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Edwards acknowledges extra-marital affair

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I will never, ever understand what someone in John Edwards’ position was thinking.

John Edwards repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extra-marital affair with a novice film-maker, the former Senator admitted to ABC News today.

In an interview for broadcast tonight on Nightline, Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he did have an affair with 42-year old Rielle Hunter, but said that he did not love her.

Edwards also denied he was the father of Hunter’s baby girl, Frances Quinn, although the one-time Democratic Presidential candidate said he has not taken a paternity test.

Edwards said he knew he was not the father based on timing of the baby’s birth on February 27, 2008. He said his affair ended too soon for him to have been the father.

According to the ABC News report, Edwards met Hunter at a New York city bar in 2006, after which his political action committee hired her, despite her lack of experience, to do filmmaking work for his campaign. Soon after, as the two traveled together, Edwards and Hunter began their affair.

For what it’s worth, Elizabeth Edwards apparently became aware of the relationship in 2006, and the affair went on while her cancer was in remission.

All of this is extremely unpleasant, and raises more than a few questions.

First, obviously, what on earth was Edwards thinking? He knew in 2006 that he was gearing up for a presidential campaign, which he knew would bring added scrutiny to every facet of his life. Putting morality and decency aside, why even take the chance?

Second, what if he’d won the nomination?

Third, in the future, this will only encourage media outlets to be more aggressive in looking into candidates’ personal lives, which is really a shame.

Fourth, I really don’t want to hear Mickey Kaus brag about this, but he did seem to take this tabloid story seriously from the start, even when the evidence was nothing more than some back-room whispering. (A broken clock is, apparently, right twice a day.)

Fifth, before Republicans pounce on this with too much glee, if, in the wake of Edwards’ confession, presidential-candidate adultery all of a sudden becomes an important campaign issue, let’s not forget that this is one subject John McCain and his supporters really don’t want to talk about.

And finally, there’s still some unresolved questions about Edwards’ conduct.

Since becoming pregnant, Hunter has lived under assumed names in a series of expensive homes in North Carolina and, more recently, in Santa Barbara, California.

Edwards denied paying any money to Hunter to keep her from going pubic [sic] but said it was possible some of his friends or supporters may have made payments without telling him.

He said he would ask questions about any possible arrangement.

What an embarrassment.

Update: I neglected to mention, Edwards had been rumored to be eyeing a key role in a possible Obama administration. Given today’s revelation, it’s probably safe to assume Edwards’ career in government is over.

Comments

  • Lance

    says:

    “Fifth, before Republicans pounce on this with too much glee, if, in the wake of Edwards’ confession, presidential-candidate adultery all of a sudden becomes an important campaign issue, let’s not forget that this is one subject John McCain and his supporters really don’t want to talk about.”

    And bigamy. Don’t forget bigamy 😉

  • jimBOB

    says:

    If Edwards had been the nominee this would have been dynamite. How incredibly irresponsible. What is it with these guys? Anyway, if there were any doubt, Edwards’ political career is over.

    That said, if the GOP wants to try to make hay over this it just opens the door to talking about McCain’s past. I imagine the Obama campaign may have let them know about it by back channels.

  • bcinaz

    says:

    it’s probably safe to assume Edwards’ career in government is over.

    yeah, well – Extramarital activity doesn’t seem to have hampered McCain’s ambition; Rudy! plowed ahead with his run at the nomination; Dave Vitter and Larry Craig aren’t finished with their government jobs…

    Really! You have to be a Democrat for something like this to wreck you political career.

  • pixie

    says:

    What a disappointment and a bummer. These guys think they are invicible. Yeah, what if he had won the primaries! I was an Edwards supporter before I switched to Obama. This makes me very angry. What a betrayal to his family and his party. Just another lying scumbag after all. The only positive out of this is it must be making McCain very nervous.

  • Mimikatz

    says:

    What is it about these guys? Arrogance, that’s what.

    Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, said Henry Kissinger. Many men who pursue and acquire power think that the rules are for little people, not for them. They think they ought to have what they want, when they want it.

    John McCain deserting his wife for a younger heiress because “he wanted to be 25, not 40” when he came back from Vietnam.

    Newt Gingrich telling his wife he had had an affair and wanted a divorce when his wife had cancer.

    Elliot Spitzer. Gary Hart. Bill Clinton. At least they just cheated and didn’t desert a sick wife.

    Guys, before you say it’s just personal, you can tell a great deal about a person by how he treats those closest to him. Cheating is cheating, and it begets lying, and covering up, and it shows really poor impulse control. Not good qualities for a wanna-be leader.

  • Old School

    says:

    Edwards ended an affair with a woman he didn’t love two years ago (presumably) and yet he still kept in touch with her?

  • Memekiller

    says:

    I’m not terribly surprised or distraught. I would think that Clinton laid to rest the idea that an affair, in and of itself, is a career-ender.

    Like to see the media make as big a deal out of an affair revelation as they will this. McCain’s affair story was roundly and quickly attacked — by TPM, and most other bloggers — and I doubt anyone has the stomach for another GOP affair story. NYT’s gets burned, the Enquirer is rewarded.

  • SadOldVet

    says:

    If Edwards had been the nominee, this story probably would have eclipsed the story about his expensive haircuts.

    Anything for the corporate media to not have to cover policies and issues – you know, those things that actually affect people’s lives!

