I liked him for President then, and I liked him more this year. He seemed one of the few people talking about the increase in inequality in this country and the people who are being left behind. Maybe it was all just campaign shtick, I don't know. Who ever knows about politics.
I'm not terribly disappointed that he had an extramarital affair, except to the extent that it probably rules him out as a member of an Obama Administration or a candidate for any future election. Yes, he told bald-faced lies. Who hasn't, especially when it comes to intimate matters? Yes, what he did was immoral. Something like 50% of all American adults have had affairs, and that's probably on the low side because many won't admit it. So who are we to judge?
I don't think someone has to have a pristine personal life in order to make decisions about our country and its policies. In fact, an unmessy life might well lack the foibles, mistakes, and vicissitudes that lead to reflection and wisdom. They shouldn't be liars, of course. But they all are, whether about sex or religion or any number of things people in power must deal with. But we all tell lies, of one degree or another, at one time or another.
I blame the American court of public opinion as much as Edwards, and especially the salacious media. Who probably just reflect society at large. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, and all that. Why insist our politicians be morally perfect? Hypocrites like Larry Craig, who publically oppose what they do in private, are something else, especially when what they oppose is needed for the public good and they claim their position comes from some kind of inherent righteousness. But anything Edwards did is between him and his family and his mistress.
This and tire gauges and $400 runway haircuts are just a way for the media to get eyeballs without having to do real work and investigative journalism and ask tough questions. It is the same old shit. It is discouraging when, after some years, you realize it is never going to change.
13 comments:
Hmmmm…...so John Edwards thinks he’s off the hook!!! I’ll bet half of his interview on Nightline was a lie. You know darn well that he had sex with Rielle Hunter the last time in Beverly Hills...and, now he's lying about holding up his new baby girl in the National Enquirer photo....this guy is just a pathological liar!!! Old John Edwards can look into any camera (or to any juror's face) and tell a bold-faced lie without any trace of dishonesty. It's so rare to see one on tape! John Edwards doesn't have to agree to a paternity test....the child support judge is going to demand it. Get busy!!
Now, for all you John Edwards supporters who are let down...what in the hell were you thinking? Couldn't you spot this phony the second you saw him? I did. Edwards made his money suing doctors!!!!! He is a professional liar....just like Obama!!! You're all smucks!!!
I don't think someone has to have a pristine personal life in order to make decisions about our country and its policies.
Progressives never do think a person's Moral character, trustworthiness, honesty, etc. matter in making judgment calls that effect thousands (small cities) to hundreds of millions + (in the case of a President).
If a candidate can't even make wise choices in his own life it will be impossible for he/she to perform as a "public servant".
In Edwards case he wasn't a public servant - he was a servant of the unions.
Edwards was a scumbag when he decided to use his wife's cancer to gain sympathy votes - and that was after he was already popp'n that other female. What a scumbag.
Maybe the reason you believe a person's personal life would have no impact on our country and policies is because you've been surrounded by Liberals so long such lack of moral character, trustworthiness, and honesty are totally unknown to you.
JustaDog, I see absolutely no evidence that moral failings fall on only one side of the political spectrum. For every John Edwards there is a Bob Livingston. For every Bill Clinton, a Newt Gingrich. Or a Jim Bakker. Or a George Bush (cocaine, DWI).
Andrew Young of the John Edwards story: The arrests for worthless checks, DWI, burglary, criminal mischief, the federal tax lien
webofdeception.com
He's probably just scared to admit the truth. But I mean it isn't as if he couldn't put it tactfully and poetically: http://www.236.com/news/2008/08/08/john_edwards_throws_lovechild_8208.php There. Now was that so hard?
John Edwards has always tried to come across as a little too squeaky clean. That in itself made me wonder. He used his deceased son and ill wife to attract sympathy votes. He used his modest upbringing to get common folk to identify with him. He used his very young children to promote his own image as youthful. He created John's Room in a 28000 sf house. As a citizen, his affair is his own business. As a wannabe Prez, it was not acceptable. Worst of all, he lied.
Now we have the whole picture. A pretty boy who worried more about his haircuts and making money than the two Americas he talked about.
"But anything Edwards did is between him and his family and his mistress."
