Below the Fold for June 29

Let's check out some political stories we found Below the Fold:

“Money Bags”

The episodically colorful Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., thundering before a group of Young Democrats (search) Wednesday night at a Washington nightspot, confirmed what many people long have believed about Congress.

Said the third-generation plutocrat: "I don't need Bush's tax cut. I have never worked a (bleeping) day in my life."

Stop! Thief!

Meanwhile, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., to cheers and huzzahs from his colleagues, has proposed drafting a regulation to crack down on a group of thieves who have ransacked Capitol and Senate offices, walking off with desks, chairs, rare books, precious documents, paintings, rugs, lamps and other matters of historical interest.

The thieves in question? Members of the U.S. Senate.

Say What?

The oddest political quote of the week comes from Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., speaking at a rally organized by Jesse Jackson Sr. The presidential candidate tried to persuade his audience that when it came to controversial supreme court decisions, he was prepared to lay down the law.

“When I'm president, we'll have executive orders to overcome any wrong thing the Supreme Court does tomorrow or any other day," Gephardt (search) said.

After libertarians, civil and otherwise, objected, Gephardt's office retreated from the claim, acknowledging that a president probably couldn't overrule the highest court by fiat.

Letting it All Hang Out...

Voters in Sussex County, New Jersey learned this week that state Senate hopeful Jim Morrison, a runner up on the TV show The Mole and a member of People magazine's 50-Most Beautiful list -- once entered a nude-picture contest, evidently believing he had been under-exposed.

Democratic Party grandees have tried to dissuade the openly gay man from running, citing the need to promote family values, but Morrison is having none of that. He says he entered the contest years ago, as a law-school student, and then adds mischievously of the nudie contest: "I won."