  • doubtful

    says:

    Oh well. Maybe Elizabeth Edwards can have a position in Obama’s cabinet. She is more deserving.

  • Memekiller

    says:

    And, I’d be prepared for that baby, as we dig more, to turn out to be his, and the affair to be continuing, and not isolated. Probably while his wife had cancer.

    Just to head off those future disappointments.

  • Keori

    says:

    The McCain campaign will milk this for all it’s worth. Say it with me now, guys:

    It’s Okay If You’re A Republican..

  • Johnny Horton

    says:

    Yawn. The sooner we stop caring about the private love lives of politicians the better. So much outrage that someone lied about an affair! Where’s the outrage directed towards the the very public lives of politicians who are constantly screwing us over in ways that actually have a negative affect on all of us!?

  • doubtful

    says:

    The sooner we stop caring about the private love lives of politicians the better. -Johnny Horton

    The sooner the stop schtupping the help the better.

    Read Mimikatz at comment 6 before telling us that engaging in extramarital affairs with people who work for you is insignificant again, please.

  • Memekiller

    says:

    McCain doesn’t want a second look at the white, blonde lobbyist he spent so much time with that his own staff had to intervene that appeared in the NYTs. He barely dodged that bullet, but it meets the National Enquirer standard – if you’re a Dem.

  • Dale

    says:

    They worked together. There was an attraction. The accidental touch of their hands were electric. The touching escalated. They hugged they kissed. They went further.Then they went into denial which a love affair often engenders. It was just people stuff.

    But that was just the first two weeks. Then it was time to be a grownup and Edwards failed that test.

  • Mag7

    says:

    What a stupid dope. Anyone who declares themselves fit for public office has to know their private lives will be scrutinized, fair or not. Of course these rules don’t always apply for republicans, most rules don’t, but I really wish the dems would claim the higher ground and at least stand there.

  • TuiMel

    says:

    Ugh. A significant factor in my support of John Edwards was my admiration for the smarts and common sense of his wife Elizabeth. So, I feel sympathy for her and for Edwards’ oldest daughter. But, if Elizabeth knew about the affair in 2006, I also have to scratch my head about how she could be such a fierce advocate for her husband as the 2008 candidate, knowing this time bomb was ticking in the closet. As has been noted, it would have been a disastorous revelation at this point in the campaign had Edwards garnered the nomination.
    Is he finished in politics on the national stage? As a candidate for major elective or appointed office, I think so. I suspect his willingness to run with this little secret tethered to him has severely damaged perceptions of his judgement. I know the disappointment I feel makes me skeptical that he is being completely truthful even now. Yesterday was the first time I had read anything about this story, and based upon what I read then, I thought his silence was damning. I thought it was a story that TPM Muckraker should have pursued with Edwards.

    It is a shame; I think his message about poverty was an important one.

  • Walt

    says:

    He should go the way of Gary Hart and get out of the way for a few years (or forever as far as I’m concerned) and allow our other worthy democrats head for the Obama Administration. I agree with Steve – he’s most likely done.

  • Chris O.

    says:

    1. IOKIYAR

    2. It really seems like Edwards is underselling the whole thing. WTF was he doing visiting her and her baby in a hotel if it ended in 2006 and he had no strong feelings for her?

  • undisclosed angler

    says:

    I supported Edwards in the primary. This is a huge bummer on several levels:
    — Edwards running when he knew he was so damaged
    — promoting his family story as part of his campaign claim while living the opposite
    — championing progressivism and then tarnishing the brand with this bullshit
    — not respecting his own work and family enough to risk it all.

    It was a rotten thing to do to his wife under any circumstances but under the cancer circumstances, it compares to texting propositions to teenage boys while chairing the House taskforce on Internet sex predators, or making a name for yourself for busting a hooker-corruption ring and then employing said hooker service as a client.

    For the GOP gloaters all you’ve got here really is a tit-for-tat in the long-running sex scandal scorecard, but there’s no GOP virtue and no damnation of Edwards’ issues in this at all. If the Repubs forced David Vitter to resign and devoted the proceeds of the Abramoff booty to Katrina victims, then maybe. But Vitter will still be in the Senate after Edwards’ political career joins Spitzer’s in the dustbin.

    Also, making nuclear family an entry-level requirement for high office has some real limits, but is the de facto rule. So either attack the rule head-on or play by it, but don’t say you’re all for it when you’re doing the opposite.

    Finally, Feingold might have known something and by stiffing Edwards in January he kept his name clear of this now.

  • joey

    says:

    What a crock of shit…I mean it wasn’t as if it was a hooker and he was paying for sex.

    Are we to think that because Edwards had an affair…ended it…and worked it out to save his marriage and his family from the devastation of divorce…that that is somehow worse than McCain who had an affair…ended up divorcing his wife and abandoned his family…because he married the person he was having an affair with that makes it more acceptable.

    Good on Edwards for putting family values first and working it out with his wife and children.

    Republicans are not only the party of stupid but the party of hypocrisy. Edwards knew this “should” have nothing to do with his political career…it wasn’t hooker sex etc…it was an affair that he ended and that his family accepted and stayed together. That is totally private business which should be left out of his political life. What hypocrites these republicans be.

  • Walt

    says:

    Chris O : You’re absolutely right. When you fall on your sword, go whole hog. Don’t drip half-truths with continued lies. It’ll just work to piss off more people. Doesn’t make sense to meet with a woman in the middle of the night with a baby that you claim isn’t yours for an affair that ended more than a year ago. it’s almost sociopathic behavior. Thinks he can continue to pull the wool over our eyes.

