The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy
Edwin Edwards, 1983
Edwards was correct that year, beating Republican David Treen for Governor using epithets such as describing Treen as "so slow it takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes."
But after that, the results of his dead girl/live boy paradigm have been mixed:
Live boys did end Mark Foley's career, as did a dead girl for Gary Condit. On the other hand, live girls have been fatal for Democrats, like Spitzer, Hart and Weiner (if digital counts as "live"), but survivable for Republicans, like Vitter and Sanford. (Go figure.)
In any case, the question really is "What does it take to get rid of a slimy politician?" Iran-Contra didn't do it for Reagan, nor did a war based on lies, and the Plame leak for Bush.
Now, though, we have a contender to join dead girl and live boy as things that can take down a crooked pol --
Closing lanes leading to the busiest bridge in the world.
Interestingly, a first term of boorish behavior only led to a landslide re-election for Chris Christie. And what I consider his greatest offense -- killing the Hudson rail tunnel for short term political gain based on lies -- was not an issue at all, despite comments such as a Times
editorial in 2012:
If you find yourself in a stopped train in a Hudson River tunnel, or in a vehicle on a choked highway, in coming years, at least you will know why. In his drive to become the darling of the cut-costs-at-all-costs Republican crowd, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey ignored real economic analysis and relied on exaggerated worst-case scenarios to kill the largest public transit project in the nation in 2010.
But now it appears that in a rare example of karma, "it's a round world," payback in kind, just deserts, (Big) chickens coming home to roost, petards being self-hoist, the perpetrator of the crime of Tunnel-Cide may be done in by the above-ground crossing of the same river.
So let's hope we can amend Governor Edwards' famous words to say that a dirty pol can be done in by:
A dead girl, a live boy or a bridge.
Note of historical interest: Since his dead girl/live boy statement, Edwin Edwards was elected Governor of LA two more times; then convicted of,
inter alia, racketeering, extortion and money laundering; served nine years in prison, and most recently starred with his (51 years junior) third wife on a reality show.