It would surprise me if Rudy knowingly broke the law in this alleged misuse of public funds. From what I gather, he's only guilty of being privileged enough to have access to such funds and to a staff that will do what he says. The fact that he was fooling around makes it boiling hot, but not necessarily an illegal misuse of the public trust blah blah. Maybe he used much more public money going to ball games. Me, I like baseball, but I love pussy more. I think Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame, and I'm sure Mickey Mantle used more 'performance enhancing' substances than Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Dwight Gooden combined, but didn't lie under oath like Barry and Bill Clinton had to do.

What a world. We have to maintain our small-mindedness to bring down third-rate superstars.

Lookit, if you're a zero-tolerance kind of guy, you have to want Rudy to go down, but you can't pick and choose, can you? Dr. Cyril Wecht (Allegheny County coroner and a major Democrat in PA) is under federal indictment for using his staff to drive him to the airport when he flew to conduct non-official business. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers was nearly charged last December with also violating the public trust for using his staff to pick up his dry-cleaning and do 'babysitting' stuff.

Rudy won't survive this because too many people of all three genders hold dearest their middle-class value of monogamous fidelity.

Some news service editor probably signed off on a reporter's request to investigate Bess Kucinich's tongue stud procedure, to find out if her olman's health insurance paid for the procedure. The news service writes off that entire expense, which our taxes subsidize. As soon as Dennis begins to threaten the 5% threshold, the reporter goes public, Dennis blushes, and more tax-payer money gets spent nominating the reporter for a Pulitzer. If our taxes pay for Conress's Viagra scrips, what's wrong with a one-time tongue-stud expense?

I'm just pissed off because I want Rudy to go down at the ballot box instead of on account of 'perceptions', plus we both come from the same neighborhood, where the much-older Sandy Koufax also comes from, and don't think it doesn't gall and hurt to know that Sandy and his ex-wife used to entertain Laura and George W. at their Maine home.

Let's hope Hillary and her campaign keep out of it, or say nothing small-minded. Her getting Robert Kennedy Jr's endorsement is worth pearls, gold, and diamonds; it puts to rest any notions that she's somewhat 'Republican'; and it means that John Edwards will have to hit a home run harder and farther than anything Mantle, Bonds, or McGwire ever hit.