John Edwards had an affair. The woman's name is Rielle Hunter. She made web vids for the Edwards campaign, which is over, and which did not focus on marital fidelity and phony family values. She has a child, who may or may not be the product of said affair. John's (amazing) wife, Elizabeth, has been aware of the affair, and wishes, of course, that it had remained a private thing, between John and Rielle and his family.
Got it? That's what you need to know.
Over on Open Salon, Leigh wrote:
Now we have a bunch of fools who would argue that if a man cheats on his wife it reflects on his character and the public needs to know. But that's hypocritical bull shit which only came into fashion when the Republican Party planted the seeds of real honest to God fundamentalist Christianity and watered them and gave them plenty of fertilizer.Over at Aristocrats, Paul wrote:
I have spent more than fifty years in Washington. I have hardly met a member of Congress who wasn't shtupping some woman in his office. And of course they lie. Who wouldn't? The one thing the media is ridiculing John Edwards for today is his 99% honest statement. I doubt that's true but if you can really find a member of Congress who is 99% honest you have found the Hope diamond. In all my years in Washington I only met two members of Congress who I found to be completely trustworthy and honorable; and even they cheated on their wives occasionally. I'll tell you who they were another day.
Reporters seem obliged to ask the question, "Why did you do it?" Inevitably, this leads to a complicated self-examination ("I was depressed at the time..." or something) and introspective condemnation ("I knew it was wrong but...")
[snip]
Someday, the Lord Of The Rednecks (whoever that might be) will get caught and, lacking the verbal tools of pop psychology, he'll wrinkle his brow when the question is asked, think back to when it happened, and answer, "Well, she was there and I got a boner - or I got a boner and she was there - I forget which. She seemed willing and, sure enough, she was. Next thing you know..."
I will vote for that man, even if he's a Republican. It's really not complicated at all, in fact it's kinda natural. Anyone who knows that is fit to lead. Important decisions, like trivial ones, are best made on the facts at hand and not behind a cloud of some mystical idealogical bullshit. Oh, to hear "the lord" or one of his lesser lieutenants just come out and say it, "Yeah, I fucked her."
Ok. Now that we've finished with THE BIG NEWS ON JOHN EDWARDS' PENIS, could we talk about Russia? China? Did the president instruct the CIA to forge "evidence" against Saddam Hussein? I mean, Suskind's book never, to my knowledge, mentions whether the president's penis had anything to do with it, but still.
How about discussing the actual, current presidential candidates actual, documented, positions on key issues and policy ideas, rather than whether they appeal to Hot Chicks (spoiler: the old guy, according to his campaign, does not).
Last word: Someone (Josh Marshall? Who was it?) wrote this week that arguably the worst outcome of the Edwards story is the silencing of Elizabeth, a smart and savvy woman of class and ideas, who, should she face the cameras again and approach issues of poverty or health care policy, will be met with, "But how did it feel when you found out?"
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