« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR

John Edwards Admits Being a Lying, Adulterous Swine

there is sorrow in one of John Edwards's Americas Tonight

By: streiff (Diary)  |  August 8th, 2008 at 02:38 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

John Edwards, presumably to cadge a prime time speaking spot at the Democrat Convention, has confessed to 1) carrying on an affair with “documentary film maker” Rielle Hunter and 2) being caught with her in a Beverly Hills hotel last month by reporters from the National Enquirer. The made-for-Oprah confession will happen tonight on ABC.

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.

A former campaign aide, Andrew Young, has said he was the father of the child.

According to friends of Hunter, Edwards met her at a New York city bar in 2006. His political action committee later paid her $114,000 to produce campaign website documentaries despite her lack of experience.


Some of this is just too rich.

His defense seems to be in three parts, each aimed at a specific audience.

To his wife:

[Edwards] said that he did not love [Hunter].

Please, baby, call off the lawyers.

To his financial backers and supporters

Edwards said his wife, Elizabeth, and others in his family became aware of the affair in 2006…

Edwards made a point of telling Woodruff that his wife’s cancer was in remission when he began the affair with Hunter.

Hey, my wife knew about this and she stood by me so it’s not any big deal. And she was in remission for chrissakes. It isn’t like she had cancer or something.

To the rest of us schlubs he “confesses:”

Edwards today admitted the National Enquirer was correct when it reported he had visited Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hilton last month.

The former Senator said his wife had not known about the meeting.

Yeah, they caught me. Yeah, I lied. Oh, and the affair is over but my wife didn’t know.

This is really pathetic. And I wouldn’t spend time on this if Edwards weren’t such a sleazy, dishonest, pompous, self-righteous twit. Really. But given the media’s reluctance to cover a story that has been in play for nearly a year is simply inexcusable.

I really hope we’ve seen the last of this ambulance chasing demagogue, but now that he’s cleared this up I’m sure he’ll be welcome at the DNC Convention.

Tags: , , , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • jdub19

    certainly will be welcome on
    The Jerry Springer Show…

    C’mon John, take that test!

  • Guerc

    He’s officially a liar and a scumbag. If he has any pride, he’ll return to the obscurity from whence he came.

    He should be investigated to see if he paid off his girlfriend with campaign funds (not just PAC funds). If so, the gov’t should press charges and go for conviction.

    Finally, the NYT should be ashamed for sweeping the allegations under the rug. They gleefully threw mud at McCain, even with lack of any evidence. Wouldn’t touch affairs by either Edwards or Billy Clinton though.

    We’ve known it for a while, but now it’s official – the National Enquirer has more credibility than the NYT.

  • Flagstaff

    say “Ay-yi-yi.”

  • Jaded

    but the real indictment is on the media for whitewashing John Edwards name out of papers and the news media for the last 2 weeks. They just stopped mentioning his name at all…..very soviet like.

    The deadtree industry and the alphabetical media cease to be relevent any more.

    • streetwise

      would be a good substitute.

      As for paternity, if the baby sued the hospital staff after delivery, this could substitute for the test.

    • wiseprince

      “That isn’t the John Edwards I knew”

  • BobbyJenks

    I’m no fan of Edwards, but this is pretty similar to what McCain did, isn’t it? Mrs. McCain was in the hospital when John divorced her, right?

  • SteveLA

    Anyone care to bet how long it takes the Klintons and other Democrats to start the slime machine going to trash Ms. Rielle Hunter?

    She was a stalker, a nut case, poor John was the innocent here and was taken advantage of….

    Funny how Democrats who are so much into the power of Feminism turn on women so quickly when they get in the way to power for the men of the Democratic party.

    Can I have a “Iron my Shirt” amen?

  • poxoma

    “He said his affair ended too soon for him to have been the father.”

    When big Al Gore was pressed on his huge energy consumption, big Al shrugged it off by saying: but,but I bought carbon credit to remain carbon neutral.

    I expect Edwards to say the same regarding the baby: but, but I have bought pregnancy credits so I am baby neutral. Wonder how much he had to pay for those pregnancy credits.

  • poxoma

    “He said his affair ended too soon for him to have been the father.”

    When big Al Gore was pressed on his huge energy consumption, big Al shrugged it off by saying: but,but I bought carbon credit to remain carbon neutral.

    I expect Edwards to say the same regarding the baby: but, but I have bought pregnancy credits so I am baby neutral. Wonder how much he had to pay for those pregnancy credits.

  • moms4mitt

    Hmmm…which one to watch?!

