Game Change: Obama, Reid, Clintons, Edwards and Biden Come Off Looking Very Bad

In the new book Game Change, Obama, Reid, the Clintons, the Edwards and Biden come off looking very bad indeed. Written by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, it chronicles juicy and scandalous, behind-the-scenes, alleged happenings in the 2008 presidential election. Even before its release yesterday, Game Change claimed its first political casualty in racism-challenged Harry Reid who belittled the black community as well as accused Americans of being racist in general. Though it also covers Palin and McCain, one would be hard-pressed to argue that it's the Republicans who come off looking the worst from these insider accounts that are always scandalous, shocking and lurid. Game Change really epitomizes the old saying about how politics is a bloodsport as much of the revelations are just pure nastiness!

With that in mind, let's get on with the nasty exposes! The authors were on Hannity's FNC show yesterday. Besides the Harry Reid racist comments, a noteworthy bombshell is also that before the elections got underway, there was a cabal of prominent Democrats-Reid, Schumer et al, who were part of the "Conspiracy of Whispers"-who didn't want Hillary to get the Democrat nomination. Their reasoning was that she had too much baggage along with a scandal-ridden husband to have a shot at winning! Thus, in his capacity as Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid began to actively support Obama over Hillary, clearly a reason why Obama's been so forgiving to him for his racist outburst! Additionally, both Clintons were totally in the dark about this Senate conspiracy and stunned that there was such a loss of support for her among Democrat senators.

When Obama won Iowa early on, the Clintons were worried that the support for Hillary was crumbling around them, especially when this proved to be the catalyst for many Democrats getting behind Obama. So in hopes of heading this off, Bill Clinton got on the phone with the late Ted "Hiccup" Kennedy, seeing his endorsement of Hillary as the potential lifesaver. However, Bill Clinton absolutely blew it with Kennedy when he used a racist-sounding remark-the now-infamous blurb about how Obama should be getting them all coffee instead-in his appeal to him. This infuriated Kennedy to where he ended up supporting Obama instantly.

More lurid and startling is the next revelation that Hillary actually investigated Bill! Yes, you read that right: Hillary actually spent money to investigate if her hubby, Bill, was actually cheating on her during the Democrat primaries! I know...I know...S-C-A-N-D-A-L-O-U-S! Apparently, in one instance, Hillary's team actually found some sort of evidence where it really looked like Bill was cheating on her even then! I guess the old saying about philandering husbands is true here: Once a dog...always a dog! Right, girls?!

Now, for the second part of the Hannity interview with the Game Change authors.

One of Hillary's national co-chairmen, Billy Shaheen, under Hillary's orders, pushed the story of Obama's drug use during the primaries, spinning it so that there was no doubt left that Obama's past drug use would be a liability the GOP would pounce on.

At last, we get to Joe Biden, who comes under fire for, early on, being pegged by Obama and company as having a huge liability: his big, fat mouth and his seemingly constant inability to determine when to appropriately shut it. In fact, Obama's fears are immediately confirmed when as soon as Biden's picked to be the VP choice, he lets loose with a monstrously damning allegation against his own candidate! You will, undoubtedly, remember the Biden-unplugged admission-during the final legs of the campaign-that as soon as Obama would be elected, he'd immediately be tested left and right by America's enemies. The authors then say that at that point, Obama was angrier with Biden than he'd ever been at Hillary during any point of the campaign.

The last part of the interview is the most disturbing by far as it involves the Edwards. Politically savvy readers will remember that they're the Democrat couple whose marriage is strained by John's affair with a woman on his staff while his wife, Elizabeth, was sick with cancer. Their image takes even more brutal blows in the account by Heinemann and Halperin as all the strains of that already-weakened marriage seemed to fully explode on the campaign trail. For instance, on the day in October 2007 when the National Enquirer broke the story of John's affair, Elizabeth was in such a state of understandable rage and grief that she and John could not ride in the same car to the airport for campaign purposes. What ended up happening was the couple began fighting in the car to the airport, in the private terminal, and finally in the parking lot, culminating in Elizabeth ripping her blouse and shouting, "Look at ME!" in a sign of a woman clearly reaching the end of her proverbial rope.

I must caution you that Game Change is a book which doesn't have reliable sourcing; that is to say that many so-called sources aren't identified by the authors, which sets up numerous problems of credibility. For instance, this is clearly a rich opportunity for political enemies of all the players to line up and anonymously slur them. Still, Game Change will probably hook you due to its soap opera-style drama, which apparently is somewhat unusual for a campaign trail.

Sources:

Game Change: Latest Account of 2008 Campaign Full of Juicy Bits, FoxNews.com

Obama Forgives Reid for Racial Remark, but Was Less Forgiving of Republicans, BluegrassPundit.com

Adam Nagourney, Obama Triumphs in Iowa Contest as Clinton Falters; Huckabee Rolls, NY Times

Ben Smith, Biden: Obama will be tested, Politico

Rhonda Schwartz, Edwards Admits Sexual Affair; Lied as Presidential Candidate, ABCNews