Well, I am glad you are getting off of your usual Cheaters-Are-Scum bandwagon to make an exception for the Breck Girl.

“To be a successful politician, you have to have the cocky optimism and self-confidence that leads you to think that you can have affairs and get away with it.”

You deny, and now explain.

You poor deluded hack.

Weird how much this hurt, when I first heard about it last year. Again, foolish to expect better - but you worked for him, Amanda. How to deal with the weird mix of feelings on all this? (Hating on JMC is an obvious route, but a little too....)

I don’t think Cheaters Are Scum. I think johns are scum.  There is a difference, though some men may not think so.

I am disappointed when people I admire have affairs, but that is about it.  When people scream about the libruls and their adultery, and are caught in it themselves, I have very little sympathy for them.  (Hmmm, which states have higher divorce rates?  Did you know atheists have lower divorce rates than any Christian denomination?)

BTW, Amanda, did you hear about the Barack Obama = left behind antichrist ad?  Unfortunately, I don’t think the real antichrist will come forward and do a parody.  Pity, that.

I don’t hate Edwards for this, and had he become the nominee, he still would have gotten my vote.

At the same time, I can’t say that given his wife’s condition that this isn’t a bit saddening to hear - if there’s anybody in this mess who I feel great sympathy for it is Elizabeth Edwards.

All that said, I don’t see why this is a big story.  John Edwards is not the Democratic Nominee, John Edwards will not be Obama’s running mate, and John Edwards doesn’t currently hold public office (unlike Sens. Vitter and Craig).  To me, it’s an unfortunate personal situation for Edwards and his family, and that’s it.

I must admit, though, that I’m sorta glad that he didn’t win the nomination in light of this - not because it would have cost my support, but I fear it would have cost the support of enough of the American electorate to guarantee that John McCain would become the 44th POTUS.

I don’t know if he took moral high horse positions, but he certainly made his wife a campaign tool by touting them going to Wendy’s and renewing their vows, by accepting a Father of the Year Award...he certainly used his marriage and his wife as political advantages…

I have precisely no interest in what a bunch of people O’ve never met do in their private lives. I also don’t care what politicians do when it doesn’t affect policy.

But we live in a real country, and a lot of voters don’t see things my way, and unlike mere sexism or racism their prejudice against personal betrayal has some valid points in its favor. Edwards was running to be the standard bearer and public face of the Democratic Party; he was running to put all of our eggs in his basket ... a basket he’d apparently failed to tell us was constructed of tissue paper soaked in gasoline. That’s not cool.

The Enquirer is so full of crap, it takes a real die-hard to swallow their garbage.  How the hell is anyone supposed to take a rag that constantly promotes alien sitings and psychic powers as serious news?

What I really hope will happen is that McCain takes the bait and says something about this.  Then maybe the fact that he married his current wife a month after divorcing his first wife, who was disabled and not wealthy or politically connected, will become the story is should have been.

You know that’s not how this works, Amanda.  If anything, Edwards’ infidelity will become a shield that every wingnut can throw up to prove that McCain’s cheating didn’t matter.  For me, but not for thee.  Democrats are worse.  Blah blah blah.

And McCain is on a tar-and-feather Obama kick.  Going off and taking cheap swipes at the bronze medal winner of the Presidential nomination contest isn’t going to do him any political favors.  He’s savy enough to know that at least.

McCain’s cheating was entirely different.  You see, um… well, it’s like this, he… well, uh… ... ... ... what was the question again?

I seem to recall that you have condemned cheaters plenty of time on your blog!

And I don’t see how you can arbitrarily make a distinction between cheaters and johns when *some* cheaters use financial means or power to seduce their partners. Look at Christie Brinkley’s scum ex-husband. Look at the man who was escorting what’s her name, the Spitzer girl, around town a few weeks ago. Is he simply a cheater, or a john? Who cares? He is still a louse.

In any case, I am secretly delighted that Edwards turned out to be unfaithful. I don’t know why, but it makes me oh so happy! At least he’s a human, I guess.

For the sake of argument, forget the ethics of the affair itself.. can you imagine if he won the nomination and this came out after the convention?  It most probably would’ve guaranteed four more years of Republican rule.. for the sake of his dick.  The arrogance here on Edwards’ part is breathtaking.  I guess a President McCain just isn’t such a big deal to someone with multiple millions in the bank.

You deny, and now explain.

Yes, because Amanda totally had photographic proof of Edwards’s affair all along, and was hiding it because she’s a hack. She couldn’t possibly just have been waiting to jump until someone was actually guilty of something. Or do you think you’re writing Edwards directly?

Amanda /= Responsible for Edwards’s penis.

Zifnab25 said:

The Enquirer is so full of crap, it takes a real die-hard to swallow their garbage.  How the hell is anyone supposed to take a rag that constantly promotes alien sitings and psychic powers as serious news?

Agreed, but at least to the extent that he did in fact have an affair, you can’t accuse them of reporting a wholesale fabrication in this story.

They did get this one at least half-right.  As far as the baby allegation goes, I don’t know.  I would like to take Edwards denial as the truth, but I can’t say I’d be shocked if that’s a lie too… but honestly, I don’t really care.

The whole mess is a bit sad, but it should be a matter for the Edwards to deal with, not for the talking heads to dedicate airtime to.

And I don’t see how you can arbitrarily make a distinction between cheaters and johns when *some* cheaters use financial means or power to seduce their partners

That you think seduction and prostitution are the same thing...makes so much sense. Wow. You suck on so many levels.

That the woman involved in more age-appropriate takes away the thin thread of justification people had for hating on Clinton for the Lewinsky scandal.

I believe that the thin (or not) thread of justification for hating on Clinton had as much to do with the fact that he had a professional, supervisory relationship to Lewinsky.  At any rate, that, more than age, seems like a relevant difference to me.

Where I part company with you about Edwards is that (good) politicians should be expected to not do things that are politically idiotic.  And after Hart, let alone after Clinton, Democratic politicians have to understand that any sexual infidelity will come at a significant political price (whatever the post-Lewinsky polling may have suggested).  That’s not right or fair. But it’s the way the game is currently being played.  I’ve never bought the “politicians are manly men so of course they’ll cheat” view. Politicians are people. And their job involves getting elected. So we have every reason to be frustrated if politicians we support behave in ways that unnecessarily jeopardize their ability to get elected.

On the other hand, I agree that the inner workings of the Edwards’ marriage is none of our business.

What about the fact that he funneled $114,000 of his Presidential campaign donations to his mistress to produce a video for which she had no prior experience to make and which has never been used in his campaigns?

I know his infidelity may not be the equivalent of the likes of Vitter, and the rest of the Republicans, but there are enough shady elements in there that he cannot simply get a pass.

What I really hope will happen is that McCain takes the bait and says something about this.

Not just McCain—any McCain surrogate/supporter/propagandist who condemns Edwards should immediately be asked whether they also condemn their own candidate on the same grounds. But let’s not get our hopes up—the media are desperate to run away from the subject of McCain’s adultery. It might make him mad and get them kicked off the bus. Plus there’s this sense that some questions are fair game for your generation but just impertinent to ask of grandpa. In his day standards were different.

