Bob Ney finally glimpses reality and withdraws

By Lee Russ

Monday, August 07, 2006 at 05:45 PM

Bob Ney has been slowly roasting in a large pan full of Abramoff's Fine Olive Oil.  Today he announced his intention to exit that pan by withdrawing from his bid for reelection to the House of Representatives (though he's still subject to the fire of criminal prosecution for being Jack the Flack's House Flunky).

That's the good news, if you have a heart and/or conscience.  The bad news? His likely replacement:

State Senator Joy Padgett was asked by Mr. Ney and by Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican majority leader, to run in Mr. Ney's place and has accepted, although it was not clear today whether other Republican candidates may emerge.

Who is Joy Padgett?  According to Wikipedia:

In her 2004 bid for a second term in the Ohio Senate, Padgett was challenged by Democratic Terry Anderson of Athens, Ohio, who in the 1980s had been held hostage by Islamic radicals in Lebanon. During her race against Terry Anderson, Padgett accused Anderson of being a member of the "Blame America crowd", and campaign fliers showed a photograph of Anderson in a meeting with a leader of Hezbollah. In response, Anderson said, "He and his brothers were the ones who kidnapped me, chained me, blindfolded me and beat me. My political opponent uses a picture of that interview to try to win an election.

Why does this trade of a sleazy white male for a sleazy white female strike me as the epitome of Ohio politics these days?

Update [2006-8-8 16:53:36 by Lee Russ]:Proving that state Republican officials are no more competent than the cast of clowns at the federal level, it's now being reported that Padgett may not even be eligible to run to replace Ney. Seems Ohio has a law that "bars politicians who lose one primary from entering another one during the same year." Shades of the DeLay screw-up in Texas (Scalia of all people just refused to stay the Court of Appeals decision that DeLay's name has to stay on the Texas ballot).