    Can’t blame the NFL for having a not-so-hot to watch Pre-Season game the evening of the first day of the Olympics. But shame on Edwards for taking the spotlight tonight. He should be giving this interview on a different day. It’s not like we didn’t already know the truth. And it’s not like he will tell the entire truth anyway.

    • BrianH

      Comments like this are not worthy of more response.

  • bk
    • Olsonist

      John McCain, Newt Gingrich, Bob Barr, Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh are already booked for the show. Henry Hyde was going to appear, but he died.

      • spainishirish

        The legacy media’s spiking of this story was one more nail in its coffin.

  • birdmojo

    Let’s see… it’s a Friday, before the Olympics, and it’s before (not after) the Convention (where Edwards is certainly not going to be speaking now).

    It’s a nice scalp and it’s remarkably well-groomed.

    But the timing could have been a lot better.

    Then again, maybe there will be a push for stories about why there weren’t stories about this.

    Here’s how I’d play it, myself: Here’s a list of truths about Obama that the media is hiding from you! The things on the list need not be true, merely plausible.

    If the media investigates, great.
    If the media doesn’t, even better.

    • streetwise

      are non-elected media personalities, one resigned (an unthinkable act for libs), one is Bob Who?, and the last, John McCain, had a marriage go down the tubes after the life-changing event of his wartime service and imprisonment.

      This compares, uh, how, to a presidential candidate who pushed his family in front of us every chance he got?

  • Jack_Savage

    Now I know why Edwards decided to make his new home, built in the midst of this whole thing, 20,000 square feet.

    He is going to need every inch of it if Elizabeth has any say at all.

    • blooch

      since he needs him to pull votes from McCain. I guess he couldn’t get past the “gotcha” to think it through.

      • BrianH

        We don’t need to make things up for the list. There’s enough stuff in Obama’s past to put a long list together, starting with his dealings with a convict named Tony Rezko.

        • Flagstaff

          I had to read it twice to understand. Good one–you got him right between his duces tecum and his ad testificandum.

  • E_Pluribus_Unum

    As in….The Choice:

  • dld1717

    Well, Johnny Boy does believe their are 2 America’s.

    You know the one where a guy has a fake haircut, smile, and family and the other side where he is knocking up a gal.

    The worse part is the fact he paid her 100,000 plus for a job she was not even qualified for. Imagine if he got in WH what her job would be?

  • jeanie

    Was this the first? Will it be the last? Did the stress of knowing this contribute to Elizabeth’s recurring bad health? Can this man ever live this down no matter how the MSM plays it? I wonder what Edward’s definition of “honor” is? or “integrity”?

  • CSUFBomb

    …has more journalistic integrity than the New York Times. Heh. Ha. Ho.

    The more the MSM covers up their preferred party’s transgressions, the more transparent the lies. The more the MSM overexposes their party’s candidate, the more the public sickens. The more the MSM fails to ask tough questions of their party, the more they get saddled with candidates who are unprepared when the scrutiny comes.

    Seriously, the MSM isn’t doing the Dems any favors by taking it easy on them.

  • jdub19

    What a absolute scumbag

    • Shaggy_Dog

      In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic.

      Well, there’s not much I can really add to that statement.

      At this point, I be inclined to let the whole thing go, but what in the world was he doing sneaking into this woman’s hotel room at 3am if his “unfaithfulness” was confined to 2006 and he was not the child’s father?

      If he wants his statement to be accepted and put the issue to rest, he has to give some reasonable answer to that question.

  • Cheetah772

    And that’s why Edwards deserves to be scorned and mocked for his shameful affair with his adulteress. He can say good bye to his political future.

    • Flagstaff

      He just got confused. He can’t remember the difference between John Kerry and John McCain.

      Kerry is the foofy-haired dude who went to Viet Nam for 90 days and later divorced a sick wife, and McCain is the white-haired dude who went to Viet Nam, was held prisoner and tortured for over five years even though given the chance to leave much earlier, and who is still on good terms with his first (divorced but healthy) wife and all his children, some of whom are in Iraq at this very moment, and another of whom is an adopted African girl.

      See the difference?

      So, what was your point?

      • jdub19

        talk about a half axx fessing up!

        After just watching Fox talk with an exec from The National Inquirer, I think there may be another shoe to drop…someone leaked this info to them..look at the timing, and my bet is it was a primary opponent… just a hunch…

        • janis

          excuse this kind of stuff and re-elect the bums over and over again. Do you recollect how Clinton, Bill, was so lionized until he got knocked off his pedestal by The One?

          Edwards’ national ambitions may be over, but then he was never going to get to the top anyway. If anything tanked his ambitions, it was the sheer mediocrity of the man.

          • Mord

            I laughed so hard that my room-mate asked me what was wrong. haha

  • scrapiron

    We all have weaknessess and Mr. Edwards was caught in his lie. I feel sorry for his wife and his family and him.