  • skeptic

    says:

    This confession makes for some interesting math. Edwards claims he can’t be the father of the baby because he ended the affair too early. His campaign aide, Andrew Young, claims to be the father.

    That means that she went from banging John Edwards to banging one of his staffers in fairly short order. I wonder about the drama involved in that scene…

  • NonyNony

    says:

    Finally, Feingold might have known something and by stiffing Edwards in January he kept his name clear of this now.

    Actually, Feingold is such a straight shooter that I take him at his word. I think he just thought that Edwards was a phony. Turns out he might have been right.

    I was an Edwards supporter in the primary, but damn – I’m glad he didn’t win.

  • Johnny Horton

    says:

    @ doubtful

    Read it already. Still (should be) insignificant as far as his public service is concerned. Sorry, the needle on my moral outrage meter barely moves by the news that a politician was screwing someone besides their spouse. My personal feeling is that people should remain faithful to whomever they’ve committed. But there are many different reasons people don’t, and I don’t claim to know (or care) about the personal details of Edwards’, or any other politician’s, love life. It’s none of my business why he cheated. It’s my business to know what he’s doing as an elected official.

    I could see you being outraged if you actually knew him and his wife personally and knew all of the details. Then it might personally affect you. Again, I think cheating on your spouse is wrong, but it’s none of my business when people do it. It’s the personal business of the people in the relationship.

    I will say, though, that the worst thing about this disclosure is that he publicly and repeatedly lied about it. But that may say more about the public’s and the media’s obsession over the personal lives of public officials, and less about the severity of his actions.

    So, not saying that cheating is right. But it affects me waaaaay less than the thousands of bullshit moves politicians pull in full view of CSPAN cameras.

    Heard a funny joke on Car Talk last weekend: Politicians and diapers have a lot in common. They both need to be changed regularly, and for the same reason.

  • lou

    says:

    Does this help to explain Edward’s grim face during much of his campaign? Something was gnawing at him and it just wasn’t all those questions about living big while being a voice for the poor in America.

  • MsMuddled

    says:

    What a pity. So many people loved him, but he seemed vain to me. I’m with doubtful in hoping Elizabeth will be rewarded somehow.

    Still. What was he thinking?

  • JacklynD

    says:

    Oh what a tangled web we weave,
    When first we practise to deceive!
    Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.
    Scottish author & novelist (1771 – 1832)

    What a friggin idiot. He was running to be president of the United States and he didn’t see this coming? After the Clinton debacle why did he think this would go unnoticed?

    Thank goodness, he was not the Democratic candidate. He’s going to be lumped with Newt Gingrich for callousness. Yeah, his wife’s dying but…

  • beans

    says:

    Third, in the future, this will only encourage media outlets to be more aggressive in looking into candidates’ personal lives, which is really a shame.

    You mean media will be more aggressive in looking into DEMOCRAT’S personal lives… because most people thought McCain was having an affair when the primaries were young, remember? It all blew away somehow.

  • Ghillie

    says:

    This is a stunning disappointment – stupider than Clinton with Lewinsky because of Clinton and Lewinsky.

    That said – John Edwards is not the Democratic nominee and this should not be a campaign issue. He’ll need to go to ground for a while, but he can redeem himself and serve in a second Obama administration, or do something else worthwhile down the line. But he’s been out of the race for a long time and the story should be a one- or two-day wonder, eclipsed by the Olympics and then the Democratic convention, which he will respectfully skip.

    Poor Elizabeth and poor children. When you enter public life, you should know you’ve relinquished any claim to a private one. What a way to make your family suffer, and to deeply disappoint your supporters and admirers. Shame on you, John Edwards.

  • Betty J. Foster

    says:

    = Come on, folks – -that John has strayed – -maybe more than just this time – does not mean that he has lost his love for his wife – -nor that he does not celebrate the life they have had together – -He has not said he wants to leave her to be with another woman – -he simply fell to temptation of attraction – -does it not happen all the time with the rest of his voter folks – either it really happens or we experience the moment and are successful in putting it aside – -AS he says – we all have our failts of one kind of another – now, don’t we????? This is the price the celebrity pays when he gets caught being imperfect – – -let’s get real!!! – – -we can better
    manage our own selves if we are honest about the stresses of life, including temptation. bjf

  • slappy magoo

    says:

    The affiar is obviously none of my (our) business, but yeah, I’m pissed for all the same reasons most of us are pissed. Whatever is going on in McCain’s pants or his past or his past pants, you don’t run for President with something like this a secret. It always comes out and it always makes you look bad. And nowadays, thanks to Monicagate and so many other scandals, even with so many people suspecting every politician of infidelity, it’s still the hiding it that seems the most salacious.

    Even the smartest people do dumb things, and I’d still say Edwards is a smart man, and even now, his input (heh) into an Obama Administration would probably be a good thing. But he’s gotta “mea” the sh*t out of his “culpa.” Not because we deserve to know, but because we deserve to know nothing else is going to damage his reputation. When you come clean, you can start fresh. If people think he’s doing his own private penance with his wife and his family and his conscience, but is still a good person to have around, and THEN more on this scandal or another scandal comes out, then you’re starting all over again.

    At this point, it’s rare that I can be surprised or disappointed in any politician. Today is a rare day.

