“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.”
– John Edwards, February 12, 1999
“In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public…”
As many others have said already today: it’s really quite simple. John Edwards is always prattling about two Americas. Clearly, he has a wife in one, and a girlfriend in the other.
Yes, his statement (linked above) contains language that indicates remorse. He’s a talented lawyer, after all. Amazing how contrite he is after he’s caught, isn’t it?
I thought this guy radiated smarm from the get-go, and I never liked him even a tenth of a percent. I thought it only the inherent hypocrisy of a super-rich guy making piles of money, then railing against the “system” that got him there. Turns out it’s that, but, gee willakers, he’s also sticking his dick in a mistress.
I’d like to think this will be the political end of this windbag, but there isn’t a chance in hell. Anymore, an insufficient number of people find cheating on a spouse a big deal, and for politicians, well, we just don’t go there! That’s his private life. It doesn’t say anything about the character of a person in a position of leadership.
What he needs to do now is go on a Remorse Tour. He’ll be lionized by the end of it, if he plays it right.
Or, if that doesn’t work out, he can always go be a televangelist.
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He DOES feel like a televangelist. That’s what *I* never liked about him. Now that he’s been outed as a cheater, I like him even less. I have a terrible time separating THAT particular behavior from the professional image. Call it a flaw in my character, but I just can’t get around that..
Mrs. Chili, it’s not a flaw in your character. If someone won’t honor the greatest earthly commitment s/he’ll ever make, then on what reasonable basis can s/he expect trust from the electorate? It’s elementary to me. I’m offended that it’s arguable.
I wish I could find a clip of Edwards right as the 2004 vice-presidential debate was beginning. He was shuffling his notes and such, and the moderator introduced him, and he looked up and gave a smarmy little smile that turned my stomach. It was one of the singlemost insincere, rehearsed, calculated bits of communication I’ve ever seen.
I convicted him, immediately and permanently, as a worm at that moment. And I know it seems like a small and superficial thing on which to base such a decision, but like I said, I wish I could show it to you.
I’m not at all surprised. I’m preemptively depressed at how I think the whole thing will ultimately be received.
I saw Edwards on the teevee yesterday with his apologia sort of speech.
I’d have respected his mea culpa more if he’d just said, “She was hot and I wanted to f*** her, so I did.” Now he’ll call old Bill up and get his list of eyewash “counselors” and “clergymen.”