This is true if he's the guy who sells hardware at the corner shop. When John Edwards, like Eliot Spitzer, starts engaging in dishonest activities he may be ashamed of and which may shake the foundation of his home life -- and when such a person as John Edwards choses to engineer the situation with money or political favors or political contacts to hide activities which he thinks will get him in trouble, then it becomes a problem for EVERYONE if he's a public figure with access to government operations. Edwards is wealthy and apparently successful, but those aren't the necessary qualifications for public office. There's a real absence of good judgment behind John Edwards, and there is also a duplicitous nature which makes him seem untrustworthy to some people, and perhaps now to both to his wife and his family. It might even be evident to the voting public as a result of this blatant two-faced lying that we see in the news.
I wonder if his wife has any of the venereal diseases he may have picked up from Rielle Hunger a.k.a party girl Lisa Druck.
Why let John Edwards define himself as a narcissist? How is he different from any other cheating husband? Seems to me that he’s just a grade A (and stupid) Adulterer.
If John Edwards is a narcissist, then lets compare this to the DSM psychiatric criteria for his personality disorder:
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV-R), the diagnostic classification system used in the United States, as “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.”
A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following[1]:
1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance (John Edward wants to be president)
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love (Admits self-love and seems to loving to preen)
3. believes that he or she is “special” and unique (obviously)
4. requires excessive admiration (obviously)
5. has a sense of entitlement (ran again after losing with Kerry, believes he DESERVES to be VP)
6. is interpersonally exploitative (used his wife’s cancer and love to gain sympathy while destroying her love with adultery)
7. lacks empathy (doesn’t care that he has forever defined his children’s lives with his adultery)
8. is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her (everybody want to be me!)
9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes (claimed he was 99% honest if Enquirer was 99% wrong!)
So, let John Edwards call himself a narcissist. Obviously, someone has told him this in the past. So, if you voted for Edwards, then you have to ask yourself why you would put the United States in the hands of such a person?
Of course, if John Edwards was smart, he’d have claimed that Rielle was simply a surrogate holding his baby (from artificial insemination). Elizabeth had full knowledge and expected the child to be turned over, but John was meeting with Rielle after she reconsidered. This explanation even covers the money payments. Well, seems like John really ain’t too bright!! Just a poor liar and a cheat!
Sex and the Suffragettes
I admire Elizabeth Edwards and Hillary Clinton for standing by their men.
Thanks to the suffragettes, women have choices in their lives. They didn't have to stay - they wanted to.
Politicians will be politicians, and I think political wives know that their husbands will face a plethora of 'opportunities' to cheat.
The ones who really suffer are the mistresses. Imagine what Rielle Hunter's life is going to be like.
Probably about as dreadfully bleak as the 'outed' mistresses of Bill Clinton, Woodrow Wilson and Warren Harding.
One of these presidents had a love child while running for office, and believe it or not, that actually helped women win the vote.
Most people are totally in the dark about HOW the suffragettes won.
Now finding out the sexy, shocking truth is as easy as opening your e-mail.
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Two beautiful and extremely powerful suffragettes -- Alice Paul and Emmeline Pankhurst are featured, along with Edith Wharton, Isadora Duncan, Alice Roosevelt and two gorgeous presidential mistresses.
There is a ton of heartache, and a LOT of hot affairs on the rocky road to the ballot box.
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Rielle Hunter will do just fine...John "babydaddy" Edwards will pay her millions to not have the paternity test! John Edwards has no say in whether or not a paternity test is done...Rielle Hunter simply files for child support and the family court judge would order John Edwards to submit to the test right away, and John Edwards knows it!! Under the law, the baby has a right to live in the same way as the father or mother, whichever is most expensive... John Edwards is worth $30 million. Get the point?
"So who are we to judge?"
"We" are the 50% who don't lie, cheat, and break our marriage vows.
Meade, so you lead such a perfect life that you may hold judgement on others? Maybe you haven't cheated in your marriage -- good. Have you committed any other sins in your life? I suspect you have. May the rest of us judge you as harshly as you judge Edwards?
Sure you may, if that's what you want to do.
Perfect life?
No.
Committed sins?
Yes.
But for what it's worth, David, I'm not judging Edwards. I'm judging his lying cheating behavior. And, in my opinion, you should too.
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