Otherwise—yeah, none of our business, but because lots of voters *make* it their business it would have been a major, self-imposed handicap and risk had he won the nomination. An unforgivable gamble with the hopes and faith and futures of the people who supported him.

The One True Vegan wrote:

You deny, and now explain.

Yes, because Amanda totally had photographic proof of Edwards’s affair all along, and was hiding it because she’s a hack. She couldn’t possibly just have been waiting to jump until someone was actually guilty of something. Or do you think you’re writing Edwards directly?

Amanda /= Responsible for Edwards’s penis.

No kidding.

How anyone could extrapolate personal fault in Amanda for John Edwards indiscretions is beyond the pale.

Is everyone who ever supports anyone who ever did anything less than scrupulous in their life personally responsible for that person’s mistakes, Foucault?

Glass houses, bud.  Glass houses.

Whoa. I was really supporting Edwards before he dropped out, and felt very disappointed at the time, but now I’m just glad he wasn’t our nominee, because the panty-sniffers are all going to be having a great time working themselves up into a huge, smug, self-righteous shit fit over this.

Well, no one much spilled their beer when it came out during the impeachment proceedings that Henry Hyde had had an affair (or, as he put it, “youthful indiscretion"). And he was a sitting politician actively trying to remove the President of the United States. So for a guy who is not in office or running for office, this should attract even less attention, right?

Except for the IOKIYAR factor, of course.

Robin Rhea wrote:

I know his infidelity may not be the equivalent of the likes of Vitter, and the rest of the Republicans, but there are enough shady elements in there that he cannot simply get a pass.

So what exactly is it that you suggest we do?  Should he be drawn and quartered in a public circle?  Should we talk about this for the next six months and in the process cause his INNOCENT FAMILY to have to suffer the pain of watching their husband and father be publicly humiliated ad infinitum?

Look - I think he was wrong, I imagine he probably did hurt his family in the process, and I wish that this had never happened.  Beyond that, there’s nothing more for me or anybody else who isn’t DIRECTLY INVOLVED in this affair to say or do on this subject.

What do you propose be done about this?

Foucault, there is a difference between condemning cheaters and calling them scum.

I think the paternity test might vindicate him on the “love child” (either way, the one Enquirer photo is too hazy, etc. to be anything but horse manure.)

DTG,

Nothing should probably be DONE, but I don’t think progressives’ attitudes should be, “Oh well, he wasn’t against gay marriage so it isn’t that big of a deal” He put his wife out as a spokesperson for his campaign and flaunted their marriage knowing that he was sleeping with his EMPLOYEE (or employing his mistress, whichever you prefer) and he took campaign donations from everyday Americans and gave them to his mistress. I think I would at least like to see Amanda exhibit an opinion other than the one I listed above.

Should he be drawn and quartered in a public circle?

No, he should be taken to task for having run for president when he had the potential to endanger the Democratic party’s chances in 2008.

Edwards’ affair doesn’t hurt us, because his nomination failed. However, had his race for the nomination succeeded, we’d be facing a disaster of massive proportions. I have no problem with pointing out his sheer idiocy of running for president knowing that his campaign could have been derailed and taken a lot of downticket races down along with him.

“Remember that Clinton’s infidelities improved his public approval ratings.  Hell, maybe this will be good for Edwards’ reputation. “

Yes, at least nwo we can understand why he paid $400 for a haircut!

I agree this is disappointing but not surprising.  I think the worst part about this is that Elizabeth really had a bullhorn with regard to universal health care and he has just sabotaged his own political career which will probably lead to a shrinking from the public for awhile.  Of course, I think she is personally and politically smarter than he is so--hopefully--she will use this to give herself an even louder bullhorn.

So, how do you like your goat?

“That you think seduction and prostitution are the same thing”

They are the same in the sense that you break the vow you made to your wife to be faithful in either scenario.  Of course you doubly break it when you seduce because usually there is an emotional element as well.

Yeah, I was really disappointed by this too… what a waste.

But yeah, if Edwards were some moral crusader for family values, this would be a lot more pertinent than it is. As it is, I’m just put off by the fact that he could have a wife as awesome as Elizabeth and feel like he needed something on the side.

And I should have read the Edwards story more carefully. 

Since it turns out that, like Lewinsky, Hunter worked for Edwards (or perhaps was hired by Edwards because she was sleeping with him), the age difference may in fact be the biggest difference between the two cases.

I continue to think that the professional relationship makes the sexual relationship problematic in both situations (or perhaps vice versa depending on whether the affair or the job began first for Edwards and Hunter).

Tyro said:

No, he should be taken to task for having run for president when he had the potential to endanger the Democratic party’s chances in 2008.

Edwards’ affair doesn’t hurt us, because his nomination failed. However, had his race for the nomination succeeded, we’d be facing a disaster of massive proportions. I have no problem with pointing out his sheer idiocy of running for president knowing that his campaign could have been derailed and taken a lot of downticket races down along with him.

Your point is certainly valid, and he does deserve to be criticized for potentially jeopardizing the Democratic Party’s chance to win the White House in November.

I officially criticize him for jeopardizing the Democratic Party’s chance to win the White House in November.

Are we good now?

He screwed up - and he COULD HAVE screwed up the Dems chances in November.  But he didn’t.  If I have a child who accidentally leaves an oven mitt by an open flame on the stove and I discover it before it catches fire and burns down the house, I’m probably going to be less upset with my kid than if it did cause the house to burn down.

This just seem so uncharacteristic for either a Democrat or Republican.

“That you think seduction and prostitution are the same thing”

They are the same in the sense that you break the vow you made to your wife to be faithful in either scenario.  Of course you doubly break it when you seduce because usually there is an emotional element as well.

Are you:

1) Deliberately missing the point as a way to make some subtle point of your own?

or

2) A sociopath?

My official stance is that unless it’s a matter of hypocrisy, it’s none of your damn business.

Would this qualify?  John Edwards in 1999:

“I think this President has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen,”

Live by the sword, et cetera.

Yeah, foulcult, not like he’s been saying that his cheating makes him a feminist or anything ...

Yes, this is really really bad because Elizabeth Edwards has no agency, and he used her and then betrayed her.

Gah!

“They are the same in the sense that you break the vow you made to your wife to be faithful in either scenario.  Of course you doubly break it when you seduce because usually there is an emotional element as well.”

...are you seriously suggesting going to a prostitute is a less serious violation of your wedding vows than having an affair?

Well, at least Edwards was never president.  Just imagine how many millions he would have killed if he’d been elected…

I found out about this on Fox News, which was playing in the waiting room while my car was being fixed.  They seemed positively gleeful about the news.

Are you:

1) Deliberately missing the point as a way to make some subtle point of your own?

or

2) A sociopath?

LOL, Seraph, this is a both/and blog.

This is much more Gary Hart than Newt or Elliot or Widestance or even Clenis.  Spitzer was in charge of prosecuting women like his whatever her name was.  Newt was always braying about family values and how the Democrats weren’t able to speak about morality, despite his lenghthy history of hipocrisy.  Ditto for Larry Craig and Diaperman Vitter.  Clenis was in a supervisory position, if not a missionary one, and had no business diddling a young supervisee - let alone receiving unprotected blow jobs from a Reedy!

