John Edwards interview on Nightline (ABC TV, 08/08/08)

Run time: 10:34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCc7x4z52o0   Posted on YouTube: August 09, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: August 09, 2008 By DU Member: Apollo11 Views on DU: 1473

 
Here's Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbL-vj-RKxQ

I know this tabloid personal sex stuff doesn't affect policy, and I love his positions on the issues, but I am just crushed by his poor judgment.

I want to stay in my little bubble of denial and believe that John Edwards is the same person I thought he was. He says he is the same person but in my mind this is like watching Superman fall out of the sky. I know that my political hero's are real people. It is just hard to watch them fall with my own eyes and have that fact acknowledged. You could say that men are weak when it comes to women and sex. I am a man and my wife is the only one for me. If this is a mistake I am strong enough to resist how can someone I look up to be so weak? It's a shame.

I realize that my expectations are unrealistic but these ideas are a natural formation of distance and lack of personalization. Had I shaken his hand I might not have found this action so hard to believe.

and I couldn't imagine having an affair with another man, so I know what you mean.

I wonder how much of this is really not so much about sex as it is about power, though.

Shades of Gary Hart and Donna Rice. I also heard David Gergen last night say that these extramarital affairs are not uncommon, and that he personally knew someone who had been interested in running for POTUS but was in a similar situation as JE has found himself in, so he knew that running would be out of the question.

While I am sorry that there is now public humiliation which is now re-opening a wound for the Edwards' family, the gossip will die down quickly, provided that there aren't other bombshells, i.e., that he IS the father of this baby. Regardless, it will be in the history books, and that will be what people recall when his name is mentioned, and that is REALLY sad.

But, I am also angry that he continued campaigning AFTER he had started being questioned by reporters late last year! He could have ruined the Dems chance at taking back the WH! AND, the timing of releasing this. He was forced by the Dem Party into coming clean. That tells me his political ambition skewed his judgment, so I don't know at what point he came to the realization that he was exhibiting narcissistic behavior, or if using that terminology just "sounded good."

His political goose is cooked, that's for sure. His name will now move over in the "former" column. :(

The actual number of people in power who have affairs must be astronomical, lets get real, and most of them don't get caught. If this was not a ruthless election year, this may have not come out like this.

They went after Clinton and Edwards for political reasons, and they pretend to be surprised and horrified, to gain time and DISTRACT from the obviously incompetent Republicans in office and running for office!!! We HAVE to find a way to move on to the big picture people!! Quickly!!!!

It's that so many of these affairs are known about by people in the media and they don't report it that is more significant. There was a rumor that the first Bush had a mistress while he was President who traveled with him and had a government job that the reporters who followed him knew was his mistress and they said nothing. There is the rumor that Nancy Reagan was having an affair with Sinatra. Gingrich's divorce of one woman while she was on her sick bed followed quickly by marriage to another woman who he was known to be having an affair with during that marriage seemed to have been ignored. David "The Diaper" Vitter and Larry "Men's Room" Craig were covered for a while but then their hypocritical behaviors aren't mentioned in reporting on their "defense of marriage" proposals.

These people are held up as paragons of virtue by the media and propped up--seems odd that most of those people are Republicans.

So what if lots of people in power do this and not get caught, it doesn't make it any less wrong. It sounds like you are justifying it because he is John Edwards, had this been a Republican you would be asking for his head on a platter. I personally could care less if he had an affair, you are right lots of people do this powerful or not. What makes me mad is that he could have been the Democratic nominee and we would be talking about "soon to be President McCain" today.

Even in the unlikely event that Edwards had won more delegates than all the other candidates combined, it would still be possible for the Convention to take evasive action and nominate (for example) a Clinton-Obama ticket.

The biggest problem would be if something like this came out AFTER the Convention.

Dropping Edwards at the convention would've had the same impact as McGovern dropping Eagleton from the ticket: An election nightmare.

perfect. In retrospect, can you imagine what would be happening now if JE was the nominee?

I like that he's taking the heat from his actions himself, without Elizabeth. He's still a good guy who made a tragic mistake.

I was a huge Edwrds supporter early. I got on board before the last election. Now I have a difficult time believing anything he has to say.

I hated when the right wing called him a "pretty boy" or an empty suit.

I think there is some arrogance there..but it takes arrogance to run for president IMHO, and my bet is that a majority of politicians have had affairs.

I had to LOL at Fox, that is loving this.. here John McCain left a disfigured wife to marry well and Newt left a dying wife to marry another woman..

It is time to give John's affair a rest and let the family work it out. Elizabeth does not need the stress

Time for me to do some meditation and reflection on how easily I get sucked into becoming part of this kind of sensationalist crap -- "the audience, the customer". I wonder how much it cost the Nat Enquirer, how much they paid their sources so they could get their "scoop", so they could be on hand waiting at 2:30 AM...

Like Craig's and Spitzer's wives. Elizabeth has dignity and John respects that. How horrible is he going to feel when she finally does succumb?

What a bastard. Edwards truly creeped me out in this interview. The BS was 10 feet thick, & he's still lying about the baby. But what was worse were the semantic games - he doesn't know if he held a baby in the hotel room? Or if his people paid hush money to Hunter? The body language was all off, inappropriate smiles as he attempts to charm, touching nose as he attempts to lie. And what was the weirdest was the way he just seemed to recite verbatim from his past speeches & statements, almost like pushing play on a tape. Except he's so nervous, he mixes up the tapes. The "son of a mill worker," standby is mixed w/"loved one woman all my life" original denial, his later "tabloid trash" non-denial, and from the latest statement, "you can't beat me up more than I've beat up myself." And the classic response "Elizabeth is here - in my heart." :eyes: It's more than just the affair, this man is seriously messed up. Edwards should never have done this interview & he should never have run for President last year.

When Edwards thumps his chest and says "Elizabeth is right here, all the time" I found myself reaching for the barf bag ...

I must admit I am not convinced by his statements about the timeline and his Billie Jean claim that "the child's not my son" ...

If he turns out to be the father, it will be another blow against Elizabeth ...

There were a lot of groaners in this interview. But nothing really approaches his claim that he was 99% honest when he denied the Enquirer story, but, he says "being 99% honest isn't enough." Like, what is with these people & their nit-picking? Affair, baby, payoffs, these are just small details. :crazy:

his life with Elizabeth and devote the rest of his life to doing service for the betterment of this country. Sometimes wounds will heal by wiping the slate clean, forgiving yourself and dedicate to doing nothing but good.