Edwin Edwards was famous for two things. First, for saying that the only way he could lose an election was if he was "caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy." Second, for being vastly corrupt, and so proud of it supporters flew banners saying "vote for the crook." Edwards is dead at 93.
He served in the state legislature and U.S. House of Representatives early in his political career before going on to run for Louisiana governor, taking office in 1972 for the first of four terms. Edwards was convicted in May 2000 of extortion in the awarding of state casino licenses. … Dashing, witty and an inveterate womanizer in his heyday, Edwards was known as "Fast Eddie" and stood out even in a state with a history of colorful graft-prone politicians. By his own count, Edwards had been the subject of 22 investigations but he reveled in a reputation of invincibility until being convicted of extortion.
The fawning over this guy in the obits today is something to behold, and says a lot—all of it bad, to be frank—about how guys like this enjoy power without affliction and stay comfortable. At The New York Times, for example, their obituarist hails him as a "flamboyant" "swashbuckling rogue", Baton Rouge's "scripture-quoting, nonsmoking teetotaler king", who "talked the way plain folks did over gumbo and crawfish pie." In this florid bullshit is Trump, everything that came with him, and all that's worse to come. But at least he wasn't David Duke, eh?
Granted, the dead girl, live boy line was pretty good!
