and praises his every word. They ignore his family background, past mentors and life long close friends such as: his father Barack Obama, Sr., his mother Stanley Ann Dunham, his wife Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, his high school mentor Frank Marshall Davis, his cousin Raila Odinga, his idol Saul D. Alinsky, long time friends Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, long time patron and political fundraiser Tony "Anton" Rezko, close friend Edward Said, pastor of 20 years Reverend Jeremiah Wright, idol Louis Farrakhan, close friends Rashid and Mona Kalidi, billionaire and bag man for Saddam Hussein Nadhmi Auchi, and Marxist campaign blogger Sam Graham-Felsen to name just a few.

In his book "The Obama Nation", Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D. states, "Make no mistake about it: 'change' was always [Saul D.] Alinsky's code word for creating a socialist revolution, even if the methodology meant radicals would cut their hair, put on business suits, and run for political office. Alinsky taught [community] organizers [like Obama] to hide their true intentions in the words they spoke."

This is the most highly publicized and least vetted candidate for the President of the United States in our history. His words reflect a narcissistic culture of ego. Obama has said:

* They get bitter. They cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren't like them.
* I know my country has not perfected itself.
* Typical white person (referring to his maternal grandmother, who raised him).
* America, uh, is no longer what it once was.
* We are a citizen of the world!
* We are the change we have been waiting for!

My sincere concern is that the media and I must insure both candidates for President are fully vetted without prejudice or malice. The truth must be known now. Or we will be getting another "egocentric and narcissistic" candidate.