Yeah, but they didn't actually

choose you, did they?

"The Kerry people vetted me for vice president," he told The Politico last week. He knew this, he said, because Jim Johnson, the veteran Washington lawyer and Democratic insider, "has said so."

But that line of defense may be less effective in shutting down speculation than Richardson hopes. After five days of phone calls and e-mails, and an initial refusal to comment, Johnson released a one-sentence statement saying Richardson had been "vetted" but offering no details about what that entailed...

...Three other people -- either senior Kerry aides or Democrats involved in the vice presidential search process -- said in interviews that Richardson's past was not subject to a definitive examination* aimed at determining whether his personal conduct with women was a potential political problem.

These Democrats, who declined to be quoted by name discussing a sensitive personal matter, said that Richardson withdrew from consideration by Kerry before undergoing a final round of vetting...

Richardson using Kerry for validation is the very definition of chutzpah. This is the man, after all, who weaseled out of a full recount of the highly questionable New Mexico vote in 2004. That (in)action alone, in my book, makes him a sleaze, no matter what his behavior with women might be.