WOW, just wow... yet I'm not surprised. The Charlotte Observer was playing the speculation song last night, and others had been pressuring him to either strongly deny or admit it.. well hello not so slow news day Friday!
Home › Random › John Edwards admits to the affair.
August 8, 2008 Print Preview
by Mel on Aug 8, 2008 at 3:34 PM
WOW, just wow... yet I'm not surprised. The Charlotte Observer was playing the speculation song last night, and others had been pressuring him to either strongly deny or admit it.. well hello not so slow news day Friday!
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36 Responses to “John Edwards admits to the affair.”
I'd heard this from a few sources and was hoping it was just unfounded gossip.
Cynicism scores again, making it that much harder to believe in any politician.
Oh, Jeebus. What the bloody hell.
Indeed, Bella.
I think it's sad that the only high profile politican that can stay faithful to his wife while she battles cancer is Jerry Ford.
I wonder if King Roy Barnes still thinks that the Edwardses would be measuring for curtains at the White House if John were the Democrats nominee? Can you imagine what trouble we'd be in now? Geez.
Hm, I wonder what Rural Dem thinks about all this...
Inside Baseball: all the Dem campaigns knew this was true before Iowa's elections. Major compromise by all the candidates not to attack Edwards on this issue.
3 words: The Pony Man.
"Major compromise by all the candidates not to attack Edwards on this issue."
Because ... the Republicans wouldn't?
Or was this something that they planned to leak if he appeared to have any chance of victory whatsoever?
I think it had something to do with Elizabeth.
Or the compromise could just have been to force him out of the race.
It makes you wonder what counter-leverage he has.
Nah, Odin.. I think it was more of a "we all have our shit..." and it would just be a huge distracton away from the issues.
I wonder now if that was why he did give up the race tho.. knew it wasn't something that could be kept secret. Which it couldn't
agree with Jules...the last thing the Dems needed at the time (and now) was to have America thinking that the Dems are all cheaters and liars.
We do know that the posterboy of bad sex behavior while a President was running amuck and campaiging throughout Iowa.
So I'm guessing that no one wanted sex as the number 1 topic on folks brains as they went to the polls.
The amazing thing is that as a Dem, this kind of thing would have sank him immediately.
Meanwhile, McCain not only did the scarlet "A," but benefited very materially from it. And of course, he's a good old American because of his war biography.
However, the combined condition of "have closet skeletons" and "intend to hurt people with enough media power to end anything you'd like to call a life" would seem to ring a bell somewhere along the line. Take Gov. Spitzer.
Odin,
It's not just about media power and having skeletons. It's about the thousands of people who gave up their money and time to a man who KNEW he had some deep sh*t in his closet that could ruin Democrats chances of ever regaining the WH.
He did the deed before he decided to run so he fully was aware of what the fallout would be and yet he still decided (or his ego decided) to run for the most trusted position in the entire world. Now that's the messed up part.
He betrayed a lot of people and most importantly his wife and children.
I call bullshit on the "Elizabeth was in cancer remission so its sort of ok". I have a strong bias against anyone who cheats on their spouse but even more so when a man cheats while his wife is undergoing something so traumatic and devasting. That is so not cool.
just my 2 cents...and full disclosure I was never a JE follower.
Oh and please don't bring up Spitzer. That damn idiot knew what the fallout would be when he called up a hooker for whatever thousands of dollars an hour. Yeah, he was so not the deer caught in headlights.
That's exactly my point, Smitty. If you know that all forces are going to be arrayed against you - why in the world would you invite your secret to be discovered?
Best case is you announce preemptively and control the fallout.
Got it.
Best case: keep your stuff zipped up when you are not with your wife.
Just watched the PBS special on FDR last night and he cheated on his wife up until the day he died. They should all be like Jimmy Carter "lust in your heart".
Well, I mean, we could go into a long convo about just how the types of guys that emerge as social leaders are probably going to be the ones with a woman in every town (or street) ... Alpha personalities, power as the aphrodisiac and all that.