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    SadOldVet said: Anything for the corporate media to not have to cover policies and issues – you know, those things that actually affect people’s lives!

    Sorry, wrong. I agree with MimiKatz. I hate that futhermucking Bill Clinton to this day for making everyone go out and defend him when the lying scumbag knew they had him cold. And I absolutely agree that anyone who can’t control his impulses and run a risk assessment analysis in his head in 30 micro-nanosecond to say “nope, cost outweighs any possible benefit,” doesn’t belong in the Presidency.

    I for one wish they had tried Clinton and removed him from office (I didn’t vote for him twice because I only vote for Democrats). We’d have had Al Gore running as the incumbent in 2000, and winning, and history would be vastly different – vastly better. And we’d never have had to worry about dealing with Hillary this year.

    Maybe, SadOldVet, it doesn’t matter if you or I do it (but I believe you will find out that it does if you ever do it), but sure as hell it matters with these people. Character does count. And I’ll even (especially!) apply that standard to JFK.

  • Racer X

    says:

    Dodged. A. Bullet.

    I do have to say I never really went for Edwards, because he “became a progressive” way too fast. Nobody changes that fast.

    I do hope reporters ask McCain how he feels about Edwards, given the fact that McCain has been there, done that!

  • slappy magoo

    says:

    Oh, and in regard to mimi’s comments, there’s something to be said (and I’m not saying this is “right” so much as “true”) about Chris Rock’s line about a man usually being as faithful as his options. I’m sure some politicians – like actors or musicians or athletes or CEOs, whatever – get off on the idea of being a big shot, go all Type-A Alpha Dog and takes what they wants. But I’d say just as often, if not more so, the men who are in these positions of power find themselves confronted on a regular basis by women who are enthralled by them, some of those women even wind up being the aggressor, takesing what they wantsing. I’m not cutting these guys any slack, it’s not like keeping it in your pants ceases to be an option once everyone knows your name. But unless you were a stud before, there’s a big difference between cutting a swath through the Playboy mansion because you hit the fame jackpot, and finding yourself actually being pursued by women and giving in to the temptation. No idea which way Edwards was, just pointing out there’s a differenc ein the psychology, even if the damage to a person’s marriage or reputation winds up being the same.

  • John Edwards

    says:

    I didn’t love her. The affair ended in 2006. It is not my child.

    The reason I didn’t tell my wife I had gone to see my former mistress is that Elizabeth has trouble believing that I would go to see my former mistress and her baby because I love children, even if they’re not my own.

  • joey

    says:

    Mimicatz and you other character judgers…for all you know Elizabeth encouraged the affair…perhaps she couldn’t perform sexually and really didn’t mind if John had a lover…perhaps it was always out in the open…you judge severely without even knowing any of the details or the situation.

    Pixie drops her “just another lying scumbag” judgment as if that is what a mistake and working it out personally with your wife and family turns one into…nothing else he said and did matters …only this and it alone makes him a scumbag. No hookers, no deviant and illegal sex…just the decision that this is personal and shouldn’t matter politically but would if it were known because these hypocrites will use anything to smear.

    Edwards must have thought it was a safe secret…he blew it…but I doubt seriously that his character is impaired…only your judgment of it. He’s still a good man and one of the good voices to end poverty and point out our corporate state.

    Comparing him to Foley and Gingrich is totally out of place. I continue to support him and would vote for him in a heart beat. Perhaps (and most likely) he knew…like Kucinich…that he didn’t have a chance to get the nomination but truly felt his message (different than the rest) needed a platform…and supporters. I was glad to support both him and Kucinich. I live in a world that stinks but the smell from this issue doesn’t bother me in the least. Maybe your condemning noses are too far up in the air to notice but there continues to be a sweet smell around Edwards and his character and his motivations. He would still make an excellent AG.

  • dlr

    says:

    If Edwards is claiming he’s not the little nipper’s papa (and that one of his staffer’s is the daddy), a DNA test ought to be simple enough. Jerry Springer and Maury Povich have lots of them done all the time… maybe they could help him out.

  • doubtful

    says:

    Again, I think cheating on your spouse is wrong, but it’s none of my business when people do it. It’s the personal business of the people in the relationship. -Johnny Horton

    Unless their business is our business, which in the case of elected officials and aspiring elected officials, it is. As a lawyer Edwards should be at least passingly familiar with what kind of trouble a boss can get into screwing an employee, and as a once serious Presidential contender and a possible Obama cabinet member, we do have a relationship with Edwards. Some of us even had money invested in Edwards. Would we have donated had we known he was having sex with a woman he hired?

    Persist in your indifference; the fact that infidelity is ubiquitous with politicians is not something I accept so easily and I demand more from my representatives and leaders. It’s high time we all expected more from our leaders and especially our Democrats.

  • doubtful

    says:

    There’d been a fair amount of talk about putting Edwards on SCOTUS. Did this kill that? -jimBOB

    Assuredly. With the focus Obama has placed on judgment, this boneheaded move will destroy the remainder of John’s political career. He will not work at the national level for at least the next eight years.

  • memekiller

    says:

    This doesn’t speak well of my sex, but men tend to take off when their wives are terminal or wheelchair bound. It’s not just Gingrich, McCain and the like. I’ve known several woman who had their husbands leave after they were paralyzed or got cancer. Don’t see that happen so much the other way around.