    My own experience keeps me from casting stones at him. I hope he can find forgivness and peace.

    It is so sad and painful.

  • jeanie

    Men who cheat on their wives or girl friends seldom stop. Some do, most do not. I liken it to some kind of obsession or addiction. And, some of these aspire to the Presidency—and some(we all know who they are)actually get it. No matter how good a President, it is always mentioned, always follows them, is always a black mark and a fundamental weakness of character and deservedly so.

  • Red_Wing

    n/t

    • JustLeaveMeAlone

      I have yet to see anyone mention the ELITISM that John Edwards oozed when he made fun of the “trashy tabloid”, The National Enquirer, when they outted his rendezvous with his Baby Momma.

      So the champion of the poor, power to the people candidate, just another simple country lawyer from North Carolina — whoops, turns out he’s yet another rich, white lawyer dude living in a mansion and reading the NYT on Sunday morning over his warmed croissant.

      When Johnny starts living in a double wide, shopping at the Winn Dixie, driving a 10-year-old Ford pickup full of dings, eating a breakfast bisquit from Micky Dee’s, and getting his news from TV rather than EC-elitist treekillers, maybe I’ll consider listening to something he might have to say about the poor and downtrodden.

      • Shaggy_Dog

        Given that he’s a D, no doubt this will just be a minor bump in the road for his political career.

        All he did was have an affair, and maybe a kid with her.

        I mean its not like he DUI’d her into a river and left her to drown- now that would really kill his political career.

        Oh wait, never mind.

        • janis

          Were you by any chance running for national office when you had your “own experience’? This creep lied to the electorate over and over when asked about this affair and intended to stay in the race for POTUS until his numbers just couldn’t be denied anymore. If his numbers had been better, what would have happened then, hmmm?

          I don’t for a single moment believe his lies about the baby being someone else’s. So on top of cheating, lying about it, being willing to let a friend take the fall for him, now he’s guilty of throwing his own baby to the wolves to protect what’s left of his reputation. Classy guy.

          • E_Pluribus_Unum

            With his ambulance-chasing lawsuits in NC, making millions, he single-handedly caused the occurrence of c-section births to go up (less safe, less healthy, but also less likely to get sued by a John Edwards client if something goes wrong during childbirth).

            Sympathy? Nah. Derision feels about right.

          • Flagstaff

            Let’s get Little Green Footballs and PowerLine on it.

          • CSUFBomb

            …one blonde at a time.

          • Flagstaff

            up again.

            “Buck up little netroots your Savior is still as white as the driven snow on this issue…right?”

            tsk, tsk.

          • phred

            Ms. Hunter would have to live in a trailer.

          • Flagstaff

            if that 3 a.m. call came for President John Edwards, they probably wouldn’t be able to reach him.

          • Jaded

            :SMILES WIDE: I would feel guilty about it but not being a whiney liberal I cannot.

  • moms4mitt

    I’m bored – so I did.

    Then try Lisa Druck. It’s a trip. Aspiring actress? She could have set him up. What a doofus for falling for it.

    • JustLeaveMeAlone

      Oh, I am not seeing a lot of people say, “Gee, I’ve never had a lustful thought or deed”. Nor have I seen anyone claim to have never told a lie.

      For the record, I’ve lied and had few lustful thoughts and deeds as well.

      But what I haven’t done is pontificate about it, while hiding my own deeds. Nor have I compounded that by running for a very public office, where scrutiny is 100%, while doing so.

      THAT’s the difference, scrapiron.

      • Dave_in_Fla

        I hadn’t heard about the relationship of McCain to his ex-wife and children. If they toss this out into the mainstream, people are going to learn MORE about McCain compelling background.

        My God, how many impoverished kids from 3rd world countries has he adopted?

  • tankertodd

    Is that he expects us to believe him again when he says 1. he’s not the daddy, 2. he didn’t love her (like it matters), and 3. his wife was in remission.

    Number 1 is the most egregious. If it was true then why is there no father listed on the birth certificate? We’re supposed to believe he smoked but did not inhale?

    • JKH1232

      NT

      • bk

        In that clip Andrew is NOT the father, and the guy Edwards hired to pretend he was the baby daddy is named Andrew.

        Hmmmm….

        • bk

          I wonder how many times Edwards told a jury after he nailed some poor SOB that if you catch someone lying about one thing you can assume they’re lying about everything.

          • ExileOC2

  • notguiltyinTenn

    As a Democrat who voted for John Edwards in 2004, I am of course disappointed (and relieved that Edwards is not now the nominee). There is, however, a silver lining.

