In politicians' philandering, from JFK to Bill Clinton and beyond, "love means never having to say you're sorry" (to quote the soupy 1970s movie) until your enablers run out of ways to keep you from getting caught.
Few have gone as far as Andrew Young, who tried to take a bullet for John Edwards by claiming he was the father of Rielle Hunter's baby, but greater love hath no man than...you know the rest.
In her coming-out interview in GQ, Hunter says casually, "Andrew was in love with Johnny...Beyond. And I believe he loved Johnny more than he loved Cheri [his wife]."
In their Oprah appearance last month, the Youngs confirmed their unconditional devotion. "We did everything," Mrs. Young said. "Both of us...It was extreme. We never, never said no," her husband adding, "Any time he got into any kind of hot water and needed something, he called me."
Now, with Edwards in permanent publicity hell, the quadrangle survivors are doing considerably better than their love object. Elizabeth Edwards is suing for divorce and her share of the family money, the Youngs are profiting from a best-selling book after escaping jail for possession of the infamous sex tape, while Hunter surfaces posing with her baby for a long New-Agey interview about their "profound," "till-death do us part" passion.
But there are always media flies in the ointment. Hunter, Barbara Walters tells us, cried over the phone for two hours over "repulsive" GQ photos of her in a man's shirt, string of pearls and nothing else. (But she may take some consolation from the fact that Jenny Sanford posed similarly for Vogue, looking quite elegant. But then again, since Mrs. Sanford was the wronged wife, maybe not.)
Meanwhile, Edwards was last sighted doing penance in Haiti after the earthquake, as the rest of the crew goes on with their lives, sadder but wiser.
"It's broken my heart," Andrew Young told Oprah, "that somebody who I considered my best friend lied to and then ran over me with a dump truck backward and forward."
So far, the object of Young's affection has shown no signs of saying he's sorry.
Showing posts with label John Edwards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Edwards. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Presidential Sex on YouTube
Things could be worse. If the millions who wanted John Edwards as President in the past decade had had their way, the nation would now be involved in a scandal to make Bill Clinton look like Mr. Monogamy.
The prospect of an X-rated video starring a Commander-in-Chief surfaces in the current court battle over possession of tapes showing Edwards in carnal congress with Rielle Hunter, who bore his illegitimate child.
As legal maneuvering over possession goes on in North Carolina, if history is any guide, they will eventually end up on YouTube, alongside the "I Feel Pretty" video about Edwards' $400 haircuts.
What was he thinking? The candidate who made honesty his campaign hallmark was not only cheating on a cancer-stricken wife he exploited politically but letting his videographer lover record their acrobatics.
If he were in the White House today, President Edwards would be no doubt be telling us that, just like his vote for the Iraq war in 2002, the mistake of falling in love only proves he is fallible and asking forgiveness even as Congress researches whether being a moral moron is grounds for impeachment.
The not-in-office Edwards is now, according to his nemesis, the National Enquirer, in the process of divorce so he can move into a $3.5 million beach house with the mother of his two-year-old child, the improbable object of a would-be President's affections with her own history of notoriety as a horse-killer's promiscuous daughter.
If and when the tapes surface, Americans can be grateful for having escaped a 21st-century Warren Harding, rated the worst president in history, whose out-of-wedlock activities were not made public until after he left the White House, but there was no National Enquirer or YouTube then.
The prospect of an X-rated video starring a Commander-in-Chief surfaces in the current court battle over possession of tapes showing Edwards in carnal congress with Rielle Hunter, who bore his illegitimate child.
As legal maneuvering over possession goes on in North Carolina, if history is any guide, they will eventually end up on YouTube, alongside the "I Feel Pretty" video about Edwards' $400 haircuts.
What was he thinking? The candidate who made honesty his campaign hallmark was not only cheating on a cancer-stricken wife he exploited politically but letting his videographer lover record their acrobatics.
If he were in the White House today, President Edwards would be no doubt be telling us that, just like his vote for the Iraq war in 2002, the mistake of falling in love only proves he is fallible and asking forgiveness even as Congress researches whether being a moral moron is grounds for impeachment.
The not-in-office Edwards is now, according to his nemesis, the National Enquirer, in the process of divorce so he can move into a $3.5 million beach house with the mother of his two-year-old child, the improbable object of a would-be President's affections with her own history of notoriety as a horse-killer's promiscuous daughter.
If and when the tapes surface, Americans can be grateful for having escaped a 21st-century Warren Harding, rated the worst president in history, whose out-of-wedlock activities were not made public until after he left the White House, but there was no National Enquirer or YouTube then.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Yes, Thank You, Now Just Go Away
John Edwards has admitted that he is the father of Frances Quinn Hunter, the two-year-old daughter of his former mistress, Rielle Hunter:
“It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter, and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me."
This statement comes just before a book to be published next month by Andrew Young, Edwards's aide who is telling the whole story and completes the former presidential candidate's use of Nixon's strategy of "modified limited hangout" during Watergate, a slow drip of crucial information while hiding the rest until absolutely forced to come clean.