I mean we could bypass that whole mess and elevate the technocrats to our ruling class, but I doubt that's ever happening. It would kind of be like that commercial where the firemen run Congress.
which is why I will never run for public office until I clean the mounds of sh*t in my closet and pay off a few people. And then pay off some not so innocent bystanders. and delete my hard drives and email accounts and text messages.
Way too much work to do in order to serve the people.
I'm disgusted by this. All the cash people gave, all the confidence good people had in him as a candidate, his criticism of President Clinton, all the talk of high moral standards.
Tonight my thoughts and condolences go out to the countless supporters of John Edwards who put so much into his campaign. Let us hope that they have not lost all hope in the process and that they will continue their committed work on behalf of current and future candidates.
"Hm, I wonder what Rural Dem thinks about all this..."
I laughed it off a few weeks ago when the rumors started flying rampant.
Now? I'm not sure what to say.
John Edwards, I dub thee assclown. You earned it. Now begone!
As an Edwards supporter I am particularly disappointed.
This is no different than Rep. Fosella's actions.
Absolutely no excuse.
It is time to retire "assclown."
Just the facts ma'am.
Almost Every modern Preident you can think of has cheated on his wife. There are few exceptions. FDR we know about. Harry Truman Lived with his mother in law most of his life. Wonderful, colorful family man. Not known as a cheater. Eisenhower? Cheated with his driver, Kay Sommersby for most of the war (WW11). Dear old Celestine Sibley of the AJC (long departed now), wrote of the episode during the Clinton impeachment. George Marshall told Ike when he got back that if he divorced his wife Mamie that he'd personally see it that he'd never serve in higher political office. It was a well known 'secret' that Kay was never wholly discrete about keeping.
Kennedy's. We know. We Knew. LBJ? He knew she knew. Nixon? Perhaps too busy screwing the country. But earlier reports are there. Jerry Ford? Nada. Jimmy Carter. Lust in the heart. Ronnie Ray-gun? Yep, as a younger man. The first divorced President, right? George HW Bush? Yep. Jennifer Fitzgerald, a State Dept. staffer who went with him to China and who even the WaPo titteringly reported 'served under him' while working closely over there. The affair supposedly continued well after he was VP too.
Clinton we know. But let's recount it for the kiddies. After an amazing quasi legal 70-80 Million dollar 7 year(!!) Starr investigation, where they could find noting on him, but was then reduced solely to finding his various alleged GF's, only One story was seen as credible enough to mention. That was Monica of course, a brief 9-10 Mo affair that garnered the ~10 (aprox., they Counted!) BJ's that supposedly endangered the Constitutional foundations of the nation. You really had to be there.
Finally I was so PO'd at this, I become More involved in politics. If they could crucify the Prez. for a simple Adult Consensual affair, what on earth could the Repug's do to the Rest of Us? As it turned out we were prescient. They (the ever hyporcitial Repug's) were working up to screw us over Big Time. All Over. For Years.
Returning to our saga. So After being questioned closely in an wholly unrelated Civil 'sex harassment' trial that was solely brought to vex the Prez and thwart him from his work, Clinton did not admit to having 'Sex with that woman' because as Carefully Defined by the Judge & the prosecuting attorneys in question, that Kind Of Sex was somehow never mentioned. Yes, it's quite a drive way back, but suffice to say that parsing phrses IS what lawyers do, even the best of them. Newt himself well understood the 'problem' and always told his paramours that BJ's were not considered 'sex' in standard legal parlance (at the time).
Again all hard to believe, unless you actually lived through it. But infuriating just the same. More politicized passion. Government Patrolled libidos. Big Brother in the making. And the Press, then as now bought the right wing Morality Play story hook line & sinker.
So Knowing the history here, I take the full Molly Ivins stance. I really don't give a damn. Not one whit. Great men & women can have great flaws. Some, perhaps many wives & husbands understand this and struggle with it. Lady Bird did by all accounts.
