Thursday, January 21, 2010
Slimey John Edwards...
Labels: John Edwards
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Nothing Like The Rielle Thing's Baby
Who needs either reality television or soap operas when the actual lives of America's politicians have more intrigue, lies and deception than anything appearing on the boob tube?
This week's location is North Carolina, not South, which has pre-occupied observers of romantic liaisons for most of the summer: John Edwards -- former senator and former presidential candidate (did that really happen -- or was that on an alternate Earth) -- submitted to a DNA test and is indeed the father of his mistress Rielle Hunter's baby. And, now it seems that Edwards is planning on bringing Hunter and child a bit closer to home.
At one time, the fact that this information came out in The National Enquirer would have meant that it should be ignored as silly, salacious gossip. Problem is, the Enquirer has been accurate about every aspect of the John Edwards story from Day One. They had the affair, the name of the woman, the details on Edwards' cover story. Edwards has been proven not just a cheat and a liar, but a serial liar at that.
Even the "Nightline" interview he gave last year which was designed to "clear the air" has now turned out to be a pack of lies.
But this poses the question: What does Elizabeth Edwards do? The Enquirer says that she's packing her bags and moving out. That would be hardly surprising given how she has been repeatedly publicly humiliated (some would say that she allowed herself to be). If she does, she would become the second Southern political wife in less than a month to walk out on her unfaithful coulda-been-a-contender husband. Jenny Sanford finally packed up and moved out of the governor's mansion two weeks ago, leaving angst-ridden Mark to figure out whether he wanted to connect more fully with his "soulmate" -- possibly in the mansion.
If Elizabeth does follow Jenny, this would be a rather shocking cultural moment in American politics. While divorces occur among politicians, it's rather rare for them to occur with public admissions and denunciations of infidelity. The Rudy Giuliani-Donna Hanover break-up nearly a decade ago was the exception that proved the rule. If cheating is discovered, the wife will more often than not stick it out with the husband (18 months after one of the most embarrassing public admissions ever, Eliot and Silda Spitzer are still together).
Perhaps political wives have reached a point when they realize being partners in a relationship means that they can walk away. Elizabeth Edwards was an impressive lawyer in her own right. Jenny Sanford was an investment banker -- and came from serious means as well. Even with four boys, she doesn't have to worry financially about a future without Mark Sanford by her side. For Elizabeth her incurable cancer makes the decision more difficult because of her two young children. But, after a while, she must be thinking what sort of lesson is she teaching those same children if she sends the signal that there is no consequence for the sort of behavior that their father has perpetrated on the family.
That's the point Jenny Sanford made in her statement after her husband announced his affair. Maybe Elizabeth should read that statement -- as she heads to the door.
Labels: Elizabeth Edwards, Jenny Sanford, John Edwards, Mark Sanford
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
The Dumma Bubba
It wasn't supposed to be quite this way. Yeah, John Edwards was idealized by many Democrats as "the next Bill Clinton." By that, they meant that he was the good-looking, smooth-talking Southern moderate that would follow Clinton's path to the White House.
He shared the former presidenet's modest background: The son of a mill-worker, as Edwards would always remind voters, became a ridiculously successful trial lawyer, by managing to click with jurors. Eventually, his success led him to winning a U.S. Senate seat in 1998.
Instead of going for re-election, Edwards decided to make a presidential run in 2004. He finished a distant second to John Kerry, but still managed to get the number two slot on the presidential ticket. In an ideal world, he would have been well-positioned to be a leading candidate for 2008. That didn't happen -- partly because of the historic efforts of Hillary Rodham Clinton and a guy named Barack Obama.
Yet, even with that, things couldn't have gone more disastrously wrong. Instead of the White House, Edwards' career has ended up in a Bizarro World version of the Clinton Story. Unlike Bill, this good-looking, smooth-talking Southerner got caught having an affair BEFORE he became president. Worse, there's an illegitimate child (which he denies -- though no one believes him). Worse, he has a wife sick with cancer (though he claims the affair happened when the illness was in remission) -- making him look like a sleazeball and a cad.
Oh, and wife Elizabeth just released a tell-all, what-it's-like-being-the-aggrieved-wife-of-a-cheating-jerk biography. Could it possibly get any worse for John Edwards?