Now that we know it all, will John Edwards just get lost?
“It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter, and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me."
This statement comes just before a book to be published next month by Andrew Young, Edwards's aide who is telling the whole story and completes the former presidential candidate's use of Nixon's strategy of "modified limited hangout" during Watergate, a slow drip of crucial information while hiding the rest until absolutely forced to come clean.
Now that we know it all, will John Edwards just get lost?
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Shameless Hall of Fame
The bar for embarrassment is so high now it's almost out of sight for celebrities who do things that would make the rest of us die of shame.
Tom DeLay, who left Congress under a cloud of Jack Abramoff corruption, is ready to sashay in sequins on "Dancing With the Stars."
Eliot Spitzer, who resigned as governor of New York for caucusing with call girls, shows up on Bill Maher's show, pontificating about the economy alongside Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman and defending capitalism against Michael Moore.
Rod Blagojevich, under indictment for (in David Remnick's words) trying to sell Obama's Senate seat "as if it were a used Barcalounger on eBay," is doing TV shows (including Jon Stewart's) to plug his new book and making himself available to lecture at universities and corporate meetings and, from the evidence of his website, would no doubt be happy to do his Elvis impersonation for a price at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.
Mark Foley, who bowed out of the House for hitting on teen-age pages with sexually explicit e-mails, is back as the host of his own radio talk show.
But being disgraced and bouncing back, according to a New York Times media critic, is no longer enough. The fallen have to be outrageous enough to warrant a second chance in the spotlight.
"Politicians," writes Alessandra Stanley, "can no longer talk their way out of trouble, they have to shake it off by revealing their inner dancing fool. Celebrities can’t just write a tell-all biography and earn a coveted appearance on 'Oprah,' they must disclose a horrifying secret"--such as Mackenzie Phillips' nostalgia about sharing drugs and having sex with her father.
Yet someone is trying to draw a line. Eugene Robinson, as a columnist and commentator who "used to like John Edwards a lot," has now decided that the former presidential candidate is irredeemable--"a bad cad."
What tore it?
"Edwards is being investigated by federal prosecutors for possible campaign-finance violations, though I think it will be hard for the law to lay a glove on him.
"But looking forward, with his mistress, to the day when Elizabeth would die? Planning a post-funeral wedding? Choosing the rock band? Even if all this was just a fairy tale meant to reassure Hunter and keep her quiet, I can't have any 'like' for John Edwards anymore."
Robinson's disgust is refreshing as is Elizabeth Edwards' reported angry blogging but, if and when the $400 haircut man eventually shows up with an oily memoir, any bets on whether most of the media will welcome him back to make a case for his oh-so-sincere rehabilitation?
Tom DeLay, who left Congress under a cloud of Jack Abramoff corruption, is ready to sashay in sequins on "Dancing With the Stars."
Eliot Spitzer, who resigned as governor of New York for caucusing with call girls, shows up on Bill Maher's show, pontificating about the economy alongside Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman and defending capitalism against Michael Moore.
Rod Blagojevich, under indictment for (in David Remnick's words) trying to sell Obama's Senate seat "as if it were a used Barcalounger on eBay," is doing TV shows (including Jon Stewart's) to plug his new book and making himself available to lecture at universities and corporate meetings and, from the evidence of his website, would no doubt be happy to do his Elvis impersonation for a price at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.
Mark Foley, who bowed out of the House for hitting on teen-age pages with sexually explicit e-mails, is back as the host of his own radio talk show.
But being disgraced and bouncing back, according to a New York Times media critic, is no longer enough. The fallen have to be outrageous enough to warrant a second chance in the spotlight.
"Politicians," writes Alessandra Stanley, "can no longer talk their way out of trouble, they have to shake it off by revealing their inner dancing fool. Celebrities can’t just write a tell-all biography and earn a coveted appearance on 'Oprah,' they must disclose a horrifying secret"--such as Mackenzie Phillips' nostalgia about sharing drugs and having sex with her father.
Yet someone is trying to draw a line. Eugene Robinson, as a columnist and commentator who "used to like John Edwards a lot," has now decided that the former presidential candidate is irredeemable--"a bad cad."
What tore it?
"Edwards is being investigated by federal prosecutors for possible campaign-finance violations, though I think it will be hard for the law to lay a glove on him.
"But looking forward, with his mistress, to the day when Elizabeth would die? Planning a post-funeral wedding? Choosing the rock band? Even if all this was just a fairy tale meant to reassure Hunter and keep her quiet, I can't have any 'like' for John Edwards anymore."
Robinson's disgust is refreshing as is Elizabeth Edwards' reported angry blogging but, if and when the $400 haircut man eventually shows up with an oily memoir, any bets on whether most of the media will welcome him back to make a case for his oh-so-sincere rehabilitation?
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Two Styles of Political Suicide
While Mark Sanford continues to go for his own jugular with new confessions that will force him out of office, there is news about his neighbor to the north, John Edwards, that should bury him politically once and for all.
The two offer a fascinating contrast in self-destructive styles.