  • CNR

    says:

    Good on Edwards for putting family values first and working it out with his wife and children.

    I don’t know that fucking around on your wife is “putting family values first”. It’s pretty shitty in my book. Granted some guys handle the aftermath better than others, but sleaze is still sleaze.

  • Mark D

    says:

    I’m of the firm belief that cheating on one’s spouse shows a person’s true colors — namely, that they can’t be trusted, care more about personal gratification than the feelings of those they love, and can’t control their own impulses even when logic tells them to.

    The respect I had for Edwards is now gone, and I hope he lives with regret for the rest of his life.

    Jerk.

  • sniflheim

    says:

    For the media, what this will really do is inoculate McCain permanently from any adultery fallout. Adultery is hereby the property of the other party for the whole election.

  • Jim Strain

    says:

    I don’t admire marital infidelity, but among the rich and powerful, the very talented, and the very good looking, monogamy definitely seems to be the exception. Still, there are too many people whose work and whose public legacy I admire, but who were also less than faithful to their spouses for me to be too glib about it. In fact, as I look back over recent history, you can make the arguement that the folks who were pretty certainly faithful to the “foresaking all others” part were the ones whose performance on the world stage was less admirable.

    When it becomes both embarrassing and harmful is when the cheater becomes so indiscreet that it attracts the attention of the sewer rats in our midst. It’s not so much their adulterous nature as their sheer recklessness that finally brings them down. I voted for Edwards. I don’t regret it, but I’m sure as hell disappointed and saddened.

  • sickofcheaters

    says:

    What concerns the public is this: 1. Edwards campaign money which came from hard working and poor Americans paid 118,000 for her pathetic commercials, maybe he would have used a more qualified person if he wasn’t sleeping with her. 2. His campaigners had her living down the street from him in a gated type community…who paid for that? The American public. 3. he continued to deny it and lie to the American public while running for the highest electable position this country. 4. He could have ruined Obama if he was a vp candidate or mentioned for a cabinet position.

    So yes it does concern us, it is our business. He ought to be ashamed of himself. He is in love with her, when you can’t let go, there is a reason for it and he still hasn’t really let her go. What kinda of idiot would let a slut like that get pregnant. He is pathetic.

  • bcinaz

    says:

    I’m seein’ the silver lining here:

    You know that the Republicans won’t be able to leave this alone – which will open the door to that most taboo of subjects McBush’s Past.

    Politics is a Blood Sport

  • Tom in Ma

    says:

    I think that it is a fact of life that charismatic, reform-minded, male political leaders tend to be boundary-breakers in their personal lives. Even when they are partnered with strong, independent, skilled wives. I think that the same personality traits that are required: a strong will, a taste for transgression of the status quo, an attraction to risk, a willingness to be larger than life in the eyes of others.

    Conservative leaders stand for order and control, and seem to be more prone to furtive, sneaky illicit sexual encounters. They dump their first wives, and re-establish themselves as order and controlled with second trophy wives. They don’t respect their wives.

    Liberal leaders have wives they respect, who frequently have their own lives. When liberal politicians look for sex on the side, they don’t divorce their wives, but have pitiful affairs and then go back home, chastened.

  • DrSteveB

    says:

    Okay. Edwards’ political career is over. Of course he was not actually in office and was no longer actually running for anything already.

    But John McCain’s political career derives from his adultry!

    He was still married to Carol, the wife who stuck with him when he was a POW, who was raising his children. She was in a car accident and partially disabled and had gained weight.

    So he had an affair. With Cindy. While still married to Carol. Eventually he married into Cindy’s money, into her connections, and into the state of Arizona… and the rest is history.

    Of course McCain is actually in office and running for higher office.

    I wonder if John McCain’s adultry will be mentioned in the news today or over the next few days…?

    See:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html

    http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-divorce11-2008jul11,0,7979459.story

  • Jen

    says:

    oops, I forgot who said this upstream:

    Edwards must have thought it was a safe secret…he blew it…but I doubt seriously that his character is impaired…only your judgment of it. He’s still a good man and one of the good voices to end poverty and point out our corporate state.

    It’s the judgment thing, I agree, but it’s his judgment at fault, not ours. He was asking people to nominate him — and if this had come out *after* he was nominated? He’d have handed the election over. That’s the part that gets me.

    He didn’t care if all the rest of us sank with him. He should have ended it, done a TV interview thing like the Clintons did and taken his lumps. He didn’t though. He lied and honest to god, put this whole country at greater risk of another Republican president.

    The actual affair, eh, not my business and certainly, the kind of personality that has the ambition and drive to run for president seems very prone to this. But we really need to come up with a better way than lying about it for months and months.

    I’m peeved.

  • Greg Harper

    says:

    This is no news! It is expected of a Democrat, a party of loose morals. First, Bill Clinton, then Edwards! For the Democrats, anything goes – homosexuality, extra-marital affairs, fornication…and the list goes on and on. If we stop to think about this, it is no mystery. Before people cry foul, it is wise to look at the facts. America’s NUMEROUS problems stem from such moral values. Deny it, and you’ll continue on the downward spiral. We need to get back to the basics. No other way out!

