Elizabeth Edwards Comments On John’s Confession

Elizabeth Edwards has a post at Daily Kos about her husband’s confession of earlier today that the accusations about him having had an affair are true. I don’t she she has helped the situation. She complains that “a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.”

Elizabeth Edwards is in a poor position to accuse anyone other than her husband of lying. The National Enquirer may or may not have been right on every accusation but it has not yet been proven that they were lying. In contrast, it is clear that John Edwards has been lying since last October when he has denied having had an affair with Rielle Hunter.

Her main accusation that The National Enquirer lied is based upon the denial that Edwards is the father of Hunter’s child. Possibly they were lying, but it is also possible that either they are correct, or that if they were incorrect they did believe that Edwards was the father. Knowing that Edwards has been lying about the affair since they exposed it last October, it is understandable that anyone would also suspect that Edwards was the father. There has still not been an explanation of the pictures–which may or may not mean that Edwards is the father. Short of a paternity test, Elizabeth and John Edwards are going to have to live with the fact that there remains reason to believe John is the one lying on this point. He very will might also be lying to Elizabeth as if John is the father it would mean that the affair continued after the recurrence of Elizabeth’s cancer was known, and after John claims the affair was over.

There’s this thing about being caught in a lie. People tend to assume, often correctly, that other things you say are also lies.

Lee Stranahan brings up another good point. If she knew about the affair she should have never let John run for president this year. Imagine if Edwards had won the nomination, and then this story broke. Besides, it still might have been possible for Edwards to run in the future if he had admitted the affair. Knowledge of an affair in one’s past does not prevent one from running for president. John McCain is proof of that.

I think there is good reason why Edwards did not take this route. He has been more interested in immediate gratification in his search for power. While I agree with Stranahan on this point, I disagree when he writes “I believe that the Edwards are both sincere in their stated positions about poverty, health care and other issues.” Even before this scandal, I believed Edwards was one of the biggest phonys in politics of either party, as I have often written in the past. This is a guy who has shown no real interest in public service unless he could have the big prize.

Edwards’ major talent has been in enriching himself while conning supporters into believing he was acting altruistically, beginning in the days in which he specialized in convincing southern juries that birth defects were the fault of medical malpractice. He served a single term in the Senate and used this purely as a stepping stone to run for president or vice-president in 2004 and then got out. While running with Kerry he was more interested in positioning himself for a future run than in helping the ticket. He quickly changed from a moderate Democrat to a populist progressive based upon gaining support in Iowa and in the netroots. I don’t think that Edwards was capable of sitting out and waiting to run down the road. This route would also require that he do something of value to keep himself in consideration for the future, and I don’t think Edwards is capable of that.

In the past when I have written of my opinion of Edwards, some on the left agreed and many disagreed. Today’s events should give more people reason to reconsider their opinion of John Edwards. This is especially true of those of you who might have contributed time or money to his campaign under false pretenses.

8 Comments

  1. 1
    Christopher says:

    I blogged about the Edwards affair back on July 25, 2008 in a piece titled: “John Edwards Has Some ‘Splainin’ to Do.”

    As with the PUMA loons, many of Edwards supporters filled my email box with vicious attack communiques accusing me of everything from working for Rupert Murdock to having a man crush on Edwards.

    I didn’t cover the story until there was an official police report taken by the LA County Sheriff and the Beverly Hills PD of a terrified John Edwards cornered in the basement of the Beverly Hills Hilton by reporters asking him why he was there at 3AM and if his visit had any connection to Reille Hunter.

    Edwards, it turns out, did have an affair behind the back of his cancer stricken wife, Elizabeth, which makes him in my mind, something of a pig. Whether or not there’s a love child is to be determined.

    Why is all of this important? Contrary to many lefty bloggers with large blogs who want to pretend this story isn’t unfolding, John Edwards was on Obama’s shortlist for vice president. I happen to know for a fact that his name was one of the top 5 Obama was considering. Imagine if Edwards was part of the ticket and Obama wins the General Election in November and the MSM gets ahold of the sordid details of Edwards personal life? It would be Bill Clinton 2.0 and Obama’s presidency would become a circus. Not good and after 8 years of Bush/Cheney, not what the country needs.

    But, there’s a legal part to the story that isn’t receiving a lot of attention. It appears that John Edwards is paying Reille Hunter hundreds of thousands of dollars from his PAC. Some say as much as $10,000 to $15,000 a month and this is donor money. The Federal rules surrounding PACs are very clear and you cannot use contributors cash to pay mistresses living expenses. John Edwards may be faced with some serious legal issues in the months ahead.

    Here’s a link:

    http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/080909dnmetbaron.29aa166d.html

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    “Contrary to many lefty bloggers with large blogs who want to pretend this story isn’t unfolding…”

    It is disappointing that many liberal bloggers are still pretending Edwards did nothing wrong and even defending him. We know that if he had an R instead of a D after his name they would instead be attacking him.

    Of course such hypocrisy isn’t limited to these liberal bloggers. Many conservative bloggers have been all over Edwards lately but have ignored John McCain’s past.

