I am so very sorry for the Edwards folks

One barely knows what to say.

There are few things in life harder to deal with than betrayal. There are few things harder to come to grips with than simple human frailty and human nature. I know that the Edwards supporters fought the good fight in this past primary and were loyal and true supporters. Nothing changes that or my deep respect for your motivations and beliefs in changing America for the better.

I am so sorry for all the people who might be feeling betrayed by the revelations coming out today. I have no intentions of piling on to what must be very hurt feelings right now.

I just wanted to say I'm sorry this happened and to offer condolences to friends on this group who might be hurting today. You have my hugs and best wishes.

:cry:

I love Edwards and will NEVER turn on him the way so many at DU did. There are affairs, and there are affairs: and JRE has handled this one as best he can.

Any embarrassment caused him and his family is the doing of the Enquirer, the media, and our fellow Dems-- not him himself.


Yes, there's the matter of Elizabeth to complicate things. But look closely: the affair happened in 2006, BEFORE her cancer came back.

Now we have to start thinking about how to get him to be our AG. If we want to not allow an affair to be a story on how a person can govern, this is the time. We said it all the time when Clinton was impeached: "An affair doesn't hurt his ability to govern".

Edwards is the best fighter we know against corporate corruption. He needs all the help from us we can get. We're going to need him as we take our country back!

*stands steely upright*

I can't see Obama selecting him for a cabinet post. Not with all Obama says about changing Washington, etc. Yes, it's a personal failure with Edwards, but it isn't something Obama would welcome I don't think. Not as long as there are better choices out there--and there are.

While I realize that the AG job has sometimes gone to political allies, if the goal is to get someone who can efficiently and aggressively sweep away corruption - there is NOTHING in JRE's resume that relates to this.

He was a trial lawyer who did put together strong cases - but they often depended on the emotions of jurors. He never managed a large department, nor did he show any inclination to investigate anything in Congress. Other than talking about it - he never fought corruption in his political career. As to corporate corruption - he made $500,000 for working 2 or 3 days a month for a hedge fund - and then gave the unbelievable answer that he was studying poverty. (I wonder if he could even be confirmed.)

There are likely many excellent prosecutors in various states, who have run DA offices and have handled important investigations, brought cases and won them. That is the

The leaders we look up to are only human, but sometimes that fact becomes clear in a way that's very painful. I hope JE supporters are weathering this storm all right.

I really do feel encredibly sorry for them and for Elizabeth Edwards. It's always seemed beyond even words how hard this has to be for wives - including HRC.

I hope the Edwards people will look to see others championing the same causes and will keep fighting for them - with or without Edwards. I hope he continues that fight, because then they would know that at least he was honest on those things.

...with all you said. It is a sad day. My heart is with Elizabeth and the family.

I feel sorry and embarassed for Elizabeth, and am incredibly disappointed in Senator Edwards.

I wish their family the best of luck!

While I've never been a huge Edwards supporter, I've also never felt the same contempt for the man and his family that so many in this group have expressed during the past four years.

I really feel badly for Elizabeth (who I do still admire despite all her short comings) and for the kids. They don't deserve this.

On a selfish note, I hope this doesn't effect the outcome of the NC Senate race - stranger things have happened. Thank goodness our Democratic candidate is female.

John Edwards certainly isn't the first politician to have an affair and he won't be the last. Sometimes otherwise good people do dumb-ass things.

Unlike a certain cranky old candidate we know.

is what is really, really ticking me off about this matter.

McCain gets a pass. Edwards isn't even the Democratic nominee, but the voyeuristic media is all over it anyway.

:banghead:

(still I have to be honest even on this thread: I'm ticked at JRE because if he'd been the nominee and this came out, we'd be looking at a McCain presidency. He should have known better.)

Maybe they were stressed out at the time and growing apart. Maybe somehow he realized what he was going to lose after he behaved the way he did. But if you love someone, you don't have an affair. IMO, he fell back in love with her because they worked it out--maybe they had counseling, maybe he renewed a commitment to her...I really don't know.

I understand that he feels shame now. But I agree with MH below. If he were the nominee,we'd be even more up the creek without a paddle.

Sensible, sensitive, and balanced. You guys rock!