Well, yeah, it could and it has: Like Clinton, the affair of the heart (or other parts of the anatomy) is now headed for the criminal courts: The U.S. Attorney in his native North Carolina has announced an investigation into whether campaign funds were used to keep his affair with Rielle Hunter secret.
Which makes this entire affair a tragic farce. From Edwards' side, it is farce that couldn't happen to a non-nicer guy. There's a certain sense ofschadenfreude that envelops this. He was such the insufferable pretty boy that -- were this a Greek play -- it would be said that the gods needed to punish him for his vanity. But, in the real world in which we all live, one wonders how this saga can end in any good way.
Elizabeth Edwards' cancer is incurable and she has what could be a few years to live. But, after everything her husband has put her through over the last few years, does she spend her remaining time with him and her younger children? Or does she take the children and leave? She knows the emotional drama the kids will have to deal with, in terms of her inevitably declining health. As a mother, she wouldn't want to expose those kids to even more anguish of a family break-up. How does a good mother make such a choice?
And an even better question: How does a sleazy lawyer, ex-senator and wannabe president of the United States even begin to live with himself after all he's put his family through?
Labels: Bill Clinton, John Edwards
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Affairs & Political Shields
Maybe. Maybe not. One argument is that the anti-Hillary vote would have congealed around Obama. Even though Wolfson said that "Our voters and Edwards were the same people," the fact is that Hillary didn't adopt her "working people" line until after Edwards dropped out of the race.
But more importantly, now that Wolfson is in the reassessment mode and admitting that issues of affairs have an impact in campaigns, maybe he should give Chris Matthews a break. Matthews infuriated Clinton and Co. for daring to speculate that the Monica Lewinsky affair helped launch Hillary Clinton's Senate career. After pressure from the campaign and various women's groups, Matthews apologized.
However, if Wolfson can say that Edwards' lying about his affair, "certainly had an impact on the election," why can't someone say, had the Lewinsky affair never come to light, Hillary Rodham Clinton might never have become a New York senator -- and then a candidate for president?
Hey, if we're engaging counter-factual, coulda, woulda, shouldas...
Labels: Hillary Clinton, Howard Wolfson, John Edwards
Friday, August 08, 2008
Not The Next Attorney General
Not quite sure what it was that he said back in January that made me say this, but this latest admission just confirms both my gut instinct and my state of mind at the time.
Labels: John Edwards
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Bye, Bye, John
The question now comes whether Obama gets Edwards' "change" vote or, frankly, whether Hillary Clinton benefits (especially in Southern contests) from Edwards' white (especially white male) vote.
Finally, the Big Four left are all "first" candidates of some sort or another: Hillary Clinton would be the first woman president; Obama would be the first African-American; Romney the first Mormon -- and McCain would be the oldest person elected to his first term.
Some ceiling is going to be broken this year.
UPDATE: Giuliani and Edwards both gone within 12 hours? Geez, talk about a late Christmas present for RAGGED THOTS!
Labels: Democratic 2008 Presidential, John Edwards
Saturday, January 05, 2008
John Edwards...
Labels: Dem 2008 Presidential, John Edwards
Friday, February 16, 2007
Lefty Immaturity
This penchant for ad hominem attacks on those they disagree with was made vividly clear to me last year during the Stephen Colbert White House Correspondents Dinner aftermath.
Labels: blogosphere, Dan Gerstein, John Edwards
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Kudos To Terry Moran
Labels: Democratic 2008 Presidential, John Edwards, Terry Moran
Thursday, December 28, 2006
And the buzzword for today is ...
Will John Edwards play class warfare with A Certain Ethnic Candidate, pitting his "populist people's alma mater" law degree against one from that "fancy book learnin' school"? Will he brag about eatin' vittles by the cee-ment pond? Tune into the Democratic Party tomorrow, same bat[expletive] crazy time, same bat[expletive] crazy channel.
Edward's new bid for post-boomer Peace Corps votes here. The REAL One Corps here ...
Labels: A Certain Ethnic Candidate, John Edwards, Presidential Race
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Hello, Good-Bayh
Evan Bayh says "No" to any immediate WH run.
For those keeping track, that's an 0 for 2 on the so-called Democratic moderates after Mark Warner dropped out a few weeks ago.
That means, as far as Democrats go, Hillary Rodham Clinton is now defining the center-right position.
UPDATE: Of course, John Edwards is running in 2008. Typo has been corrected.
Labels: Democrats, Evan Bayh, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Mark Warner