This one is between John and his wife.  Period.  There are reasons that such human failings are looked at very differently overseas - so long as it isn’t some “moral family values” preacher involved.

Edwards, as far as I know, has never been a “sanctity of marriage” wanker,

In the Clinton impeachment he did say:

when I walked in here the first day of this impeachment trial I was 100 percent completely open to voting to remove this President.

And I have to tell you all something, my friends on this side of the aisle, that wasn’t a hard thing for me to do. I think this President has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen.

In context, you might infer that he is talking about Clinton’s moves to impede the investigation, but invoking the wife and kids makes it pretty clear he is condemning Clinton for cheating.

Bonus side question: How does having sex with someone and then funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to them not qualify you as a john?

Yes, at least nwo we can understand why he paid $400 for a haircut!

Yep.  Edwards got an expensive haircut.  What a fucking fairy, right?

McCain, on the other hand, drops thousands of dollars at a time on the craps tables and has to be pulled away by his aides:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1819898-2,00.html

Much manlier.  And that’s what’s important, isn’t it?

Amanda wrote:  “Edwards, as far as I know, has never been a “sanctity of marriage” wanker, and so this is officially None Of Our Business, and anyone who dogged him on this story should be fired on the principle that they don’t know journalism from rooting around in the trash.”

From an interview with Edwards by Katie Couric in 2007:

Couric: Harry Truman said, “A man not honorable in his marital relations is not usually honorable in any other.” Some people don’t feel comfortable supporting a candidate who has not remained faithful to his or her spouse. Can you understand their position?

Edwards: Of course. I mean, for a lot of Americans, including the family that I grew up with ... it’s fundamental to how you judge people and human character: Whether you keep your word, whether you keep what is your ultimate word, which is that you love your spouse, and you’ll stay with them.

Couric: Do you think ... what about people who use that as a way to evaluate a candidate? In other words, there have been a number of fine presidents according to some analysts ...

Edwards: Right.

Couric: ... who have certainly not been sort of exhibited the greatest moral character ...

Edwards: Right.

Couric: ... when it comes to infidelity ...

Edwards: Right.

Couric: I guess is what I’m getting at.

Edwards: Yes.

Couric: So how important do you think it is in the grand scheme of things?

Edwards: I think the most important qualities in a president in today’s world are trustworthiness, sincerity, honesty, strength of leadership. And certainly that goes to a part of that. It’s not the whole thing. But it goes to a part of it.

Couric: So you think it’s an appropriate way to judge a candidate?

Edwards: Yeah. But I don’t think it’s controlling. I mean, I think that, as you point out, there have been American presidents that at least according to the ... stories we’ve all heard, that were not faithful, that were in fact good presidents. So I don’t think it controls the issue. But I think it’s certain ... something reasonable for people to consider.

Bonus side question: How does having sex with someone and then funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to them not qualify you as a john?

Good question.

As for McCain, how does having sex with someone, then absorbing millions of dollars from them not qualify you as a whore?

What McCain did was thirty some odd years ago, Edwards did this two years ago (though its probably still going on, I smell horseshit). So, thats the difference. Ones old news, the other is new, and happened after he decided to run for President.

Amanda,

Ken just provided you with your requested heaping portion of hypocrisy.

Is it your damn business now?

Well, I don’t have a lot to say but that I’m disappointed in Edwards, and glad that he didn’t win the nomination.  Not that he wouldn’t have made a great president, but that this crap would have overshadowed his campaign and issues.  I hope this dies down quickly, since it’s irrelevant since Edwards is no longer running for anything, but I’m fairly sure it won’t. 

When Bob Livingston, the newly named Speaker of the House, was revealed to be a frequent patron of S&M;parlors, the media dropped it immediately after he resigned.  But if a retired Democratic politician had an affair that was over several years ago, there will be a press frenzy that lasts for months.  It seems Democrats are just held to higher standards.  Or maybe the press is just in the tank for the Republicans.

Well, thanks to John Edwards’ affair, I think we should invade Iran, kill all their leaders, and convert them all to Christians.

McCain ‘08
Because when he was screwing Cindy
on the side, at least she was rich!

I am disappointed, but that’s about it.  Wanting public integrity and private virtue to be totally congruent is one thing, demanding it of anyone—even our leaders—is another.  And I liked JE’s statement today—no weaseling, just an out-and-out complete apology.

Of course, the real problem—as with Spitzer—isn’t the infidelity or the hypocrisy but the streak of self-destructiveness.

The worst thing about this is his wife is CANCER STRICKEN and he was cheating on her. Thats just extremely low, low , low.

I don’t care at all about the affair thing, but I don’t think Edwards deserves a pass on this.  His infidelities are his own business, but he sought the nomination of my party while knowing that he was carrying around a ticking time bomb that, had he been nominated and it went off afterward, would have meant losing the election and consigning Americans to four more years of a broken health care system, war, income inequality, and State of the Union addresses that make my ears bleed if I accidentally turn on the TV while they’re happening.  What’s worse, he turns what could have been a small and surmountable time bomb (he issues a non-denial when it first surfaces and invokes the privacy of his family, who are “working this out") into a ginormous one (he lies indignantly for months before he’s caught on camera and has to confess at a point in the story when there’s no way his contrition will come across as sincere, and furthermore is in no position to convince anyone that he isn’t lying this time when he says he hasn’t fathered an illegitimate baby).  And what’s up with the baby anyway?  It isn’t his because the timing is wrong?  No other reason?  Does that mean he wasn’t using birth control?  He’s trying to convince me to vote for him while engaging in behavior that has the potential to leave the Democratic party with a presidential candidate who has fathered an illegitimate love child with a much younger woman while his wife is stricken with cancer?

Edwards should have all the affairs he wants, but I’m not letting him off the hook for showing that he’s more interested in a little on the side, and in his nice-guy reputation, than he is in keeping the Republicans as far away from the White House as humanly possible.

The Enquirer is so full of crap, it takes a real die-hard to swallow their garbage.  How the hell is anyone supposed to take a rag that constantly promotes alien sitings and psychic powers as serious news?

You do know that the link is to ABC, and Edwards admitted it, right?

Mark B wrote:

Not that he wouldn’t have made a great president, but that this crap would have overshadowed his campaign and issues.

He wouldn’t have made a great president, because there’s not a chance in hell he could have gotten elected with this hanging over his shoulders.  The witch-hunt against Bill Clinton would have seemed like child’s play compared to what Rush et al would have done to Edwards with this.  The fact that Elizabeth is suffering from a potentially fatal condition would make the Right even more bloodthirsty in their public shaming of Edwards.  And their strategy would have worked to a tune of 300+ EVs for John McCain.

It would have been a total flipping disaster had Edwards gotten nominated.  Pragmatically speaking, thank the almighty Flying Spaghetti Monster that it’s a scenario we didn’t have to face.

What draws the American mind, like a moth to the flame, about sexual behaviour.This foolish and excessive concern with what others do in their bedrooms shows an unseemly undemocratic streak in the national character. The subjects of this Cotton Matherism should just tell the Peeping Toms to get themselves f----d literally and metaphorically-then you could all grow up.