    Barack Obama’s loyalty to his wife and family has never been questioned. John McCain’s divorcing his crippled and disfigured first wife to marry Barbie beer heiress occurred three decades ago, but to those who take the words of Jesus literally, Mr. McCain is currently living in a state of adultery. (See Mark 10:11 and Luke 16:18) Here’s hoping that fundamentalists will realize this.

  • nivlem

    The Raleigh News and Observer has not
    been covering this because they consider
    John Edwards a “private” individual. The
    only place they have covered it was in
    a small blurp in the City/State section,
    and a little bit of comments on why their
    editorial staff is not covering….same ol’ same ol’

    However, on the front page today (this
    is hysterical and pathetic at the same time) they did an article on the National
    Enquirer.

    I don’t know how to link it. If anyone does, I think everyone at Redstate would
    truly enjoy it in light of today’s
    revelations.

  • nivlem

    The Raleigh News and Observer has not
    been covering this because they consider
    John Edwards a “private” individual. The
    only place they have covered it was in
    a small blurp in the City/State section,
    and a little bit of comments on why their
    editorial staff is not covering….same ol’ same ol’

    However, on the front page today (this
    is hysterical and pathetic at the same time) they did an article on the National
    Enquirer.

    I don’t know how to link it. If anyone does, I think everyone at Redstate would
    truly enjoy it in light of today’s
    revelations.

  • nivlem

    The Raleigh News and Observer has not
    been covering this because they consider
    John Edwards a “private” individual. The
    only place they have covered it was in
    a small blurp in the City/State section,
    and a little bit of comments on why their
    editorial staff is not covering….same ol’ same ol’

    However, on the front page today (this
    is hysterical and pathetic at the same time) they did an article on the National
    Enquirer.

    I don’t know how to link it. If anyone does, I think everyone at Redstate would
    truly enjoy it in light of today’s
    revelations.

    • Mary_Contrary

      It wasn’t the Rev Wright he knew either.

      • Dave_in_Fla

        Let me try to channel Moe:

        “Look, it’s not my fault that your side can’t understand the difference between cheating on your dying wife, and divorce.

        As for who gets hurt? Why that would be your Messiah, Obama. This swine is in YOUR party, not ours.”

        Too bad I can’t blam too.

        • streiff

          click the first link in my story

          • streiff

            1. one happened 30 years ago. One was still going on last month.

            2. one was a private citizen. The other was running for president.

            3. One’s wife is terminally ill. One isn’t.

            Most Evangelicals don’t adhere to a strict interpretation of that injunction. That’s a Catholic thing. But if you knew more about religion that a handful of proof texts to toss out among fellow geniuses you’d know that.

            Oh, point #4. Shove off.

          • nivlem

            Can you link todays??? It is on the
            front page, not buried in the Politics
            section.

          • speciallist

            n/t

          • Dave_in_Fla

            I hadn’t processed the “PS”s. :)

          • Tim_Schieferecke

            Hey juststupidinTenn, , you’ve got a lot more confidence in B. O.’s smelly integrity than most Obamabots. He’s going to lose badly. You can take that to the bank.

          • streiff

            I only found the other one by a google news search for this story.

          • blooch
            • To pique your curiosity, no?
          • Mary_Contrary

            And they crucified Him.

            (Keep reading, and you’ll get to that part.)

          • nivlem

            On the front page…headline reads..
            “Tabloid photo offers no clarity”
            Underneath it reads..”Edwards? Baby? At
            best, maybe”.

          • nivlem

            On the front page…headline reads..
            “Tabloid photo offers no clarity”
            Underneath it reads..”Edwards? Baby? At
            best, maybe”.

          • partytaco

            After church this Sunday, let’s head on down to Planned Parenthood and abort some babies…

          • partytaco

            After church this Sunday, let’s head on down to Planned Parenthood and abort some babies…

          • nivlem

            I get the paper delivered daily. It is
            not showing on the on line version. I
            had to search the N&O site under
            “National Enquirer” then page down to
            the “Tabloid photo”.
            I’ll have to pull my paper from the
            sixth and see if the article you
            referenced was in there.
            Thanks for your help.
            Now I will see if I can get this to
            post only once instead of three times.

          • speciallist

            Dude…you can do it from Campland!!

          • moms4mitt

            I don’t either. Why should we feel sorry for her? SHE KNEW!!

            She has been portrayed as a hero and a sympathetic figure. But she has been a player in this game and dragged good Americans along with her.

            My toddlers attend the same school as the Edwards’ kids. I HOPE that the press leaves the kids in this America alone and that my own children won’t be affected by it!