A friend of mine just said tonight that if all Congress-critters' skeletons came out of the closet, Capitol Hill would be one big boneyard.

Or in some cases, a big boner-yard. ;)

but overall i would never have expected this from Edwards. i just feel sad mostly for his family, especially Elizabeth. thinking back i did notice they stopped appearing together and it might have been around the time she found out.

And that's all I've got to post about that.

there was mention of John Kerry while discussing this. it was that one Dem guy(Robert Zimmerman) saying something. i wasn't really paying attention so didn't catch it. but it might have had to do with the attacks on Kerry before(and some after)he decided not to run again. maybe those things regarding the campaign and how they wanted to do this and Kerry didn't.

i will try to catch it during a rerun. if anyone else caught what this was about please post.

Knock me over with a feather. I just feel so bad for his supporters, they must be devastated. And his family of course. Those little kids. What a horrible thing to have to go through. I can't understand why anybody would gloat, yet they appear to be out there.

No one should be gloating.

It's incredibly sad.

His own statement acknowledges that he crossed the line for personal ambition:



He should not have run for office at this time.

But it's his families business. Not yours.

On edit, you're right it was arrogant and selfish. But it should be left to his family to judge, and not us. His private life is his, and I don't care what happens in his bedroom. I do care that he lied during the latter parts of his Presidential campaign about the affair, but we all lie and make mistakes. He will have to regain my trust and respect, and all of his supporters, if he wants to ever run for anything again.

But again, I firmly believe it's his families personal business.

As far as the lying to the public, he'll have to regain our respect and trust again.

But the affair itself is none of our business. None.

He should know better, as he made the case about Clinton that people are making about him now:



Personal life is this: age of partner, sex of partner, number of partners.

Public life is this: lying, which one has to do to cheat on a spouse. Not just lying to one's spouse, but lying to one's constituents.

That makes the person a liar, and elevates it to a public matter.

If someone can get away with lying, where do the lies stop?

Hypocrisy and lying do not look good on Democrats.

Judgment: Any Democrat anywhere who cheats on his wife has problems. Deciding to run for the highest elected office in the land with this secret, is beyond selfish; it's downright arrogant.

And it wasn't a secret, he shared it with Elizabeth before he ran for President. And she's the only person, besides his family, that this is the business of.

As far as lying, yes he did lie. As we all have, sometimes in tragic ways.

He has taken the blame, and will in the future. He'll have to regain our trust.

that was stunningly stupid. He hid it and decided it wouldn't come up.

The other time Clinton lied, he was impeached and Democrats lost elections at every level of government.

These actions have consequences.

Fair or unfair, his poor judgement could have cost us the White Hous (and may yet). Running was the wrong thing to do.

I feel very, very sorry for Elizabeth Edwards. And, as for John Edwards himself, well we are all just human and as such we sometimes make terrible mistakes.

because there are children involved. I also feel very sad for Elizabeth, their fans/supporters and campaign volunteers.


Thoughts are with everyone during this painful time.

Watched some news yesterday. Afterward I felt sad and unclean. The media frenzy, at least the cable news, was beyond pathetic. The NE "reporters" all over the place, treated with an apparent respect nobody associated with that ridiculous rag deserves. What people do in their private lives should not be dissected like this, no matter who they are. Like so many others I am sure, it was like a time warp roughly 10 years ago and how beyond belief that whole thing was. I am not saying that private affairs of public figures should not be mentioned at all (well... maybe they should not, but they will nevertheless), but provide the information and move on instead of behaving (both the media AND much of the public) like vultures around a corpse left on the highway in plain sight. A nauseating feeling.

This being said, I am mad. Not too much, because I never thought he had much of a chance to win. But you never know... THEY knew what would happen if (when?) this came out and they took the risk nevertheless. That they should not have done, that is the part that IMHO is unacceptable. Their private lives are theirs to handle as they wish, the public life may affect too many people. Some talking head (Chuck Todd I think) said yesterday that he should have done what the new NY governor did (different situation, I know) and just say it himself, plain and simple, at the beginning of the campaign, and let the people decide whether it matters or not. That would have been the right and courageous thing to do. It may even have changed or at least affected a bit this disgusting public reaction to such things, voyeuristic and puritanical at the same time. Too bad they did not do that.