Well, I am glad you are getting off of your usual Cheaters-Are-Scum bandwagon to make an exception for the Breck Girl.

Wow, it’s pretty amazing how people can continue the homophobic slurs even after the story comes out that he was having an affair with a woman.  You’d think it would be enough proof that he’s not gay since he, you know, fucks women, but I guess not.

I find this story fascinating in the same way that I found the story of Brad Pitt cheating on Jennifer Aniston fascinating:  interesting, but not exactly essential to my life.  Since Edwards holds no political office and is not running for office, it’s gossip, not news.

Sorry, but no excuses for Edwards, as much as I like the guy. While cheating doesn’t prevent married politicians from being good leaders (hypocrisy on public policy excepted), I don’t think the fact that a lot of them can’t control their zippers is particularly acceptable. There’s not much you can do to put a positive spin on this one, and while I’m now relieved he didn’t get the nomination (what a disaster that would have been) I’m disappointed that he won’t get the AG or VP slot.

While I reserved judgment in this case because of a lack of solid evidence, I can’t honestly say I’m surprised. I’ve had the misfortune to meet and work with failed models and actors and party girls like Rielle Hunter, self-important hacks who re-invent themselves up by reading a few books about business, politics or spirituality and then combine that with their fading good looks to acquire a meal ticket (jobs, babies, fame, etc.) from powerful older horndogs like Edwards.

Speaking of which: Vicki Iseman—still missing.

Edwards should have all the affairs he wants, but I’m not letting him off the hook for showing that he’s more interested in a little on the side, and in his nice-guy reputation, than he is in keeping the Republicans as far away from the White House as humanly possible.

His political career is pretty much over, and rightly so.  I’m not going to get all worked up about what might have happened if he’d gotten the presidential or VP nod, because it didn’t happen, so it’s a moot point.

I can think he’s an asshole all I want but, again, this affects my day-to-day life about as much as finding out that Billy Crudup left Mary Louise Parker for another woman when she was 7 months pregnant with his son.  Scummy, and I think less of him, but it’s not going to really affect me personally.

Yes, this.

BTW, I f*cking dare McCain to say anything about Edwards’s affair, given that he’s been guilty of a similar thing in the past (leaving his wife, who’d been handicapped in an accident, for Cindy, whom he’d been seeing for about a year before he and his wife divorced).

Edwards lied about the affair, touted his strong family and support for Elizabeth, and paid off his victim with hush money.  I’d say that is hypocrisy, not just human weakness.

He wouldn’t have made a great president, because there’s not a chance in hell he could have gotten elected with this hanging over his shoulders.

Well, when I said ‘he would have made a great president’, I was speaking hypothetically.  Sure, he can’t get elected now, but that was decided in January, when he dropped out of the race.  There’s no doubt in my mind that Edwards has the qualities to be a great president, even though I now know that he cheated on his wife.  He was my first choice, but now, obviously, Obama seems to be the wiser choice.  Obama certainly seems to be doing a better job of running a campaign that Edwards did.

I think Edwards still have a role to play in the Obama administration, but it’s going to be diminished after this scandal.

Edwards lied about the affair, touted his strong family and support for Elizabeth, and paid off his victim with hush money.

His victim?  Are you kidding me?  Are we going back to Victorian days where women had no sex drive and were mere victims of male lust?

Mistress, yes.  Girlfriend, sure.  Victim?  Puh-lease.

I understand your position, Amanda - and I agree that if Edwards had taken, say, the Al Gore route and not run for president, but simply exerted a public moral force in favor of greater equality, I’d think you were right. But he ran for president with his mistress in his campaign. This isn’t cockiness, this is a slap in the face of everybody who supported him - like me, for instance. Such a thing was bound to come out - I mean, how stupid could one be not to know that? We have had enough of this kind of politician to last a lifetime. I don’t expect them to sacrifice one bonbon, one dollar bill, one lunch, one anything as they enjoy being rich famous and powerful. After all, I’m resigned to the fact that the governing class is almost universally composed of egotistic scum, who don’t even have the modicum of morals the old time Mafia used to have.  But Edwards could have decided not to run. He coulda been fucking honest.  The Democratic party missed a bullet here. And Edwards has burned a lot of people. I don’t think this bodes well for his future.

I’m not going to get all worked up about what might have happened if he’d gotten the presidential or VP nod, because it didn’t happen, so it’s a moot point.

Oh, I agree.  I think the only reason to mark his behavior as “Wrong” as opposed to just “wrong” is as a warning to any future candidate who thinks he’s slick enough to pull something like this off.

As for the election at hand, I wonder if it might be a good thing.  After all, no matter how McCain responds, it recalls his own similar behavior.  Either he’s silent and there’s a lot of whispering about why he can’t very well weigh in here when he also cheated on his vulnerable wife and lied about it, or he’s judgmental and there’s an opportunity for the press (which loves only one thing more than McCain: a “hypocrisy” story) to remind everyone about why that’s so ironic.  Meanwhile everyone who’s not sure they’re ready to vote for a black guy or a woman gets to mull over the fact that the only other Democratic candidate would have been worse in a very concrete way.  I’m looking on the bright side of this one.

The worst thing about this is his wife is CANCER STRICKEN and he was cheating on her. Thats just extremely low, low , low.

We know he was hiding the affair from the public, which is common sense given the phoney and prurient Puritanism the MSM pushes. What we don’t know if he was hiding it from his wife. As with Clinton, for all we know they had an “arrangement.”

What I don’t understand is, spousal permission or not, why these guys always go for the same nasty and indiscreet type of mistress/one-night-stand.  Interesting to a point for me, but ultimately that part of the story isn’t my problem but theirs.

And like Edwards is the first politician—or first rich man—to to hire his mistress.  He also won’t be the last.

Again, I’m irritated with him, but I don’t see any point in rending my garments over this.  He’s dead in politics now.

If you’re curious to see a big ol’ list of politicians behaving badly, take a gander through the Political Graveyard. At least Grover Cleveland had the balls to admit he had an illegitimate child.

Button-collecting, Mike?

I do wonder though, Amanda, and just perhaps you could answer this question,,, just what was it like being alone with John Edwards?

professordarkheart wrote:

As for the election at hand, I wonder if it might be a good thing.

What’s going to be funny is watching the Coulters, Hannitys and Limbaughs of the world try their damnedest to smear the Obama Campaign because of Edwards’ affair.  I don’t see how they can possibly do it in any credible way, but boy will they try.

Of course, when have they ever been known to start smear campaigns in a credible way?

“Button-collecting, Mike?”

...um, no.  I was trying to point out how ridiculous it is to act like Edwards’ dick and what he does with it has any relevance to things that are actually important right now.

My (right-wing, authoritarian, Koolaid-drinking) dad told me about this a while back, with glee in his voice, as if catching Edwards doing something a million other politicians around the world are probably doing right now, this very minute, is somehow important.

I didn’t care who Clinton screwed, I don’t care who Bush screws, why would I care who Edwards screws?  Screw anybody or anything you want.  Wear two wetsuits and shove a dildo up your ass for all I care.  Just do the job you were hired for.

I would no more vote for McCain than volunteer for a lobotomy.  We’d be better off leaving POTUS unfilled for 4-years than seating McCain in the oval office.

