No Sympathy
Whether it’s Bill Clinton or John Edwards or any other spouse who cheats on their wife or husband, that problem is between the husband and the wife. It’s not our business. But, and this is a giant but, in Edwards case it very well could have been a disaster for all of us.
This is the most important election of my lifetime and the fact that John Edwards knew he had this skeleton barely hidden in his closet, yet decided to try and represent the Democratic party in this election, is very troubling.
Sure, our country is way too hung up on who had what gossipy affair with whom, but that’s just the way it is and if you and I know that, John Edwards knew that. Yet he was willing to bet the future of our country, with the ever so slight odds, that his affair would not be revealed. You have to wonder, what the hell was he thinking? For this reason alone, I have no sympathy for where he finds himself today.
This is the most important election of my lifetime and the fact that John Edwards knew he had this skeleton barely hidden in his closet, yet decided to try and represent the Democratic party in this election, is very troubling.
Sure, our country is way too hung up on who had what gossipy affair with whom, but that’s just the way it is and if you and I know that, John Edwards knew that. Yet he was willing to bet the future of our country, with the ever so slight odds, that his affair would not be revealed. You have to wonder, what the hell was he thinking? For this reason alone, I have no sympathy for where he finds himself today.
posted by pissed off patricia at 1:52 AM
22 Comments:
i am with you POP.
i supported him, and now i regret it. while an affair shouldnt matter - sadly it does. and the press is having a field day. i will say the Huffington Post is like the National Enquirer now.
i feel for Elizabeth Edwards - this is NOT what she needs at this time
I have no remark concerning Edwards. What I wonder is, Why is the guy who is claiming the votes of the religious right getting away with HIS not so pristine past? Prostitutes in his navy days, starting up with Cindy before ending his marriage to Carol, then whatever nasty tawdry little whatever it was that had him guiltily cowering from the press only months ago. Where is the outrage?
I agree with you both and while I hate to sound like a cynic, I think pretty much everyone out there is having an affair.
I am not a cynical person, but that is how I view the relationship between power and sex.
Frankly I have not paid that much attention to this, I am so over the whole election in every possible way.
That does make me sound and actually feel like the cynic that I say that I am not.
I hadn't even thought this thing through as far as you have, PoP. and, of course, you're right.
if Edwards had succeeded in his bid to become the nominee, we would be in a world of trouble now.
while the rethugs wink and say, 'everybody does it' when it's one of their own, they absolutely crucify the opposition when they do it and John Q. Public just goes along, nods and votes the way Fox tells him to.
xxx
now please, gods-that-be, let Obama have no major skeletons of his own.
i agree.
John who?
I want to say something profound, but I think you and the other commenters have touched on everything. I am devastated by this and so disappointed in Edwards that I can't stand it. He could have really hurt the entire nation.
I'm kind of disappointed in him as well. I really like Edwards. I feel especially sorry for his wife who is so sick and has to endure this. It's really sad for all concerned.
I hate to point this out, but politicos are nearly all pandering miscreants. They believe they are superior, intellectually and morally, and that their priviledged careers are indestructable. They're set for life with health care and retirement even if convicted of felony crimes. And even if their careers do implode, there's always K-Street.
If he had been the nominee right now we would all be in a world of trouble...he betrayed alot of people- not just Elizabeth- but also those that backed him....and supported and raised monies...and the PAC money is already being looked at ...he even hurt the causes of Poverty he was working on....It's not the affair that is the problem it's that he lied about it - and that he had it that close to the election...
and then he tried to justify it...saying he still loved Elizabeth ( that the affair was not love)...and that she was in remission ( she was still fighting cancer and trying to regain her life...anyone knows that 5 years is the marker before ANY cancer survivor breathes easy- not a remission at 18 monthes)....
Malignant Narcissism...that almost damaged our country as well....
As usual, I could not agree more with you PoP.
HHMM. Agreed!
Would I rather have a politican that does a great job, but has a less than perfect personal life,...
...or one that claims to be an upstanding Christian and family man who does a lousy job (like lies, war crimes, and wrecked economy)?
Fran said what I was going to. This country still has a child-like fixation on anything related to sex, so a revelation such as this is a deal-breaker. I vote for politicians to get shit done. I'm not voting for saints.
We shouldn't judge him, but alas we do. This hurts too many people, not just his wife, but children, other family members and of course the gal and her child and those in her life! Again it like a small stone in the water and the ripple effect is everwhere to be seen!
The public wasn't buying him for president, but I really hoped someone like him could be attorney general and go after some of the sumbitches who have been cutting legal corners for the past eight years. We've lost both Edwards and Spitzer to their penises. Some boys just can't be trusted.
Yup. Bad idiot. And then supposedly the woman has the baby of one of John's staffers who is also married? She REEEELY needs to get a new life, primarily away from married men.
Luf, Us
The US continues to equate morality with sex, which is completely stupid IMO, since it's in private and between consenting people.
Real morality is in public policy, where people often do NOT give their consent, and are screwed anyway.
Xactly. What's worse I don't see any reason why he had to admit the affair.
Politicians are so narcissitic.
I didn't feel all that "betrayed" or anything until you brought up the fact that had he been the nominee, our side would be f*cked right now. That puts a whole new perspective on things. Wow.
Whatever admiration I had for him (and dreams of an attorney general spot) just evaporated.
What the hell was he thinking is right. He could well have cost the Democrats the election had he been nominated.
But I'd still like to see him play a major role in an Obama administration. He convinced me that he's committed to closing the gap between the two Americas. In spite of the arrogance and stupidity of his fling, he can still do a lot of good for the country.
Gary Hart is another one who traded his career for some monkey business (pun intended). He's a very bright guy who would made a great Democratic president. Every time I hear him speak, I can't help but wonder what might have been.
What you said, Randal. And lots of other good comments in here too!
I'll say that Edwards is a human being and that as such, despite his position and status, he is as subject to human foibles and missteps as all the rest of us are. I feel sorry for his family, I feel sorry for all who supported him, and I even feel sorry for him. He has a devoted family which he basically shat on, and he had such a good political thing going... he maybe could have been great, going to a great place. We as a nation could have gone to that place with him.... And now it is painful to think we could have just as easily gone to an awful place had he gotten the Democratic nomination, maybe even become president, before his affair became public knowledge.
The right wing must just be loving this... Good old schadenfreude, eh.
I did have another thought about this, this morning:
think back 40+ years. remember Edward Kennedy and Chappaquiddick? that was somewhat more serious than an affair, I think.
And Teddy went on to do great things in the Senate though he didn't DARE run for president.
IF Edwards takes a page from Kennedy's book, he will survive this and can go on to do great things in the future -- even have a hand in the coming administration or the one after that. possibly mend the rift between the 'two Americas' and help the poor [that is to say, most of us, these days] out of the deep well we find ourselves in now.
I, for one, won't write him off quite yet.
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