  3. 3
    Kimberly says:

    Dear John,

    I’d like to leave a few kind words with you because I’m sure you  have your share of horror filled comments. And this by the way is coming from the heart:
    Keep embracing the fact that God never has and never will create a perfect human being. While I do not condone your bad behavior, what you did is strictly between you, dear Elizabeth and God. It is not the business of mine, or any reporter or politician. And the Republicans for sure can attest to the fact that they have had their share of troubles and many politicians of their party continue to walk with their head held high. This is what you should do, this is how you show conduct your self. With your head held high,  move forward with your present and past ambitions and this too shall pass. You did not hurt anyone but yourself. (Your family as well needless to say) It is you that has to answer to God for your sin and not these hate filled vultures from the media. Many Americans like myself still love, respect and honor you and you should embrass that with your heart, because no matter what anyone saids to you this is the FACT. We love you and we shall continue to honor your good works because you are a great individual. Your contributions to this country have been too great and honorable for you to throw it all away. I’m sure Barak Obama feels the same about you. So move forward soldier and continue to share your honorable talents with us Americans, because we need you.
    God Bless you and your lovely family….
    Kimberly

  4. 4
    alice medford says:

    To Whom it may concern, I do not approve of John Edwards’ having an affair but what discuss me so much is the fact that Pres. Clinton had an affair  right in the PRESIDENT’S office and noone took any action against him. So why should it hurt Edwards so much if he wants to run for President  again. If Obama gets to be president there’s no telling what might take place. People had better think long and hard.  I think Edwards is just following examples  set before him by most senators and even presidents. My heart goes out to Elizabeth and I admire her for her courage and the children as well. They are the real victims in all this. I think the other woman should be made to take a DNA test to see if the baby is John’s. At least that would let Elizabeth know if he is really lying about the end of the affair. It will take time for John to prove himself to Elizabeth and to the public. I would vote for John if he were to run again. Look at all the others that we voted for that have or are doing the same thing. Have all the other guilt dogs to bark and see who comes clean. Alice Medford

  5. 5
    Jack says:

    First, dear Kimberly, you are a good Soul. Bless you.
    I am not like you. I know he is a liar and I know he has betrayed the trust of friends, volunteers, supporters and contributors. If he can overcome this, good for him.

    Second, if you will allow me, for posterity. (Your call)
    I want to express my utter contempt for some Kos toddlers. After childish antics and flaming as well as irresponsible use of power that resulted in Lee Stranahan’s exclusion (he was too insistent, but not to exclusion), those same behemoths of nothingness, grand minion BarbinMD at their head (the same one that, in corporate fashion, denied any management involvement in the exclusion) were the first to act politically outraged following the EE post.
    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/8/152532/8722
    Sleazy…bone-chilling hypocrites. They wouldn’t have minded in the least if the whole mess had been kept under wraps, silent liars. One step lower than that and you qualify as a repug attack dog. Sanctimonious pile.
    Fell better now. Gotta move on.

  6. 6
    battlebob says:

    Alice,
    I believe Clinton was impeached for lying about his affair. That is a pretty big deal.
    The bigger issue is his wandering ways were known by all for years. They were not secrets at all. The public believed the lying SOB enough to elect him twice.
    Clinton, who I worked hard against, was one on the best politicians of all time. Even though he was undisciplined in his personal life, he was unbelievedly focused on his campaign goals. I can’t stand the man for a lot of reasons, but he could work the masses better then anyone I ever saw. Obama is close but Bubba is the king of crowds.

  7. 7
    Ron Chusid says:

    While I was never a fan of Bill Clinton and did not vote for him, I did think that the impeachment was not warranted. From a legal standpoint he was impeached for committing perjury for lying about his affair in court, but this had nothing to do with the performance of his job and it is quite variable whether action is taken for perjury. This was certainly extremely minor compared to the way in which George Bush lied the country into a war.

    It was also somewhat ridiculous to turn on Clinton over just this. I knew all about his conduct and previous affairs before he was elected and this information was readily available. It should come as no surprise that people who have affairs will also lie about them. While this could have been a good reason not to vote for him in the first place, I couldn’t see impeaching him for doing something that we could have predicted he would have done.

    Clinton previously looked like one of the best politicians of all time, but he was certainly off his game when campaigning for Hillary. Maybe he was over rated, maybe his skills worked better in an age before every comment is recorded and replayed on YouTube, maybe he reacted differently when campaigning for his wife, or maybe it was because he had tougher than usual job in campaigning for someone as unfit for office as Hillary.

  8. 8
    battlebob says:

    His work on the Hillary campaign showed how undisciplined he has become. For whatever reasons, he showed what a destraction he would be if she were elected. Their time is over.

    The impeachment was not warranted. If anything, he should have been censured. The real loser was Chelsea in this. It must have been great to have to see her paren’t activities in the news constantly. Bubba’s popularity actually went up during the impeachment as the public clearly viewed it as a Repub sideshow.

1 Trackbacks

Leave a comment