  • sean

    says:

    the liberal brain dead dems on this site amaze me.this low life,(i thought he was that even before this affair became public) has an affair with a woman who looks like she was beaten with an ugly stick while his wife is suffering from cancer back in north carolina and immediately you morons start talking about a non-existent fling that the national enquirer/new york times tried to pin on him.did you idiots notice that that story about sen.mc cain went NOWHERE?sadly,this is the best you dumbacrats can do.just remember folks,(sorry to ramble while the libs on this site are working on their GED’S),but when john mc cain was busy fighting for his country,becoming a war hero and POW,barack hussein obama was busy hanging out with the likes of tony rezko,”reverend” jeremiah wright,bernadine dorn and william ayers.think about that-if you have that ability! mc cain08

  • Steve Haines

    says:

    Hold the press! Doesn’t this ugly cow bear a striking resemblance to the one that Prince Charles married, Camilla something or other?? John, you are not as smart as I thought especially when your wife is zillion times prettier than this, this…I can’t find the words to describe her repulsiveness…sorry!

  • Dan

    says:

    Isn’t this Camilla, the same horse that England’s Prince Charles married? Boy! She gets around!

  • Screamin' Demon

    says:

    Johnny Horton at @33 has it right. None o’ my business.

    At @42, Tom Cleaver whined:

    And I absolutely agree that anyone who can’t control his impulses and run a risk assessment analysis in his head in 30 micro-nanosecond to say “nope, cost outweighs any possible benefit,” doesn’t belong in the Presidency.

    Bullshit. FDR cheated, and won a goddamned two-front world war at the same time. And JFK kept a cool head in October of ’62. What goes on behind closed doors between consenting adults is no one’s business but theirs. Stop being such a childish prude.

  • Discussion TIme

    says:

    Newt Gingrich:
    First wife: sick, did she dye of cancer? I forget.
    Did he divorce her for another woman while she was in the hospital? I forget.
    Second wife: After becoming a member of a new church, while there, did he come down hard on Bill Clinton over a blow job. The correct answer from Bill Clinton was, “My personal life is NONE of your business”.
    Republican ladies in church wondered about the hoopla over Bill.
    Did Newt Gingrich not admit earlier this year that while taking a public position on Bill Clinton that He himself was intimidate with a lady at church while married to his second wife and being heavily critical of Bill Clinton for receiving a blow job? I am just trying to survive in are present depression and I have forgotten.
    John Edwards: Wife has cancer and probably, for long periods of time, not up to a healthy intimacy, I do not know;
    But, if so, in similar situations many couples have agreements that the healthy partner may explore, just not to be obvious or “throw it in the partners face.
    With other couples, the partners are both more secure in their relationship and the sick partner actually invites someone, friend/s or stranger into their private intimacy to fulfill the physical needs of the healthy partner.
    And others with health issues are selfish viewing marriage as ownership, or, are slaves to doctrine, dogma and the artificial conscious of the self righteous, claim to make great personal sacrifice for the healthy partner but really does not.
    That healthy partner as well may make the same claims while all along constantly watching for an opportunity to relieve or fulfill physical and emotional needs in secrecy?
    Before the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments were the Hama rabbi Codes and Several other sets of rules or laws for humans. In the times of each, including the Ten Commandments, in that day of custom when those laws were written, when a man took a wife, she became his property. Today, when a man takes a wife he seems to become her property. Who says? Divorce Court.
    Is one person the “property” of another?
    In the day those laws were written, Adultery was when the partner was intimate with another without the permission of the partner. Who says? Historical documents, the Bible, and the Discovery Channel.
    There is much room here for public discussion other than a grapevine of political theory over the political future of John Edwards that are more beneficial to our society.

  • Algernon

    says:

    What a great typo.

    “What was he thinking?” The question assumes he WAS thinking things through, but people often do not.

    He said in a statement that he acted in a manner that was “disloyal” to this family and “his core beliefs.”

    That’s an interesting statement to examine. What are core beliefs? To what extent do we know our core beliefs? We may find ourselves in John Edwards’s position in 2006, and make a choice that to others (like us) is baffling. Perhaps it is impossible to make a choice that contradicts our *actual* core beliefs – and we just aren’t what we would like to think we are.

    Anyway…

  • Chad

    says:

    Funny how you can take a story about Edwards, and turn it around and shout about McCain.

    Adultery, infidelity, cheating, misbehaving, what have you, is not a political problem, it’s a personal problem, and I don’t condone these actions being politicized from either side, but alas, it happens regardless. What can you do?

  • libra

    says:

    I’m with Jen, @61. That he’s had an affair, is none of my business; *that’s* between him and Elizabeth. It’s his “running while covering up” that sticks in my craw. If you think it’s no big deal, why lie about it? Bring it into the open and let the voters decide.

    But, if you even suspect that it *might* become a big deal — which you should, if you have any judgment at all (unless you were comatose throughout the Clinton hoo-hah) — then, for the love of the country, DON’T RUN!

    What I find *inexcusable* (and I’m a former Edwards supporter who’d like to have her money back) is not that he’s had an affair. It’s that he was ready to sink the country, to cede it to the Repubs, because he wanted to have his (cheese) cake and to eat it too.

  • MsJoanne

    says:

    What Edwards did was between him and Elizabeth, just as it was with Bill and Hillary.

    That said, WTF does he think he is running for president knowing this…knowing it would had to have come out, completely obliterating the chances for a dem to take office, after the GOP fucked up this country as bad as it is now.

    For that, I will forever hate him.

    While we’re talking sex scandals, how about the Republican who was charged with screwing a 14 year old girl (yesterday): http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/07/mo-republican-indicted-charged-with-sexual-assault-of-14-yr-old-girl/

    Won’t hear a word about that.

