That's Scandalous
From Joe the Plumber to the Obama Inauguration, it's been an historic year for taxpayers. But whichever way you voted, it was also the year for scandal on Capitol Hill.
From sex to money to sex it seemed every month had its own politcal mishap and things aren't slowing down yet even with the new year right around the corner. Thanks to the state dinner crashers and President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize during a state of war, 2010 looks to be off to a great start.
To help us put the political year into perspective U.S. News and World Report compiled its list of the top ten most scandalous moments. The list begins at number 10 with "climate gate." The scandal over emails that suggested scientists used tricks to boost their theory of global warming. This alleged decit was the hot topic at the recent climate summit in Copenhagen. The list continues on to impeachments, mistresses and a beer summit before reaching the tale of the missing governor. To see which moments were scandalous enough to make the list keep reading and feel free to add any mishaps that didn't quite make the cut. Who needs a wandering golfer when you have Capitol Hill?
The Washington Whispers Top 10 Political Scandals of 2009:
1. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's extramarital tryst in Buenos Aires with an Argentine mistress. He's been reprimanded by the legislature and dumped by his wife.
2. Nevada Sen. John Ensign's extramarital affair with an aide who is the wife of a former aide. The Senate Ethics Committee is investigating.
3. State dinner gate crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi. A House committee is probing how they got in without an invitation and past the White House Social Office.
4. Undercover video of ACORN workers advising conservative activists posing as a prostitute and her pimp on criminal activities, including tax evasion and human trafficking. An internal ACORN probe found no wrongdoing.
5. Sarah Palin's unexpectedly quitting as Alaska governor months after a trying vice presidential campaign. She's gone on to write her autobiography, Going Rogue, and is toying with a presidential bid in 2012.
6. The arrest of Obama pal and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates by a white Cambridge, Mass., cop, prompting the president to hold a race-laced beer summit outside the Oval Office. Since the summit, tensions in the case have eased.
7. Sen. Chris Dodd's sweetheart Countrywide loan for a Capitol Hill townhouse and handling of AIG bonuses. Dodd said he didn't seek the VIP treatment and he was cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee.
8. South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's shout of "You lie!" during President Obama's joint session address on healthcare. Wilson said his shout was spontaneous, and he apologized.
9. Impeachment of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich amid charges he tried to sell President Obama's seat in the Senate. He did win his own seat, though, on the 2010 Celebrity Apprentice.
10. Climate-gate, the scandal over E-mails that suggest global-warming scientists used "tricks" to boost their warming theory. The scandal has dogged the climate summit in Copenhagen.