I'm not going to cry for JRE. I'm glad I supported him. I feel badly for both of them, Elizabeth & the kids to be done dirty like this for nothing more than caring deeply for the fate of our nation, and opening up themselves to ridicule for daring to speak out about injustice and the plight of the poor & middle class.
Sure it's all John's fault. We're all sinners. We just enjoy different sins sometimes. And happily we're not found out and exposed for all the world to titter at. Me, I'm deeply resentful of the damnable media morality plays. Played up Just for us time after time. Elizabeth already knew, so what damn difference is it to anyone else? Why is this seen as affecting his leadership or capacity to do anything in office?
What about McCain's Known adultery with Cindy? See Cenk Uygur's solid post in today's Huffington Post. (Link included).
So I'm Still PO'd at the media. Another family deeply impacted by their love of carefully crafted & manufactured morality tales. Lying us into a war where 4100 brave American souls have died? Not proof of 'poor judgment' let alone immorality. Or indeed War Crimes. Outing a known undercover CIA agent? Treason if the Dems Ever did it. Karl Rove & Dick Cheney? Don't even have to answer Congressional subpoenas on it.
So yes, it's a venal sin. Not nice. Worse is hunting these folks down to throw it constantly in our faces like ABC did tonight. 'Look here's your Liberal champion laid low! That's the morality tale they love to deliver. Don't even try to bring change. We'll get you in the end. You know it now too. Be afraid to challenge the Big Money Men who Run the country. Very afraid.
There IS no liberal media. Or else we'd know Right Now where McCain's Vicki Iseman is. That was never followed up either. I wonder why?
Just like the banks too big to fail? Repug's are always 'too moral' to call on their affairs evidently. Frankly after so many years of this deeply damaging BS, I'm well & truly sick of it. Hypocrites in the media need to be exposed too.
And yeah, I still want him (JRE) as AG. He'd do a better job than any of the last half dozen too. And yes, Bill Clinton was Still a Great President. Pants up or Pants down. I've been saying that for more than a decade too. To anyone. And For the record? FDR was the Greatest President of the 20th century. He helped to save the nation & the world from almost certain destruction. And he was still a randy old goat. While in a wheelchair. And charismatic as all hell too. Which is why the moth is driven to the flame...
Cheers & Good Luck, JMP
Comment from Elizabeth Edwards on 'Today' @ the DailyKos:
[Reprinted in Full]:
Today
by elizabethedwards
Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 04:40:51 PM PDT
Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some – most recently – caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences. None of these has been easy. But we have stood with one another through them all. Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him.
* elizabethedwards's diary :: ::
*
John made a terrible mistake in 2006. The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done. But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my diagnosis in March of 2007. This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well. Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.
The pain of the long journey since 2006 was about to be renewed.
John has spoken in a long on-camera interview I hope you watch. Admitting one’s mistakes is a hard thing for anyone to do, and I am proud of the courage John showed by his honesty in the face of shame. The toll on our family of news helicopters over our house and reporters in our driveway is yet unknown. But now the truth is out, and the repair work that began in 2006 will continue. I ask that the public, who expressed concern about the harm John’s conduct has done to us, think also about the real harm that the present voyeurism does and give me and my family the privacy we need at this time.
Tags: John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, personal, Recommended, Thanks (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions
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I thought some others would want to see that. Again, my point exactly. This was & is & should be primarily between a Husband and wife. It's their marriage. We've become of nation of voyeur's, always looking for the prurient and the low minded sensation. It's ever thus.
As Not Atrios put it (Sideshow.me):
"Sick of Democrats having to be eunuchs so Republicans can either attack them for being sluts or eunuchs".
I'll buy that. we can all wring our hands and gnash our teeth. We can and should hope for better. But people are, always, disturbingly & deeply Human. They & we are flawed. All of us.
Cheers, JMP
Well said JMP. This all started with Gary Hart and has gotten worse since. Can we get on to the business at hand?
"As an Edwards supporter I am particularly disappointed."