***

Now do I get my goddam troll points?…

“I do wonder though, Amanda, and just perhaps you could answer this question,,, just what was it like being alone with John Edwards?”

Who cares. 

But I do know what being alone with McCain would be like.  It’s exactly like being alone...except for the extra asshole…

You’re such a smear merchant it’s absurd.  John McCain asked his wife for a divorce over a year before she finally gave him one, so him getting married right away means nothing except you lefties somehow only think someone’s private life is private if they’re a liberal.

As for McCain, how does having sex with someone, then absorbing millions of dollars from them not qualify you as a whore?

I never claimed McCain wasn’t a whore.  In fact, quite the opposite, I think McCain is a big fat whore.

My point is that people exchange sex for money all the time.  Singling out johns as especially worthy of scorn requires that you ignore that fact.

“I do wonder though, Amanda, and just perhaps you could answer this question,,, just what was it like being alone with John Edwards?”

But I do know what being alone with McCain would be like.  It’s exactly like being alone...except for the extra asshole…
MikeEss on 08/08 at 06:29 PM

Oh! So, you do care! But about McCain. I see.

Now I do agree with “We’d be better off leaving POTUS unfilled for 4-years than seating McCain in the oval office” if that is applied to Obama and Clinton too.

Hey!

I got an idea. Let’s elect politicians who don’t have dick’s to ‘lead them astray..’

OH…

Okay, forget it....

Nevermind.

Remember that Clinton’s infidelities improved his public approval ratings.  Hell, maybe this will be good for Edwards’ reputation.

OTOH, Wayne Hays didn’t fare so well. 4 months later he resigned from congress. We’ll have to wait to see how this plays out.

Amanda, you’re being way too nice to him comparing your judgment to his.  In fact, that’s really just wrong, it’s not just nice.  Now we know that Edwards has made some really bad decisions.  He had no business at all in the race.  He had to know that this would surface at some point.  After all, he’s not a republican and the press won’t give him a do over.

No Amanda, your judgment was fine, it’s Edwards that has lost a lot of respect in my eyes.  I don’t judge for him for his affair.  We humans are notoriously frail in that regard.  It’s the decisions he made after the affair that diminish him in my eyes.

We don’t live in a time where politicians can have flawed and human private lives.  That’s totally ridiculous but it is the way it is.  Ignoring that is impossible.  Were that it was different…

“John McCain asked his wife for a divorce over a year before she finally gave him one, so him getting married right away means nothing except you lefties somehow only think someone’s private life is private if they’re a liberal.”

cameo, McCain, Cindy Lou, and his ex could have been having 3-ways for a year and it still wouldn’t matter…

cameo wrote:

You’re such a smear merchant it’s absurd.  John McCain asked his wife for a divorce over a year before she finally gave him one, so him getting married right away means nothing except you lefties somehow only think someone’s private life is private if they’re a liberal.

Well, Mr. Worthless Colostomy Bag, don’t you think that maybe someone’s private life should be private if they are a private citizen (not a currently elected official) who is currently not seeking public office?

By the way - given your righteous indignation on this matter - have you thought about sending letters to Republican Senators Vitter and Craig - two PUBLIC officials - demanding their immediate resignation for their sexual misconduct?  Or is that a private matter for them since they are Republicans?

So Amanda,

I see you enjoy Edwards “cocky”.

Edwards personal dealings are no big deal and should, in fact, be ignored.  Yet you draw correlaries with McCain and think McCains personal dealings are an issue, in fact, should be given more coverage.  So should personal issues BE an issue or not?

Or they should be ignored only if you enjoy the “cocky”?

You’re such a smear merchant it’s absurd.  John McCain asked his wife for a divorce over a year before she finally gave him one, so him getting married right away means nothing except you lefties somehow only think someone’s private life is private if they’re a liberal.

Not according to Carol McCain, he didn’t.  And not according to Ronald and Nancy Reagan, who distanced themselves from McCain for years over the divorce. 

Are you calling Nancy Reagan a liar?

You’re such a smear merchant it’s absurd.  John McCain asked his wife for a divorce over a year before she finally gave him one, so him getting married right away means nothing except you lefties somehow only think someone’s private life is private if they’re a liberal.

McCain has admitted to having an unspecified number of affairs after he returned from Vietnam and before he met Cindy.  That said, his adultery has never been one of the reasons that liberals don’t think he should be president.  It’s just a nice little bonus, since it prevents him from making that stupid argument about anyone else.

Gracchus -

I understand what you’re tyring to say, but I don’t like dishonesty. Maybe I’m old fashioned. I just don’t like it.

Its not the sex, I don’t care if people have “open” relationships or not. Just be honest about it. If you can’t do that, don’t go into public life. Liars suck.

Whats more, when someone breaks an oath to the closest person in their life, it doesn’t make me trust them to uphold an oath to the Constitution. Thats all.

Cognitive Dissonance anyone?!?!

Two things, cameo,

1) According to the religious people that have endorsed McCain, marrying one woman, and then another, is adultery. 

2) He started dating his current wife before he ever asked for a divorce.  They met in April of 1979.  He never denies cheating on his first wife, and blames himself for the marriage’s end.

Edwards personal dealings are no big deal and should, in fact, be ignored.  Yet you draw correlaries with McCain and think McCains personal dealings are an issue, in fact, should be given more coverage.  So should personal issues BE an issue or not?

I didn’t realize that Edwards was the Republican candidate for President.  Who knew?

Don’t we already know everything about McCain’s situation? He is already confessed to being a cheater in his book, I thought.

But then what would expect from someone with blog ads such as:

# Pamela Anderson’s Extreme Video See what all the controversy surrounding Pamela Anderson’s new video is about.

Watch as this sexy icon lays it all out in this very graphic video.

Viewers beware: This material may not be suitable for everyone!
Read more…

“Edwards personal dealings are no big deal and should, in fact, be ignored.  Yet you draw correlaries with McCain and think McCains personal dealings are an issue, in fact, should be given more coverage.  So should personal issues BE an issue or not?”

Are you lumping sex and graft together as “personal dealings”?  ‘Cause they’re not anything alike.

Pull the shit Duke Cunningham did (or McCain’s Keeting shenanigans, or countless other examples of money for consideration) and you should expect to get nailed for betraying the public’s trust.

Nail your secretary and you’ve betrayed your wife’s trust, but if you keep your politics clean, who cares?…

“if Edwards were some moral crusader for family values,”

Give me a fucking break.  He is MARRIED.  Same standards apply to anyone married, unless there’s an agreement between partners to allow adultery.  Their marriage isn’t anyone’s business, but DAMN, he cheated on his wife, and as a special touch, while she was battling cancer!  Tough shit if people have an opinion about it!  That’s how life works, FFS. 

My ex-husband wasn’t a “moral crusader for family values,” but it sure didn’t make it okay when the motherfucker cheated on ME while I battled cancer!  Christ, you people excusing this are ridiculous.  Take the partisan blinders off and think: what kind of asshole does this shit?  What if you were in Elizabeth Edwards’ shoes?  Would YOU trust this guy?  And what kind of arrogant prick thinks he is immune to scrutiny?  Oh right...Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, and now John Edwards.  Hubris, indeed.  They answer to nobody, least of all their WIVES. 