          • Dave_in_Fla

            LOL

  • Chuck_Norris_Republican

    One where people cheat on their terminally ill wife and another where they don’t!

  • nod90

    ….oh, here it is.

    Obama marriage explodes

    Better hope there is no substance to this one, moonbats!!!!!

    • scrapiron

      The reason I feel sorry for them is because I wouldn’t want my family and friends drug through this. I was a very young man when I was caught in this situation. I was wrong. I just think that some mistakes are better left alone.

      He is not a Senator and he didn’t win the VP, what is the purpose of bringing this up now. He will never be nor would he ever have been AG. This would have come to light before that happened.

      He got his just deserves.

  • John_Louisiana

    The media just started paying attention to this the minute Obama went on vacation so he wouldn’t have to answer any questions.

    We have to find a way to get Obama close to this mess some way.

  • PSDA

    If this was a painful episode in the Edwards marriage two years ago which Elizabeth was made aware of and which John apologized for, why was John recently in a hotel at 3 am with the same individual he had the affair with?

    I’ve known wives to forgive their wandering husbands… but at the very least, such forgiveness involves having no more contact with the mistress. Especially not late at night in a hotel room!!

    The Edwards story adds up even less than before he and his wife started talking about it.

  • KYJurisDoctor

    ANOTHER LYING PIECE OF TURD POLITICIAN! OsiSpeaks.com

    • Moe_Lane

      NT

  • kowalski

    I wonder what Amanda Marcotte has to say about all of this. Wait, wait: we can find out!

    But lord, the a******* who get personal pleasure out of Edwards? humiliation? Under-sexed troglodytes. And on one hand, they deserve abuse because they suck and are horrible people who really, really hate women, in no small part because they?re stuck in a self-perpetuating no sex/misogyny loop. On the other hand, you?re picking on loser. My liberal heart feels pain about that. It?s a real dilemma, one I haven?t completely resolved.

    So, Streiff, Amanda thinks you’re an under-sexed trogolodyte who really hates women and are caught in a self-perpetuating no sex/mysogyny loop, but she feels sorry for him, and possibly for you as well, because you’re picking on a loser. Whew. The resolution of that quandary is going to be a story of redemption and healing at least as complex and poignant as the one John Edwards is trying to get across, now that the Enquirer has “stripped [him] bare.”

    And you deserve abuse! Because John Edwards cheated on his wife! And tried to cover it up!

    • kowalski

      In an earlier post, Marcotte prepares to forgive Edwards and call his dalliances None of Anyone’s Business because John Edwards wasn’t “a hypocrite” — because he never went around telling other people how to live their sex lives or preaching about morality and things like that. So at least he wasn’t preachy.

      But as the KNBC Los Angeles article shows, the very first one of the videos he payed Rielle Hunter to produce with her 6-day old video production company after meeting her in a bar in New York was, at least in part, a morality play:

      “I want to see our party lead on the great moral issues — yes, me a Democrat using that word — the great moral issues that face our country,” Edwards tells the crowd. “If we want to live in a moral, honest just America and if we want to live in a moral and just world, we can’t wait for somebody else to do it. We have to do it.”

      The sound track for the six-minute video is the song “True Reflections” which begins with these words: “When you look into a mirror, do you like what’s looking at you? Now that you’ve seen your true reflections, what on earth are you gonna do?”

      Of course, it may be that Edwards doesn’t consider marital fidelity a “great moral issue” and therefore implicitly exempted himself when he paid Hunter to produce the video, after meeting her in a bar in New York and having an affair with her.

  • kowalski

    Streiff, you’re obviously not a lawyer or this post would have been much shorter, because if you were a lawyer, especially a trial lawyer, your dissection of Edwards’ statements wouldn’t have taken more than 100 words. All you would have had to note was that he’s handed the allegations off to his legal mind, which parsed them for a while and spat back a group of intelocking explanation and justifications that address the concerns of all the interested parties in John Edwards’ mind.

    See? It’s simple! They teach this in law school.

    • streiff

      nt

      • bk

        have we raised taxes on “the rich” high enough yet? Their sense of “morality” seems to boil down to “fairness” as in “it’s not fair that ___ when some people have so much”. So whether you fill in the blank with “any kid goes to bed hungry” or “any citizen anyone living here doesn’t have unlimited free prescription drugs” or whatever, the answer to that “moral issue” always seems to be that “the rich” (i.e. pretty much anyone who holds a job above minimum wage) aren’t paying their “fair share”.

        • bk

          We always hear libs griping about equal pay for equal work. How much did Young get paid for agreeing to say he was the baby daddy vs what Hunter got paid for carrying the baby?

