A movement is afoot on Facebook urging President Barack Obama to pardon Louisiana's favorite ex-con.
Count 'em: an unemployment rate hovering around 9 percent, military entanglements in the Middle East, flagging poll numbers and a recalcitrant GOP-held House of Representatives. Now add pardoning former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards to President Barack Obama's list of gray hair-inducing worries.
A movement is afoot on Facebook urging Obama to pardon Louisiana's favorite ex-con, who was released from a federal detention center in Oakdale earlier this year after serving nearly a decade for racketeering. The FB page, "Ask Obama to Pardon Edwin Edwards," currently has more than 1,800 "likes." If you don't know what a Facebook like is, you'll probably be getting hauled before a death panel soon.
The page was created by a FB user named Brenda, who lays out her case for pardoning the three-term gov in appropriately Facebooky prose:
i created this fb page because like many other Louisianians we adore our Gov. We believe the good this man has done in La far outweighs why we r asking for a pardon. EWE is a legend, a dignitary, a veteran, a friend, a good man even to those who can [sic] nothing for him- he deserves a pardon and the dignity it would bring to his life~
The page also includes the telephone number for the White House comment line: (202) 456-1111.
The Silver Zipper, recently married to his third wife - Trina Scott Edwards, the second consecutive "sweet li'l blond thang" the 84-year-old former governor has managed to wed - has told more than one media outlet in Louisiana that he believes if he were pardoned, a legal requirement for seeking office, he could topple incumbent Gov. Bobby Jindal in October.