Also, spare me the “who cares” crap - you all know as well as the biggest wingnuts do that if this were Mitt Romney or hell, Rudy Giuliani, in the exact same position, you’d be going apeshit.  In fact, I may dig through the archives here to find out what you all have had to say about Giuliani’s marital history.  You sure seem to have a lot to say about McCain, and you don’t even have the stupid, untrue story right.  HA!  David Vitter?  No, it’s not the same as Vitter.  Vitter didn’t run for President, and his wife doesn’t have cancer, and his wife isn’t a major factor in his political career.  He’s still not excused, though--he’s a heartless asshole, just like Edwards.  Funny how you all act like Vitter (of whom you likely had never heard, prior to his scandal) is a HUGE deal, but Edwards is nobody’s business.  PMSL!

Nail your secretary and you’ve betrayed your wife’s trust, but if you keep your politics clean, who cares?…
MikeEss

Now that is genius! Is that how you prefer others to treat you?

Thanks for being stupid!

Spartacus wrote:

OTOH, Wayne Hays didn’t fare so well. 4 months later he resigned from congress. We’ll have to wait to see how this plays out.

I’m sure that sometime in the next few months John Edwards will meet a similar fate and have to resign from his public office as well…

Oh, wait…

Anyway isn’t everyone glad Barack Obama is our nominee?

Had Edwards been our nominee, the election just would have ended.

Had Hillary Clinton been our nominee, everyone would have been reminded of Bill’s problems.

Horaay! We made the right choice!

My ex-husband wasn’t a “moral crusader for family values,” but it sure didn’t make it okay when the motherfucker cheated on ME while I battled cancer!  Christ, you people excusing this are ridiculous.  Take the partisan blinders off and think: what kind of asshole does this shit?  What if you were in Elizabeth Edwards’ shoes?  Would YOU trust this guy?  And what kind of arrogant prick thinks he is immune to scrutiny?  Oh right...Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, and now John Edwards.  Hubris, indeed.  They answer to nobody, least of all their WIVES.

Wow, someone with integrity. Who woulda thunk it.

Horaay! We made the right choice!
Ben D.  on 08/08 at 06:59 PM

Are youo gay? Not that there is anything wromg with that. But are you gay?

I just wonder, considering Elizabeth Edwards reads blogs, what she’s thinking when she sees people like Amanda and others whom she likely respects/respectED, showing absolutely zero empathy for her in this situation.  I’m pretty sure I can imagine what she thinks, though.  Insult to injury, I’d think.

Whats more, when someone breaks an oath to the closest person in their life, it doesn’t make me trust them to uphold an oath to the Constitution. Thats all.

I understand what you’re saying, but life’s more complicated than that.  You can still trust people that make mistakes, especially if they relate to their personal life, you just trust them less.

In any case, it’s kind of irrelevant, since he’s retired from office and not running for anything.

Normally, I’d agree, but cheating on a woman with cancer is beyond assholery.

Straight as an arrow, Bug. Though I’m not sure why you care so much.

Now do I get my goddam troll points?…

Sorry--I think my tongue may have been so firmly in cheek that my previous post came across as serious!

I briefly considered writing a troll-bot myself to see if I couldn’t wipe out the McCain campaign financially by forcing them to send me millions of tchotchkes…

And yeah, I can’t work myself up about this one earlier. It’s an ugly, messy issue for a family that has very little to do with mine.

John Edwards is one step removed from a televangelist. The fact that people who are so critical of religious frauds (and rightly so) couldn’t see that this guy—despite his obvious phoniness—was the Democratic version of one, leaves me somewhat amused.

“you all know as well as the biggest wingnuts do that if this were Mitt Romney or hell, Rudy Giuliani, in the exact same position, you’d be going apeshit.”

I don’t know about the Mittster, but we all know Rudy couldn’t keep it in his pants.  So that’s not a made up scenario.

In Giuliani’s case, the affairs aren’t the problem.  It’s taking city money to pay for getting the pussy that’s the problem.

Same with Spitzer.  If he nailed 100 whores in a row, it doesn’t matter.  Spend state money paying for it?  That’s wrong.

You wingnuts just don’t understand do you?  If what you’re doing is offensive to “god”, let god handle it.  If you’re stealing from us to give to your friends, selling your vote to lobbyists, just plain corruption, etc., you’re harming us — your employers — not just yourself…

Cognitive Dissonance anyone?!?!

That’s putting it mildly.

# Pamela Anderson’s Extreme Video See what all the controversy surrounding Pamela Anderson’s new video is about.

It’s an ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), not a porn ad.  There’s a whole thread about it near the bottom of the page, because we think PETA were assholes for presenting one ad for Amanda’s approval and substituting a fake porn come-on for the final ad. 

We’ve been discussing it for days, actually, but thanks for coming in ignorant and making a fool of yourself.

So, wait, you’re arguing that by saying this is none of the public’s business, she’s disrespecting Elizabeth Edwards?

How so?  Elizabeth Edwards knew about the affair in 2006.  http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5441195&page=1

So it seems that Elizabeth Edwards DOES think it is none of the public’s business.

Edwards was running a faux campaign for President. He solicited donations under false pretences; I donated to that campaign, I want my money back.  As long as I get my money back, I couldn’t care less what happens next.

Whether you think that his private life is his own, reality is this would make him infinitely less electable. It was a matter of his choices; and I assume that candidates that I support are not making such choices.

So using some “filmaker” as a cum dumpster, while plying your family values on the campaign trail; while your cancer ridden wife is standing by your side is okey-dokey?

Got it.

Fahering a bastard while running for President is okey-dokey too?

Got it.

You guys are right.

Fuck McCain!

This is probably the most pointless flame war, over the biggest non-story that I’ve ever seen.

You wingnuts just don’t understand do you?

First of all, fuck you.  I’m no wingnut.

Secondly, no shit about Giuliani’s infidelity.  I said I may just review the record to see how much smack talk there’s been around here about it, considering he’s no “crusader for family values.”

But like Bug said - some of you are suffering severe cognitive dissonance.  Got integrity?

we think PETA were assholes for presenting one ad for Amanda’s approval and substituting a fake porn come-on for the final ad. 

^^^ THIS.  Quoted for truth.

“Now that is genius! Is that how you prefer others to treat you?
Thanks for being stupid!”

“Are youo gay? Not that there is anything wromg with that. But are you gay?”

Now bug.  You know what your parents said when they left you alone in the house with the computer. 

You better have it cleaned up and turned off before they get home or you’re gonna be in a world of hurt! 
(Don’t forget to clear the browser history, and the cache, or they’ll find out about those porn sites you love so much...)

“you all know as well as the biggest wingnuts do that if this were Mitt Romney or hell, Rudy Giuliani, in the exact same position, you’d be going apeshit.”

At this point in the election, with neither of them chosen to be McCain’s VP?  Probably not.  Hell, Rudy’s had so many affairs that he’d have to come up with some exciting new twist to get our attention.  His current wife only got our attention because of the animal cruelty thing.