          • Rod_Patrick

            I hope BO picks Edwards as his VP. On the strategic front, there are really valid reasons for BO to choose Edwards, such as the following:

            1. All children, especially the innocent ones, are really gifts from the above. Edwards’ child is no exception. Who knows, the Love Child could be the Lucky Child of the BO/Edwards ticket. In fact, BO will have a basis to conclude that the VRMC is really so cynical and hypocrite: Condemning Edwards will point to condemning an innocent Love [but Lucky] child. Such hate against a Child is really despicable to many Democrats and swing voters.

            2. If BO selects Edwards, it will surely tell the nation that BO is so professional: personal matters don’t really count in his decisions. In such case, BO will re-define the so-called “principled politics”.

            3. BO/Edwards ticket is really the ultimate test the real power and strength of BO: if BO still wins, he will be known as the greatest politician of all times. Despite carrying a VP that is more of a baggage than a help, he is still able to win. How’s that?

            4. Next to BO/Clinton, the BO/Edwards will create a lot of drama that the MSM loves so much. It will sell like a cupcake. Note that Marilyn Monroe gossip was more of a plus factor to JFK than a negative one.

            5. Americans are not really listening to rumors and even seemingly destructive facts/scandals, as long as they like the Candidate. BO is really a good example of this. Despite all the bad gossip, lies, gaffes, dirty associates and mentors, and even doubtful past vs. BO, he is still leading in the most recent polls.

            6. If BO decides on Edwards and the Reps/Conservatives blast on the issue of Edwards, BO for the first time will have a solid proof that it is the Reps/Cons who are really more inclined on personal attacks, rather than on platform and program.

            7. Edwards is a fav of white voters, something that BO really needs to pull away his lead against McCain.

            Finally, with a BO/Edwards ticket, everybody will be happy, including all the reps/cons and me?

            In conclusion, Edwards is still the most logical choice as BO’s pick for VP, next to Hillary.

          • Achance

            http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/aug/07/john-edwards-creates-two-americas-one-legit-kids-o/#c10650

            Even the quote Coulter was using was lawyerly parsing and has all the elements of today’s statement covered.

            What amazes me is how a guy that prominent could get himself into such a situation. By the time you get to ANY elected or appointed office, or even a high-level staffer to one, you are a very handsome and sexually attractive man no matter how paunchy and balding you are. You NEVER allow yourself to be alone with a woman that you’re not married to. If you become the object of one of the horizontal career movers, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you aren’t seduced by her, she can still claim you were or threaten to do so. If you do play, she owns you if she wants to. Some are relatively harmless, they just want a notch on their bedpost. Others want $100K contracts for jobs they aren’t qualified for and are prepared to kiss and tell if they don’t get them.

            This is the part that the Marcottes and other feminists won’t talk about; the predatory women in politics. My life is a lot simpler now that I’m just a paunchy, balding old retired guy; it’s hard to be handsome and desirable. It’s also really hard to turn away from some very attractive opportunities and real easy to see how an egotistical, competitive guy like Edwards could tell himself he could game it. Can’t say I never worked the calculus.

          • kowalski

            I mean, it amazes me too, in the sense that it’s so idiotic. But in a larger sense it’s not amazing: powerful people have the sense that as long as they maintain message control and keep their bases covered, they can get away with telling the big lies. Even nonpowerful people do this: it’s the darker side of the human conscience.

            On another level, John Edwards really believes this is none of anyone’s business, that his statements as a politician are truly distinct (and that his persona as a politician is also distinct) from his actions as a person. It’s a compartmentalization of the office from the person that allows the participant to go to great lengths to continue the charade, and even justify the charade.

            I’m absolutely sure, in other words, that John Edwards really believes everything he says and has said: it’s just that according to his internal accounting methods, all of it adds up just fine, because the personal stuff is the null set.

            It’s called “acting.” He is living in the character of John Edwards the politician/trial lawyer, and has been for quite some time. The Enquirer exploded on to the scene and told the story of the Wizard behind the Curtain, a tale which is as old as politics itself.

            As far as prominent people getting themselves into these situations, look at Eliot Spitzer: champion for women’s rights and anti-trafficking, anti-prostitution causes and a frequenter of high-priced hookers himself. There are other stories that I could tell, and out of respect for the Dead and the still living, I won’t go into them here, but suffice it to say that these enormous lapses of judgment aren’t just confined to liberal politicians. They also happen to liberal law school deans.

          • kowalski

            For a couple of my more-conservative minded friends in which I briefly transported myself into the personality of John Edwards attempting to explain this horrible situation he’s in:

            “I’m just a trial lawyer who is working politically for people’s rights. Why won’t people just leave me alone about my marriage?”