    Not that it’s the same for the people involved are different in their level of fame and status, but sorry, there is a huge difference between screwing the willing and screwing a kid (or in the case of ALL Republicans, screwing US!)

    Screw you, John. I’d say this was a boneheaded move but it’s far more. This was an assault against our country right now. And for that, I will never forgive you.

  • Tim H

    says:

    Maybe there’s something to the theory that many politicians become politicians to make up for feeling they weren’t loved as a child. They crave the mass show of approval by others to validate their own existence. Add to that the natural charisma necessary to be a successful election-winner, and you have a perfect recipe for affairs. Or maybe I’ve had one drink too many tonight.

  • taritac

    says:

    What a DUMB. ASS. As #3 and #43 said, the Dems dodged a bullet on this one.

    If he ended the affair in 2006 and the whole thing was behind him, why the hell was he skulking around some hotel just a few weeks ago? He had been lucky that the story hadn’t come out by that point, and I guess he got too comfortable.

    In July when he was asked about this, he should have just admitted it. “Yes, it was an error in judgment. I truly regret my actions, especially in light of the stress she’s been under with the campaign and her health. Elizabeth and I have discussed it and put it behind us, and now our marriage is stronger than ever. Next question!” No news cameras were around, the campaign was over, it could have had a quick news cycle. Putting out a prepared statement gives the story much more weight and attention than it really deserves.

    If he acts like a Republican and keeps on keeping on as if this is no big deal, then he can save his political career. If he goes through some sort of public catharsis and does a lot of mea culpas, then his career definitely is over. He needs to continually tell people that it’s none of our business. If Bush can weather all the rumors and evidence about his drinking, drug use, affairs, draft-dodging, etc., then Edwards ought to be able to weather this particular storm.

  • AK Liberal

    says:

    I don’t care who John Edwards sleeps with. I didn’t care about Bill and Monica. But, I was pissed as hell that Clinton screwed around when he had to know that the GOP would use it against him if it came out. I feel the same about Edwards. He had no business running for President. The stakes are too high in this election cycle.

    That said, there may be something about the psychology of politicians that play on the national stage that makes them vulnerable to this sort of self-destructive behavior. Perhaps it’s a tendency towards hubris.

  • William

    says:

    Lots of people screw around, most of Amurka can’t even get past its collective genitalia. Everybody also knows that sex is a bad thing! Where’d I put my bible again? Anyway, it would have been noble if Edwards’ indiscretions had been with a homeless woman.

    ; – )

  • Maria

    says:

    And, I’d be prepared for that baby, as we dig more, to turn out to be his, and the affair to be continuing, and not isolated. Probably while his wife had cancer.

    Just to head off those future disappointments.

    Exactly.

    Setting the question of personal morality aside, anyone who thought he could run for president in this day and age with this in his closet is way too stupid to lead the free world.

  • Maria

    says:

    That said, WTF does he think he is running for president knowing this…knowing it would had to have come out, completely obliterating the chances for a dem to take office, after the GOP fucked up this country as bad as it is now.

    Precisely, MsJoanne. The arrogance and lack of care for the people he campaigned wanting to serve…incredible.

  • undisclosed angler

    says:

    ” I live in a world that stinks but the smell from this issue doesn’t bother me in the least. Maybe your condemning noses are too far up in the air to notice but there continues to be a sweet smell around Edwards and his character and his motivations. He would still make an excellent AG.”

    This caputres what’s wrong with the argument that it’s a private matter and any complaints are naive sanctimony.

    Bad news, Edwards will not be AG, nor will he campaign for Obama in the fall, nor will he have a shot at elected office in NC anytime soon. That’s not because his supporters are mad at him now. It’s because our political culture penalizes adulterous pol’s, especially liberal ones because the right, being philosophically committed to sleaze, gets cut more slack. You can get angry that this is the reality, but don’t act like you didn’t know. Edwards knew it, he blew it, and there are real public costs to his private act. He left the primaries as a premier liberal leader and he’s just wrecked that standing.

    When Wellstone died progressives lost a major advocate and they mourned him. When Edwards got caught up in a Monica re-run they are allowed to be just plain mad at him.

    If Edwards had not made his personal story of bereaved father and husband to cancer survivor part of his public campaign narrative then this might be less of a big deal. Now one of his main public attributes–solid famuily man-ha been shown to be the oppisite and he’s going to get the schadenfreude-fest that visited Foley and Spitzer, Of course, Edwards didn’t solict sex from underage males or hire hookers, but he did put into a play a similar political dynmaic and in the end he’s going to be n the dustbin along Spitzxer and Foley.

  • doubtful

    says:

    Stop being such a childish prude. -Screamin’ Demon

    That has to be the first time Tom Cleaver has been called a prude.

    For those absolving Edwards, please answer these questions: How is it not our business that Edwards was sleeping with someone who was working for him while he was running for President on his supporters’ dime? How much of that money was funneled to his concubine in perks, dinners, nice hotels? How is his affair not indicative of a greater and pervasive character flaw (let’s not forget that Edwards lambasted Clinton for his indiscretion and subsequent lies)?

    Hypocrisy is always ugly, but especially so when it is on my side, so forgive me, but I will react harshly. Edwards no longer deserves our respect, any clout or government position. He is unfit to lead.

