A new low in the political blame game
When you have covered politics as long as I have, it's easy to believe you've heard it all -- the excuses, the double-talk, the alibis.
But even in modern politics, where there seems to be no shame, former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell took the blame game to a new low when he took the stand at his $170,000 corruption trial and basically threw his wife under the bus, said it was all her fault.
What a stand up guy!
How was he to know that the $6,000 watch she gave him had been paid for by a businessman trying to use the governor's office to promote his dietary supplements?
Was he supposed to know the guy had taken her on a $20,000 shopping spree, arranged for him to have a spiffy sports car to drive on their vacation, arranged thousands of dollars in loans?
And hey, a little credit here. Once it became known, the McDonnells did return the check for $15,000 that the businessman had sent over to pay for the governor's daughter's wedding.
As the governor told it Thursday, all this came about because of his wife's fragile, emotional state. He told the jury the whole thing had left him in such despair, he's moved in with his parish priest for the duration of the trial.
Friday, he reversed course, and said he didn't mean she was to blame.
Now, I admit it: I thought I'd heard it all, but this takes the cake. What I can't decide is what kind of cake.