            I know that until he released that statement he couldn’t really believe this was happening to him, didn’t believe it was worth thinking about: that’s why he barricaded himself in the bathroom and ran for cover when it hit home: he’s walking around in the Beverly Hilton visiting his lurvvvvr and there was nothing — absolutely nothing — wrong with that in his conscience until it became a political liability. Tremendous compartmentalization. It’s Bill Clinton disease.

          • David_Hinz

            It is going up on our site immediately

          • kowalski

            There is no greater compartmentalization of the office from the person in political history than what is happening now in Barack Obama’s campaign. That’s why nobody should vote for him.

          • blooch

            just to get blammed by you.

          • zeebeach

            I still feel sympathy for a woman who could be coming to terms with her final time here, and instead is caught up in (distracted by, willfully, if you will), this sleazy drama. I’ll keep a prayer for her…

          • E_Pluribus_Unum

            Actually I thought this clip was common knowledge. Glad to have shared it with you Dave.

          • Flagstaff

            As I understand it, Cindy McCain was visiting in Africa on a medical mission, I believe to treat children with cleft palate (I may have this part wrong). She was particularly struck by one girl who needed the surgery but also needed parents. She went through the process for adoption (which must have been quite brief), then put it up to John, who said “of course” without hesitation.

            I’m sure the accurate details are available elsewhere, but the gist of it is about right

  • BobbyJenks

    I’m no fan of Edwards, but this is pretty similar to what McCain did, isn’t it? Mrs. McCain was in the hospital when John divorced her, right?

  • wiseprince

    “That isn’t the John Edwards I knew”

  • spainishirish

    God knows Larry Johnson hardly constitutes an unimpeachable source, but he certainly has raised some profound questions about whether Obama meets the constitutional requirements to be president. There may not be anything there, but I wouldn’t base that on lack of media coverage–quite the opposite, really.

    Now to Edwards. In addition to everything Streiff laid out, the man is a two-bit hypocrite. Many of his “anti-poverty” proposals were based on stronger families. Further, I smell rolling disclosure here. First admit the affair. And when all else fails, admit paternity (I believe this will happen sometime after Denver). The paternity issue is particularly toxic given the relationship between illegitimacy and poverty.

  • KellyB4GOP

    This whole thing is hilarious! According to PMSNBC, it’s a staffer who is actually the baby’s daddy. Does this mean that Edwards passed her around? It just doesn’t get any better than this.

  • Darin_H

    and he hopes he is this guy….

  • spainishirish

    The spiking of this story is one more nail in the legacy media’s coffin.

  • poxoma

    “He said his affair ended too soon for him to have been the father.”

    When big Al Gore was pressed on his huge energy consumption, big Al shrugged it off by saying: but,but I bought carbon credit to remain carbon neutral.

    I expect Edwards to say the same regarding the baby: but, but I have bought pregnancy credits so I am baby neutral. Wonder how much he had to pay for those pregnancy credits.

  • Moe_Lane

    You know, it’s not so much the rehashing of thirty-year old unpleasantness that grates; it’s the cavalier way that people like you push aside a woman dying of cancer to get to a political opponent.

  • Dave_in_Fla

    Is that his vacation in Hawaii is cover for going to the records office to get his birth certificate “fixed”.

    You can’t make this stuff up.

  • aaronbg

    And to think 23 minutes ago no one had ever heard of you because you didn’t exist…please troll elsewhere.

  • Jaded

    did to his wife….he did not lie….he divorced her…perhaps you spend a little to much time on liberal boards but do some checking on McCain.

    Do not ever try relativism here when one of your boys in the D party takes a hit…got it!

  • debbiehamil

    and he is running for president NOW! About his first wife and how he left her. Don’t throw stones unless your MAN is CLEAN which he is NOT!

  • Uma_Richie

    (Reading between the lines in his book, I’d say there were multiple affairs.) On the other hand, he wasn’t a public figure at the time and didn’t have to lie publicly, cover up, and pay off.
    Admittedly, as a Naval Officer, he was subject to UCMJ, so he was lucky not to get censured professionally.

    What we are all focusing on is the MSM’s double standard of covering every Republican’s weakness and ignoring the most blatant Democrat affairs. This is causing them to lose scoops to the tabloids.

  • aaronbg

    n/t

  • Jaded

    and our MAN is just fine with us….his wife wasn’t dying when he divorced her.

    You see your little boy Edwards just had to satisfy himself because his wife was to sick to and he was to cowardly to wait…McCain did nothing so disgusting…hope you feel better…now go home little doggie.

  • streiff

    who knew? I thought she was still alive and supporting his candidacy?

  • SteveLA

    The RNC or someone needs to start a collection going to pay for John Edwards paternity test, don’t want another child on the welfare roles because the father won’t fess up and Edwards obviously can’t afford the test.