We’d be having some good fun at their expense, but not much moral outrage.  Unless it turned out that Mitt had treated his mistress the way he treated his Irish setter.

Say, what is it with recent Republican candidates and cruelty towards dogs, anyway?

When I read this over at CNN, I was wondering why he made a public statement about anything? He’s not a candidate, it’s none of my business, so just fade away into the background and run a foundation or something. Then I read this:

But Don Fowler, a former Democratic Party chairman, said this week that Edwards might be forfeiting a major role at the party’s upcoming convention in Denver—or in a future Democratic administration—unless he cleared the air.

“I think the longer these allegations go unanswered and unresponded to, the more difficult it is for the people producing the convention to give him a prominent spot,” Fowler said.

So he had to clear the air to have some sort of future in the Democratic party and leadership? Talk about ego. Please, just go away. Ya know you did it, you know it’s going to be an enormous ass ache, you know it’s going to be a sink hole, why didn’t you just retreat into the background and keep your mouth shut.

Another Elizabeth,

I do not understand your 7:11 post.  Also, do you have any response to my 7:08 that Elizabeth herself has known for two years and chose not to break the story and to support her husband’s candidacy?

Another Elizabeth wrote:

Funny how you all act like Vitter (of whom you likely had never heard, prior to his scandal) is a HUGE deal, but Edwards is nobody’s business.

So what you’re saying is that as long as they aren’t and weren’t running for POTUS, it’s OK for an elected official to engage in extramarital affairs with prostitutes, and they should be left alone.

I’m sure you were out there championing the “Leave Eliot Spitzer Alone!” campaign in the middle of his personal crisis.

And before you spout off about Spitzer’s hypocrisy because of his previous job as New York AG, make sure that you also address Vitter’s hypocrisy because of his use of the “Sanctity of Marriage” BS rhetoric in his political campaign talking points.

The fact of the matter is - John Edwards is NOT an elected official, and he is NOT currently running for POTUS.  David Vitter and Larry Craig are both elected officials, and neither has resigned.  And people like you never demanded that they reisgn, but I’m sure you were the type spouting your Republican bullshit demanding Eliot Spitzer’s crucifixion a few months ago in the midst of his scandal.

McCain is currently running for POTUS.  And since you GOP assholes made it fair game to attack all Democratic elected officials and those Democrats actively seeking high office (and apparantly those NOT actively seeking such offices, as well) for any indiscretion they’ve ever had, you fucktwats deserve every bit of smear you get.

What the hell do you want AE?  Are we not acting shocked enough that a politician turned out to be an asshole? OMG NOWAI!

Some people have better things to do than waste their emotional energy getting enraged about Edward’s dumbfuckery, because it really has nothing to do with us.  He holds no office and isn’t running for any office either.  McCain, on the other hand, is still running for President, in case you hadn’t noticed.

Edwards was running a faux campaign for President. He solicited donations under false pretences; I donated to that campaign, I want my money back.  As long as I get my money back, I couldn’t care less what happens next.

See, now this is the one thing I can see getting enraged about.  If he cheated on his wife but he’s no longer running for office or no longer holds office that is, frankly, his business.  It makes him an asshole, but it’s not really something the public should be sticking their noses into since he’s not in office anymore.

If he took the money that was donated to his campaign and used it to pay off his mistress, that’s something else.

Leaving aside the considerable public humiliation of Mrs. Edwards and her children (regarding which they have my every sympathy) I think that I’m probably fairly alone in being glad that this happened.  Edwards showed himself to be gutless and useless as a VP candidate and cowardly and ineffectual in defending his people when the GOP went after them.  This scandal (pointless as it may be) pretty much puts paid to the chance of him playing any significant role in a possible Obama* administration, and that’s a very good thing.  He’s a spineless turd, a jellyfish and the Dems are well rid of him.
.
.
.
* - You don’t think that the GOP is going to walk away from this when they can possibly cheat their way to victory for the 3rd time running, do you??

Seeker6079, you’ve just made the best post of this thread.

Amanda, I’m a fan, but this is really one of your weakest posts ever. You come off sounding like a total sycophant. “Maybe this will be good for Edward’s reputation”. C’mon. Sadly No! should really tear this one apart. Seriously, this is at the level of “Because shut up, that’s why”.

@ half the commenters here- This has nothing to do with John McCain. This is about John Edwards being a cobag. McCain is also a cobag, but it has nothing to do with this and doesn’t mitigate what a motherfucker Edwards is at all. If nothing else, this piece of shit thought so highly of himself that he risked torpedoing the democrats chances this fall. Screw him. The wrong person in that marriage got cancer.

“Edwards, as far as I know, has never been a ‘sanctity of marriage’ wanker...” - Amanda Marcotte

John Edwards on the Lewinsky Scandal, ca. 1999:
(http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/john_edwards_in_1999)

“I think this President has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen.”

So yeah.

What Mark B said at 5:35.  The main double standard is that the Edwards thing will go on an endless CMSM loop, to be repeated ad infinitum.  That’s the real difference between how they treat Dems and the GOP; the Craig thing was an aberration arising out of the silly, public prurience of it and the gay angle.  GOP scandals certainly get reported, but are quickly withdrawn from general circulation and hidden in the stacks by the corporate media librarians.

Seeker6079, you’ve just made the best post of this thread.

Agreed.  I was never an Edwards fan, and he really pissed me off in 2004 by bending over for Dick Cheney in the VP debates, so I’m not all that upset that he’s shot himself in the foot.  Too bad, so sad, let’s move on.

“I just wonder, considering Elizabeth Edwards reads blogs, what she’s thinking when she sees people like Amanda and others whom she likely respects/respectED, showing absolutely zero empathy for her in this situation.”

Nobody here has said Elizabeth Edwards shouldn’t get any sympathy.  Obviously what she got out of this is undeserved.

But you’re conflating two very different things. 

A politician is an employee, and a person.  To be a good politician requires you to perform your duties to us quickly, efficiently, and properly.  You can be despicable and still be a good politician — just like you can be a good scientist, engineer, doctor, lawyer, etc.

After the last 8-years, I’d take Clinton and a string of eager interns any day of the week…

Heh, I knew you’d come up with something especially mind bending to excuse the silky one.  But, this is more crazee than expected.

Jealous that it wasn’t you?

Thanks for the compliment, Ben D.  Shame we’re both straight.

What a load of unadulterated shit.  Any man who will cheat on his wife will cheat on anybody.  We have now established beyond a shadow of a doubt that Edwards is a liar who will fuck over any person on Earth.  That is far, far more relevant than the non-issue of hypocrisy that moonbats always get their panties in a twist over.

What a load of unadulterated shit.  Any man who will cheat on his wife will cheat on anybody.

And you’re going to vote for admitted serial adulterer John McCain anyway?

BuhBuh Ray,

It has to do with John McCain, who is running for POTUS, getting a media cakewalk for something that Edwards is getting beat up over (adultery while spouse is suffering from a serious injury/illness).  That’s the angle.  They always try and paint our party as the party of slutty-slut-sluts, but if we do the math, they’re the ones who’re out doing more adulteratin’ divorcificatin’ and sexually preying on the underaged.