More disappointed than when he co-sponsored the Iraq War Resolution while sitting ont he intelligence committee that knew there was no threat from Iraq?
Dude, the UN was duped, you really think a Democratic Senator (or even a GOP) was fed the truth?
Umm Yeah:
From Salon:
"New evidence suggests Ron Suskind is right
What was an Iraqi politician doing at CIA headquarters just days before he distributed a fake memo incriminating Saddam Hussein in 9/11?
By Joe Conason
Aug. 8, 2008 | If Ron Suskind's sensational charge that the White House and CIA colluded in forging evidence to justify the Iraq invasion isn't proved conclusively in his new book, "The Way of the World," then the sorry record of the Bush administration offers no basis to dismiss his allegation. Setting aside the relative credibility of the author and the government, the relevant question is whether the available facts demand a full investigation by a congressional committee, with testimony under oath.
When we look back at the events surrounding the emergence of the faked letter that is at the center of this controversy, a strong circumstantial case certainly can be made in support of Suskind's story."... [More at Link]
Cheers, JMP
"Dude, the UN was duped, you really think a Democratic Senator (or even a GOP) was fed the truth?"
The UN Security Council voted against allowing any strike against Iraq, and weapons inspectors found nothing.
Excuse me, but even if Iraq did have WMD, why would John Edwards think it was OK to authorize Bush to attack them? What did Iraq do to us?
For 12 years the US starved and bombed Iraq to the point where even the tiny Kuwait had 3 times its military budget.
John Edwards made a political choice to save his ass and a few hundred thousand people died for it.
Yeah, real honorable guy.
Geez Z, He said it was a decision he most regretted. He said they did not have the proper intel info., which we now know conclusively was fabricated & a monstrous lie. It's not like that's never happened in US history, it's probably never happened so egregiously. And bought hook line & sinker from the Press. The exact same things you cite for JRE could be said of Hillary's record too.
Be that as it may, John Edwards was campaigning all over this nation as a populist. The kind we have not seen in more than a generation. That's worth something. His focus on economic justice alone changed the character of the race, and for the better. Maybe that means nothing to you, but for yes, millions of people it gave them hope that their issues & concerns were being addressed substantially, again for the first time in over a generation. No one else started out saying the things he did about addressing poverty as a necessity for returning the country to Full prosperity.
Part of what cratered his run was not the whispering campaign about a brief then year old dead issue affair, but how the business press in particular was constantly harping on his 'angry rhetoric' against 'the business classes'. Yes, it was an aggrieved sort of outlook, and many very well informed & educated Economists shared it, BTW.
The Middle class is being screwed, and it's high time they've been better informed about the extent of it. James K. Galbraith (son of the late Great John K.G.) has a new book out on this called the 'Predator State'. So many serious economists looked at and help form Edwards' deeply insightful and well thought out policy plans. Hillary's folks then went out and essentially copied his health care plan.
You may live a long life, but it's doubtful that the beleaguered middle class and unknown working poor in this country will ever get a more articulate and effective advocate who was willing to lay it all on the line to stand up for their interests and up to the Big Money Men who Do run this country. Bill Clinton was unable to do it. Carter tried & failed. FDR & Harry Truman were really the last Dems who did this with fulsome 'Mad as hell' rhetoric that uniquely Edwards used. That's what made hom special.
But you know what? Why we keep on getting almost unknowns running for Prez & winning? Unlike Sen. Kerry & others They've got No substantial Record for others to pick over and whine about. Yep, Edwards contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire by voting the way he did. Film @ 11. And despite that, it was the only way to be elected in the South too. And until folks understand that deeply personal & vital & carefully balanced dynamic, we'll keep on sending retrograde 'Know nothing' Repug's to Congress (See Paul Krugman's excellent commentary on this at the Link). This a'int Boston folks. This is the South. Look for the Kudzu.