    The John Edwards Paternity Test Fund c/o Hillary Clinton for President 2012.

  • Moe_Lane

    But, hey, it’s an election, right?

    Enjoy what you’ve become.

  • Guerc

    The libs are going freakin’ batsh!t insane over this. They so wanted Johnny Edwards as AG so badly. You should all read the lefty blogs. (I can’t stand Kos, but I peruse Wonkette occasionally).

    The rallying cry is that “John McCain did the same thing to his first wife!”.

    Here’s the difference:
    – It’s not about the sex, it’s about the coverup.
    – It’s about the credibility of a person who tells bald-faced lies to the American public.
    – It’s about the campaign staff who conspired with the candidate to keep up with the charade, including claiming paternity, paying off the girlfriend, and hiding her from the media.
    – It’s about the $114,000 of campaign funds swished over to pay off his girlfriend.
    – It’s about the press, that conveniently hides negative information about a favored candidate, while throwing mud at the opposition.

    Most of all, it’s about the judgement of the people who believed in this two-bit shyster and snake-oil salesman.

  • spainishirish

    On the other hand, I have to wonder 1) why has the Obama campaign been so reluctant to release this record and get it off the table? and 2) why has the media been so reluctant even to ask the question?

    Obviously, Question 2 is the partial answer to Question 1.

  • Uma_Richie

    Well, one of the many problems with liberals is that they feel that they have the monopoly on absolution. So since John McCain did not beg forgiveness in Al Sharpton’s confessional, his affairs from 30 years ago are worse than anything a Democrat could do.

    However, after John Edward’s interview airs tonight, the liberals will declare him “clean.”

  • jdub19

    n/t

  • Moe_Lane

    It’s not like I’m precisely pleased that the man cheated on his first wife thirty years ago, then got divorced over it, but it’s not as if we didn’t know all of that going in. Or that the people screaming about this conveniently started caring when politically expedient. Or their entire avoidance of the “Edwards is a confessed, lying suckweasel” part…

  • rjd27

    now Edwards can truthfully claim he’s done more than Obama has.

  • Moe_Lane

    You’re actually sitting there and trying to figure out why this line of attack isn’t working. You really, truly have no idea.

    Shiny.

  • scottbomb

    They get plenty of jokes made at their expense, but living with my ex girlfriend (who read that rag all the time) taught me that The National Enquirer often breaks stories before the “mainstream” press does. Their crediblity with me went up a few notches long ago.

    As for the NYT, well, I’ll believe the Nat. Enq. before them ANY DAY.

  • blooch

    and you can still step back, “but you need to look inward”.

  • JustLeaveMeAlone

    … on what your definition of “is” is.

  • Jaded

    a divorcee it’s not like she was Mother Theresa….he is human she is human and he divorced her and she divorced another man…hey it was the 60′s ad 70′s….I am so sick of these little trifling netroots who somehow think McCain’s marriages are equal to Edwards running around during a campaign telling the rest of us how to live and with his wife getting treatment for cancer as somehow relevent to John McCain’s divorce 30 years ago.

    Buck up little netroots your Savior is still as white as the driven snow on this issue…right?

  • virginiaDaring

    I’m sure Pops wouldn’t have approved.

  • chemjeff2

    Wow that was freakin’ hilarious. And to think Edwards came this –> <– close to having that guy in charge.

  • Dave_in_Fla

    n/t

  • nivlem

    How can you feel sorry for her?? She played into the whole lie to get where
    she wanted to go. This is a nasty, nasty
    woman with a very loud mouth. I remember
    when I first started to dislike her…
    During the Cheney/Edwards VP debate, as
    VP Cheney was walking off the stage, Elizabeth Edwards mad the classless move
    of grabbing VP Cheney’s arm. Mr. Cheney
    was so gracious, however, it spoke loudly
    about Elizabeth Edwards. The woman cannot even control herself from physical
    aggression to an oponent. And
    she was only the wife of the challenger…

    Then there was her neighbor who she said
    she was afraid of because “he is a gun-toting Republican”. Her and her husband
    ended up buying his property at a very
    generous price. However, the purchase
    agreement was presented from an “undisclosed buyer”.

    She has gone on several television shows
    spouting ugly, ugly thoughts about Republicans.

    She chose to exoloit her cancer to gain
    sympathy votes for her husband to win
    the Democratic election.

    No, I don’t feel sorry for her. If anything, she is worse than him. During
    the whole campaign she misled American
    women, had them crying with her as she
    exploted her illness, and knew what her
    husband had done and lied about it.

    No, I do not have sympathy for this woman.