Rielle Hunter’s national inquirer spread got treated more seriously that the NY Times article about John McCain’s inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist.  Which was inappropriate EVEN IF IT WAS ENTIRELY NONSEXUAL.  And which was serious enough that people who worked for him were concerned.

“What a load of unadulterated shit.  Any man who will cheat on his wife will cheat on anybody.  We have now established beyond a shadow of a doubt that Edwards is a liar who will fuck over any person on Earth.  That is far, far more relevant than the non-issue of hypocrisy that moonbats always get their panties in a twist over.”

So I take it you’ve renounced McCain and are not voting for POTUS this year, right?  Otherwise, as you said, “any man who will cheat on his wife will cheat on anybody”, so in your eyes there is no acceptable Republican candidate in 2008, correct?

...oh and before you start some shit about Ron Paul or Bob Barr — vote for them and you’re as stupid as the people that voted for Perot in ‘92...and you know it…

People need to stop judging the sexual activities of others. If you are not in a relationship with the person in question then it is none of your business This is a family matter and shame on the press for pushing this issue all to grab attention and headlines. As long as he is not doing something illegal the public does not need to know..He could swing naked from a chandelier and get his rocks off wearing diapers it still shouldn’t matter..People need to focus on whether or not the man does his job because that is the reason he is in the public eye in the first place.

“And you’re going to vote for admitted serial adulterer John McCain anyway?”

A pretty big ASSumption on your part.  Does making it help you feel better about a man who fucked over his wife, claimed he didn’t love the woman he was screwing and claims that he and his campaign workers passed Hunter around like a cum dumpster.  McCain is a piece of shit but that is a giant upgrade over your scumbag hero.

vanderleun, it’s all fun until some asshole comes along and pokes somebody’s eye out...so it looks like you’ve crowned yourself king of the assholes…

“That the woman involved in more age-appropriate takes away the thin thread of justification people had for hating on Clinton for the Lewinsky scandal. ”

Uhhhh, what? You don’t think the cheating itself was enough? 

Really, you’re winning at Twister on this one.

dear fucking god. amanda, i just knew when i saw this on yahoo news that every asshole with no life would be here flying up your ass with the burning stupid. i really hate seeing someone i respect and who i think i would probably get along with really well offline have to deal with such a ridiculous amount of idiots.

as to edwards, elizabeth has known about this for 2 years and has obviously handled it how she chooses. all the people whining about “what about poooooor cancer stricken elizabeth” are doing nothing but strip her of her agency and autonomy. and i respect john for publicly admitting it, something other politicians (cough*senator craig*cough) are loath to do even when caught in the act.

Ismone,

I entirely agree with you about McCain’s media treatment and the slutificating, and that’s precisely why I’m so outraged at Edwards behavior. We can document that the media frame isn’t accurate, the republicans can demonstrate that it isn’t, we can complain about it forever, it won’t change. We know the reality of the situation, so our politicians damn well better have the good sense to keep their noses clean. If they want extra-marital ass, they better stop being politicians. Period. To continue to run for office when you know you have that baggage is egotistical and irresponsible to the extreme. Moral arguments aside (and I think there’s plenty to indict Edwards there), on strictly utilitarian grounds this behavior is entirely beyond the pale.
There’s plenty wrong with McCain and the media, and it should be examined, but it doesn’t need to be married to this story. We should be big enough to criticize our own without any “but, but, but...”

and can you maybe mod out all the comments using the phrase “cum dumpster” as theyre really triggering? thanks.

“What about the fact that he funneled $114,000 of his Presidential campaign donations to his mistress to produce a video for which she had no prior experience to make and which has never been used in his campaigns?”

PLEASE: when there’s money sloshing around, ALL SORTS OF unqualified people get tapped to ‘produce’ videos.  And it pisses me off.  (Especially when they ask for your advice.  Fuck you, EMP!)

“McCain is a piece of shit but that is a giant upgrade over your scumbag hero.”

So, even though McCain is at least as big a cheater as there is, you’ll still vote for him.  Even though “a guy who would cheat on his wife will cheat on anyone.”

But you won’t vote for Edwards, who isn’t running anymore anyway so nobody else can either, and you wouldn’t have voted for him even if he was still running and it turned out he shitted daisies and farted Channel No 5, and you won’t vote for Obama even though there is no accusation that he cheats…

So why are you here?…

Atrios got it perfectly:

The public: Edwards was a fucking idiot for running for president, and betrayed a lot of his supporters by doing so.

The private: everything else is between Edwards and his family. Not for the rest of us to figure out how this is supposed to affect their relationships and their marriage.

I see your point, Ray.  But I think you’re holding dems. to too high of a standard.  Some of the bastards will cheat, and many politicians get away with getting extra-marital ass.  (I.e., George H.W. Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson).

I’m disappointed in Edwards, but I do see Amanda’s point when she says “their business is now public property because they treat your business like it’s public property.”

I’ve gotta say, this is the lowest level of discourse I’ve ever seen on Pandagon, on both sides.

Eric, haven’t been around too long, have you...?

dear fucking god. amanda, i just knew when i saw this on yahoo news that every asshole with no life would be here flying up your ass with the burning stupid. \
jessilikewhoa on 08/08 at 07:41 PM

No worries, there’s plenty of room.

“Eric, haven’t been around too long, have you...?”

Yeah, I have personally sunk WAY past this level of discourse on several occasions! Please give credit where credit is due.

Also, to Mnemosyne: I don’t consider “Breck Girl” to be a homophobic slur. For me, it’s always been a comment on Edwards’ vanity.  I thought he was a coward and lacking in leadership skills after Amanda’s problems with the religious right. But this just goes to show that the “everyman’s” miner boy is really an elitist at heart who wants women who will revel in his story while his wife is ill.

Tyro et al - that’s the worst thing, surely, that if he had the nomination, and then this came out, it would be disastrous. Hopefully, unlike how it would in the UK, this won’t have an effect on voting patterns?

But aside from the fact that John+Elizabeth’s marriage is none of our business, especially now - are people really saying that having an affair makes you a terrible person (and not fit to lead - if it happened at a slightly less opportune moment?) Don’t want to sound stupid, but where *I* live (mainly UK, and a bit in Germany, France and Poland) these things have had much bigger influences on politics than they should - like, a good minister having to resign because she/he had an affair 20 years ago? Or smoked pot (as a teenager). Although no-one would say that it is a good thing to do to your partner - why do we expect better from politicians, who are only people, after all, then we do from everyone else? Especially if you don’t preach about the “sanctity” of your own relationship. After all, no-one knows what someone else’s relationship is like-sometimes even when it is your friends, let alone strangers. Shyame though, ‘cos Edwards seemed like the awesomest bloke to take charge…

I should have known this thread would get filled with assholes who are angry at Edwards because he got laid and they, being wanker right wingers, can’t.

Edwards voted not guilty on the Clinton impeachment.  What he says to pander is less important to me than his voting record.  Anti-gay votes, votes to restrict people’s sex lives, anti-choice votes.  That’s what I need to see before I even consider this a remotely legitimate story.  Meanwhile, every Republican wanker with a diaper on his ass paying a prostitute to watch him suck cock votes as if he thinks this is the Taliban-run Afghanistan.

jessilikewhoa wrote: