One way to get along with your Palinite relatives during family get-togethers is to talk about Democrats that everyone can agree to hate. Like these folks:
John and Elizabeth Edwards, whose marriage received outsized attention during the last two Democratic presidential campaigns, have legally separated, according to two people close to the family.
The development comes after Mr. Edwards belatedly admitted last week that he fathered a child in 2007 with his mistress, Rielle Hunter. The child will be 2 years old next month. He had previously denied the allegation, which is the subject of a book set to be released next week.
The legal separation, which was first reported by ABC News today, was confirmed by two people close to the family who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. The separation was pursued by Mrs. Edwards, the associates said, following long-running revelations about Mr. Edwards and Ms. Hunter.
Mrs. Edwards, who is battling terminal cancer, informed some friends of the separation earlier this month.
I don’t know which of the two I dislike more.
A homage to Lenny Bruce:
I very clearly dislike John Edwards more.
I have no problem knowing which to dislike more.
I refuse to judge a woman who A. lost a child, B.was diagnosed with incurable cancer and C. had her whole world as she knew it betrayed by her husband of 30 years.
Obviously she was not thinking clearly, but I can’t say that I would think clearly given the circumstances, since I have only experienced one of those horrendous things and it threw me for a loop. Should she have encouraged her asshole of a husband to run for president? Of course not. But when faced with the loss of the world you knew, you go into shock and you reach for anything that tells you your world is still intact when you know in your heart it’s not. So fucking blame her for that if it makes you feel better. We all play those little games with ourselves, most of us have the luxury of falling apart in private.
Was she “bitchy”? Perhaps. But if one is not permitted to be so under those circumstances than there really is never a reason to be.
I find the Elizabeth Edwards haters to be either childless, men or Republicans. To hold her equally responsible is just reprehensible to me.
I’m reminded of that interview where she was asked something along the lines of whether she believed John when he said the child wasn’t his, and she said something to the extent that she did believe him, because if he was lying about that, then she was married to a monster…
Who can blame her for not wanting to face the fact that she was married to someone who could do what he had done, and then deny that he was that little girl’s father to boot? The whole world knows that he did that, and so will the little girl.
No words for that level of awful. He deserves everyone’s scorn.
Yeah, that statement about her “having to believe it” is very illustrative of the way you go about deceiving yourself at a time like that.
I had a 12 hour period where I read dozens of emails from my husband to his girlfriend…saw the dirty pictures…read how he was going to leave me and be with her. When I finally got to sleep I slept for 12 hours, and then could not remember a single thing the next day. Your mind protects you. And that’s just about the marriage. I can’t even let my mind think about what happens when your child dies. And the cancer diagnosis on top of all of that.
I can empathize with what she’s gone through, but the two of them are still about the biggest phonies I’ve ever encountered in my life. If you want to focus more on his phoniness, go right ahead. But I’m just as mad at her because what they tried to do together, they tried to do me, my country, and the world.
I’m saying I don’t put them together at all. He was an ass, and he was totally responsible because he WAS thinking clearly. He shouldn’t have counted on her being the one who stopped him. You just don’t know how fucked up your mind gets, Boo. I’m not going to fault her.
Never liked John Edwards. People told me it was because I was biased against his southern accent, but I just never liked him. Most people who go into politics are probably more unprincipled than your average bear. Just look back on the types of creeps who used to run for class president.
Sorry, but what did Elizabeth Edwards do to deserve your dislike other than having terminal cancer and having her husband screw around on her and lie about it?
She knew he had cheated and let him run for President. That makes her as guilty of the lie as he was.
…and find some compassion. Even really smart women respond in odd ways to abuse, especially mental abuse. Her lies were nothing compared to his.
How about encouraging her husband to run for president and allow millions of people to invest their hopes in him and allow thousands to work for him, all the while knowing that he had an affair that would inevitably come out and cripple his chances of being elected?
That shows no understanding of the human condition, sorry. So it’s HER fault for not stopping him even though she was probably in shock. Ok.
No – she knew for months.
That’s an unforgiveable lie. Yes, she was a victim. And I would have felt sorry for her. I did feel sorry for her, until I learned she had let her completely blackmailable husband run for president, putting MY party and MY country at risk.
Sorry. There’s no forgiving that.
I can forgive her that. She made the bad decision to put her life, and her family’s life, before the national good. Guess what?..I’d do the same.
Yeah, I agree, although I probably wouldn’t do the same.
Plus, even though I’m an atheist, I have a strong belief in forgiving people–but never forgetting–if they ask for it, and if everyone’s ready.
Hell, I’ll forgive Dick Cheney one day. Wait, no…he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong. Never mind.
And I just wouldn’t.
I’d find a way out of that mess.
In my case I always think like a mother first.
I guess she was supposed to make a public announcement “hey, everybody, my husband is a lying, cheating horndog who couldn’t even wait ’til I’m dead before whoring around, and who refuses to even acknowledge his own kid”. Oh yeah, what woman wouldn’t do THAT?
Just for the record: there is no easily measurable time for your mind to recover from something like that.
I’m with you all the way on this one, Boo. That made me SO angry when I found out she had known all along. That was unforgiveable. She risked OUR future to protect her own. Unforgiveable.
Lisa, if electing people with shaky sexual morality were a risk to a country’s future. Europe would not exist today.
You’re WAY off.
The risk wasn’t that he’d be elected president but that he’d win the nomination of the Democratic Party and then be destroyed by these revelations, making McCain president.
Near as I can tell, McCain is President. Can’t see any policy or personnel differences between the McCain of the pre-inauguration and the Obama of the post-inauguration.
She knew she was dying. She knew her husband was the only true Liberal running. So she lied. Big deal. How about all of Obama’s lies? Maybe Elizabeth wanted to be First Lady before she died. Is that so bad?
Edwards is revealed as a complete SOB that couldn’t even wait for his wife to die before cheating on her. And cheating with a slut that apparently was doing everyone in the office according to the interview I saw on TV with her. So Edwards is not only an SOB, but an SOB wife bad taste. I still think he would have made the best President and would not have sold us out to the insurance companies.
Roosevelt cheated on Eleanor. Ike cheated on Mamie. Were they bad Presidents? Nixon and Reagan were apparently faithful, were they good Presidents?
No “policy or personnel differences between the McCain of the pre-inauguration and the Obama of the post-inauguration”?
Edwards as the “only true Liberal running”?
“All of Obama’s lies”?
I think you’ve been living in the wilderness entirely too long.
It’s fairly obvious, from what we know now, that Edwards didn’t have the integrity or the character to be town dog catcher, much less President of the US. Having an affair is one thing. Putting your country on the line in favor of your own personal ego is reprehensible. But denying your child is beyond despicable.
Maybe that wasn’t the best thing for her to do, but he’s responsible for the behavior behind the whole thing. Not her. Not her children. She’s already suffering, she doesn’t deserve to take the crap for his screwups.
Oh puleeeeeeze! What puritans Americans are. As if personal morality has anything to do with executive ability.
And then you blame the WIFE?! Give me a break.
She’s the one who pushed for him to run. I don’t blame her for his infidelity. I blame her for making a truly horrible, dishonest, irresponsible, crazy decision.
I read you nearly every day, Booman, but that’s the dumbest thing you ever said. He’s probably planning his next run right now, with Rod Blagoyovich as his running mate.
Edwards and Blagojevich, that would definitely be a populist ticket! Rod’s only political sin was refusing to raise taxes. And as Hurria has said, you have to separate the personal from the political.
My Mom was one of the greatest people who ever walked the Earth, but I wouldn’t want her to even have been a Congressman. Clinton was another SOB, but he still was the best President of the last thirty years.
Did she push for him to run, or did she say “whatever you decide, dear, I am behind you and will support you fully”? My guess it was the latter, and in any case it is his responsibility, not hers, especially considering what she was going through.
“Did they compare me to Robert Kennedy?”
I’ll never forget reading that Edwards had asked that when he visited West Virginia during his most recent campaign. I had never liked him, but after that comment, I knew he was as phony as a three-dollar bill.
He wasn’t concerned for the poor. He was concerned that he needed to APPEAR concerned for the poor.
What a jackass. I’m just happy he’s finally been completely exposed.
I’ll never forget, as precinct captain for Obama, trying to talk some sense into Edwards supporters. I had to be very careful – they were mostly women, and mostly in love with him. It was horrifying, to me. How could they not see through him?
But his wife’s betrayal was also bad, because she had also portrayed herself as a leader and near saint. She should never have agreed to cover up that important fact and let her husband run for president. If that had been me, I would have said, either you tell the press, or I will. But you’re not running for President with this hiding under the covers.
My anger is a cakewalk today compared to where I would be had he won the election and this country was relying on him to deal with the dirt Bush left this country in and all this came out.
I cannot judge her. But John, well he doesn’t deserve anyone’s second chance.
Him.
I have no problem with her – she got pinched by his actions and her reaction wasn’t in our best interest, but it’s not her responsibility to look out for my best interests – it’s my job to vet my own choice for president – so there’s no betrayal or anything along those lines from her. Him? I’ve been saying to hell with John Edwards ever since 2004 when he decided to show Howard Dean how you really appeal to folks with confederate flags on their pickup trucks:
To hell with John Edwards.
BooMan,
This is one of the few times when I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking 🙂 There’s no way to compare the two.
IIRC, there’s one mitigating factor to Elizabeth’s responsibility — the fuckwad didn’t tell her about the affair until the day AFTER he announced his candidacy.
I’m in agreement with most of the above — NO COMPARISON between his culpability and hers under the circumstances. He is pure human slime.
It enrages me to recall how I believed in him and thought he was the only real “progressive” in the campaign, and sent him my hard-earned money to boot. Guess that makes me a suckah.
I can’t even imagine why you would hate Elizabeth Edwards. Some PC concept or other?
I feel terrible for her and no sympathy for him BUT they BOTH risked a John McCain presidency. If Edwards had gotten the nomination and then the scandal broke we could have been completely screwed. I don’t think that it is right that this country is so obsessed with the sex lives of our officials but we are and it could have gotten McCain elected. The saving grace for her, IMHO, is that she has to be somewhat off balance due to all that she has suffered and he is just an egomaniac.
BooMan, Obviously you’ve read the same recent article that I did.
Most cancer victims I`ve known are in denial of their condition to the very end.
Many people in a relationship are in denial about one or the other`s infidelity.
Adding both of those possible situations to Elizabeth Edwards life, I can easily see that she might make irrational choices, especially at a time in her life where what she needed the most was the love & emotional support of her husband who in sickness & in health vowed to stay by her side, till death do part them.
But the addle brained Mr. Edwards set the scene for the possible fiasco in regards to the presidency.
He is to blame.
Nothing she could have done should have driven him to be unfaithful.
He did though, make a choice between the presidency or the dick between his ears.
Shouldn`t you also be blaming his advisors who knew, & more so, the mistress who also knew he was a screw-up. (pardon the pun)
It`s quite easy to see the deficiency in his character, when he denied the paternity of his daughter.
.
Former aide exposes details of Edwards‘ affair and the cover-up he orchestrated:
Edwards Scandal: Sex, Lies and Audiotape
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."