  • daniel rotter

    says:

    “…when john mccain was busy fighting for his country, becoming a war hero and POW,…”

    Barack Obama was ages 6-12 when McCain was a POW.

  • mim

    says:

    FDR not only cheated on Eleanor, but continued the affair after he said he’d ended it.

    So Mark D, would you rather that the country have suffered even more starvation and homelessness during the 30’s, rather than be rescued by an adulterous president? Is that REALLY what you would have wished for our country?

  • Prup (aka Jim Benton)

    says:

    I haven’t been able to read all the comments but I will give my take on this. Joey, you followed my own feeling — and I think it was Ms. Joanne’s — that this may have been something that Elizabeth knew about, even encouraged, and, as I’ve pointed out, six of the last eight Democratic Presidents have been adulterers, so, ordinarily I would not be bothered about it — any more than I am bothered by the fact that Larry Craig shares my enjoyment of ‘t-room cruising.’ But I condemn Craig for hypocrisy, as I condemn my ex-Governor for his self-righteousness (and I would have supported him for President from his past record).

    Equally I condemn Edwards for stupid recklessness in the situation he was in. He knew this election was, perhaps, the most crucial in 75 years, maybe one of the three most crucial in history. He did not know, when he began his campaign, that he would not be the nominee. He did not know that McCain would be the sad fool he has been, or that Giuliani would not be the major candidate that everyone expected, or that some other Republican would not come from nowhere as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton did who would not have their vulnerabilities.

    He knew we could not afford a loss this time. And he knew — unlike the conspiracy theorists — that no secret remains buried for long. Yes, have your affair, and it could be understandable, but then drop your campaign, claim that you could not leave Elizabeth — as Birch Bayh — authentically — ended his own career. Later, perhaps, take your place in the cabinet, on SCOTUS, after the election was won. But do not place not your own career but your party and this country at risk. (I stated in another thread my hatred for the misuse of the word ‘treason’ but this risked damaging both party and country as badly as could any deliberate treason.)

    And the baby may or may not be his, who knows, and now, who cares. But the fact that the woman HAD the baby implies that she chose neither to use birth control nor demand her partners — presumably including Edwards — did. And that he did not protest, did not demand at least this, is simply another example of his foolish irresponsibility.

    One final, lesser point, but after Lieberman in 00, and now Edwards in 04, not to mention Quayle and Cheyney on the other side, please, Barack, think deeply, ignore politics, and choose a running mate who is not a dangerous fool. We know Mccain will choose based on his (self-proclaimed) infallible instinct. Don’t do it. If you have to throw out the first hundred on your list, do it — though I hope I am right and you need look no longer than to Sebelius — but if you find something to rule her out, do it. We’ve seen the boomlets for Edwards, for Webb (of the writing baggage and PAA) for Bayh (again PAA). You are picking, potentially, your successor — because accidents can always happen, madmen exist, and health problems can appear overnight. CHOOSE WISELY, because your country depends not just on your winning — which you will — but possibly on that choice. And thank you for reminding us yet again why you feel that politics is not a game, not a place for revenge fantasies or ‘scoring’ but is about governing.

    I like to remain calm and coherent and logical, I hardly succeeded. My apologies.

  • petorado

    says:

    What a bummer. Yet another human amongst us proves his frailty. I don’t mourn for Mr. Edwards, it’s his family that has to pick up the pieces they themselves didn’t shatter. But marriages are seldom perfect and far be it for many of us to throw rocks at how someone else conducts theirs.

    But Edwards didn’t rail against adulterers while being one himself. Nor did he hold others to more standards of conduct that he himself couldn’t keep.

    The damned thing about IOKIYAR is that they publicly stone people for the very same offenses they commit. Larry Craig is a wonderful examples. George Bush Jr. talking about compassion while signing a record number of death sentences is another.

    John Edwards doesn’t have to answer to me, even though I don’t approve of what he did. He wasn’t a “holier than thou” candidate. He knows who he needs to atone to, and that is none of my business.

  • petorado

    says:

    What a bummer. Yet another human amongst us proves his frailty. I don’t mourn for Mr. Edwards, it’s his family that has to pick up the pieces they themselves didn’t shatter. But marriages are seldom perfect and far be it for many of us to throw rocks at how someone else conducts theirs.

    But Edwards didn’t rail against adulterers while being one himself. Nor did he hold others to more standards of conduct that he himself couldn’t keep.

    The damned thing about IOKIYAR is that they publicly stone people for the very same offenses they commit. Larry Craig is a wonderful examples. George Bush Jr. talking about compassion while signing a record number of death sentences is another.

    John Edwards doesn’t have to answer to me, even though I don’t approve of what he did. He wasn’t a “holier than thou” candidate. He knows who he needs to atone to, and that is none of my business.

  • JS

    says:

    Now the media is having a feeding frenzy with the Edwards affair, going into every sordid detail to find anything and everything, isn’t it time that ALL the voters were given the full details of McCain’s adultery, they have long been saying that the people have a right to know what Obama did in kindergarden, in church etc, and that the public have a right to know. Let the public know all the republican’s personal affairs etc.

  • Atheist Revolution

    says:

    Edwards’ Affair Makes News, Why Not McCain’s?…

    Now that you have undoubtedly heard John Edwards’ affair discussed at length on all the major news outlets, complete with plenty of manufactured outrage, you may be wondering why you haven’t been hearing about John McCain’s affair….