Wars are all about mostly unfortunate & deadly 'political choices'. We were easily manipulated into the Iraq war. So What did You Do about it? Were you out there protesting? Just asking. Cheers, JMP
Zaid, the AUMA was abused by Bush, not Edwards. Edwards didn't vote directly for war, but instead voted to allow inspections to determine if there was WMD, etc., and IF there was, then force was authorized. Bush just skipped right to the end...
There was no excuse for authorizing war powers against Iraq. Not one.
"if there was WMD, etc., and IF there was, then force was authorized."
That's bullshit. I've read the IWR/AUMA. The "inspectors" line was inserted to try to appease constituents, it authorized military force unconditionally if the President chose to use it. And why the hell would attacking Iraq be OK if it did possess WMD? About 60 countries ilegally possess WMD, including Israel and the United States.
And I'm pretty sure as American tanks rolled into Baghdad, Edwards continued to issue support and continue to fund the war. He did so until 2006, when he decided he'd try another faux run at the Presidency.
Lots of dead Iraqi kids pay for that man's political ego.
Oh, and an anti-poverty fighter? That's a joke.
Read this:
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/08/hbc-90003382
I can't believe how many people are suckered by a pretty face who is an asshole.
Your constant polemics are growing tiresome, Zaid. This is a democracy, and in democracies you have politics. Politics are the art of the possible. Dennis Kucinich cannot get elected anywhere outside his district, as much as I like many of his policies. Edwards made poverty a central theme of his campaign and forced it on to the national agenda. Did he use the issue to help further his aspirations as a political candidate but those in turn supported the poverty issue. You can criticize Al Gore for the size of his home and its apparent contradiction with his green endeavors, it's the same thing.
To move large numbers of people, you must make concessions. Think Obama is going to stand super strong for affirmative action? He won't.
You must make compromises in politics.
I'm glad he got that wart removed from his lip.
Although that's probably what made him attractive enough to get the date in the first place. It was all downhill from there.
Sometimes it's good to have defect.
"That's bullshit. I've read the IWR/AUMA".
On behalf of a grateful nation we thank you for your sacrifice Z. Boy I'm betting that was hard work too. And probably years after the event. Don't worry, that was common at the time too.
"There was no excuse for authorizing war powers against Iraq. Not one."
You want to know what? You really could say the same for WW1. And Korea probably. Certainly 'Nam too.
"Lots of dead Iraqi kids pay for that man's political ego."
Just pathetically sad Z. And ahistorical nonsense. There were dead Iraqi kids before we got there. Saddam took care of many of them. Then there were the dead Iranian kids sent in by the 1000's to clear mine fields ahead of the regular Army during the brutal Iran-Iraq war, (where we actually helped both sides during different times). The Iranian kids actually took the brunt of numerous gas & chemical attacks on the front lines. We & Rummy in particular (during the Reagan-Bush admin) bought, paid & transported the stuff (spraying equipment & other materials) to Saddam, then helped train their Army how to use it with helicopters we also supplied. But hey they were only Iranians, right?
Except where they & Saddam turned around and used all that lovely 'dual use' technology that on the civilian population of Kurds in 1988 in Halabja. Men, women & children, & plenty of them (~10K). It was literally the only war crime Saddam was ever tried & convicted of, and Reagan Bush Bought & paid for the resources and materials used in the attack. Accessories to the murder then as now. Again.
Me, I'm always interested in listening but I've still got more questions. How is this so, and can you cite the various laws/regs./treaties?
"About 60 countries ilegally [sic] possess WMD, including Israel and the United States." What??
And this? "And I'm pretty sure as American tanks rolled into Baghdad, Edwards continued to issue support and continue to fund the war". Unfortunately was a majority position at the time, variously 60-40% or better here in Ga. & throughout the South. Again, what, besides all that difficult reading were You doing about it?
And this is just silly: "I can't believe how many people are suckered by a pretty face who is an asshole". Welcome to Politics 101 Z. SSDD. That perfect candidate has yet to appear. Anywhere. At any time. When he/she does, do give us a call, right?
Cheers, JMP