Now that his erotic secrets are out, the South Carolina governor just can't stop blabbing that he has "crossed lines" with other women, each revelation costing him the loss of more political allies, to say nothing of possible reconciliation with his wife.
Edwards, on the other hand, has been a true trial-lawyer weasel, practicing Nixon's "modified limited hangout," admitting only misdeeds revealed by others and hoping to keep all the rest buried.
This week those hopes were dashed by news of a book proposal by former aide Andrew Young, who once tried to take the rap for Rielle Hunter's pregnancy, but is now disillusioned (and no doubt greedy) enough to tell all about the affair, including their making of sexual videotapes and plans to marry after the death of Elizabeth Edwards from the cancer she has been fighting.
In his quest for the presidency, John Edwards kept talking about two Americas. When it comes to ambitious politicians, he and Mark Sanford have living in two different universes. but the result will be the same for their careers and help make voters wary of politicians posing as Mr. Clean.
Update: In the second part of his confessional AP interview, Sanford burbles, "I will be able to die knowing that I had met my soul mate." This declaration has haunting echoes of King Edward VIII renouncing his throne in 1936 for "the woman I love." The former king and his soul mate went on to a long life of exile in what used to be known as Café Society, but the GOP right wing has no such counterpart these days for dethroned Southern governors.
The two offer a fascinating contrast in self-destructive styles.
Now that his erotic secrets are out, the South Carolina governor just can't stop blabbing that he has "crossed lines" with other women, each revelation costing him the loss of more political allies, to say nothing of possible reconciliation with his wife.
Edwards, on the other hand, has been a true trial-lawyer weasel, practicing Nixon's "modified limited hangout," admitting only misdeeds revealed by others and hoping to keep all the rest buried.
This week those hopes were dashed by news of a book proposal by former aide Andrew Young, who once tried to take the rap for Rielle Hunter's pregnancy, but is now disillusioned (and no doubt greedy) enough to tell all about the affair, including their making of sexual videotapes and plans to marry after the death of Elizabeth Edwards from the cancer she has been fighting.
In his quest for the presidency, John Edwards kept talking about two Americas. When it comes to ambitious politicians, he and Mark Sanford have living in two different universes. but the result will be the same for their careers and help make voters wary of politicians posing as Mr. Clean.
Update: In the second part of his confessional AP interview, Sanford burbles, "I will be able to die knowing that I had met my soul mate." This declaration has haunting echoes of King Edward VIII renouncing his throne in 1936 for "the woman I love." The former king and his soul mate went on to a long life of exile in what used to be known as Café Society, but the GOP right wing has no such counterpart these days for dethroned Southern governors.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Presidential Libidos
The flogging today of John Edwards in the public square, aka the New York Times, raises the question of what relevance marital fidelity has to the qualifications of an American president.
Trust and truth-telling come to mind, of course, but it gets more complicated in looking back. JFK famously cheated on his wife, while Richard Nixon, as far as we know, was a faithful husband while betraying the country.
Jimmy Carter told Playboy he "lusted in my heart" but presumably overcame his desires to become a disastrously naive president.
Uxorious Ronald Reagan, Bush I (although there were rumors) and Bush II bracketed Bill Clinton, who couldn't keep it zipped but left office with a budget surplus and no wars.
Now the Obamas, as they have in so many areas, have upped the ante on connubial bliss, often holding hands and displaying a closeness most recently reflected in their sneaking out of the White House for a dinner date last Saturday night.
But how much do we need to know about presidential marriages?
Elizabeth Edwards has dragged her husband into the spotlight for, as Maureen Dowd writes, "a gratuitous peek into their lives, and one that exposes her kids, by peddling more dregs about their personal family life in a book, and exposes the ex-girlfriend who’s now trying to raise the baby girl, a dead ringer for John Edwards, in South Orange, N.J."
We could have all lived happily ever after without hearing the details of their marital wreckage and, more to the point, is it at all relevant to voters who did not otherwise sense that John Edwards was not to be trusted, even if he had never succumbed to the stalker who told him "You're so hot"?
Trust and truth-telling come to mind, of course, but it gets more complicated in looking back. JFK famously cheated on his wife, while Richard Nixon, as far as we know, was a faithful husband while betraying the country.
Jimmy Carter told Playboy he "lusted in my heart" but presumably overcame his desires to become a disastrously naive president.
Uxorious Ronald Reagan, Bush I (although there were rumors) and Bush II bracketed Bill Clinton, who couldn't keep it zipped but left office with a budget surplus and no wars.
Now the Obamas, as they have in so many areas, have upped the ante on connubial bliss, often holding hands and displaying a closeness most recently reflected in their sneaking out of the White House for a dinner date last Saturday night.
But how much do we need to know about presidential marriages?
Elizabeth Edwards has dragged her husband into the spotlight for, as Maureen Dowd writes, "a gratuitous peek into their lives, and one that exposes her kids, by peddling more dregs about their personal family life in a book, and exposes the ex-girlfriend who’s now trying to raise the baby girl, a dead ringer for John Edwards, in South Orange, N.J."
We could have all lived happily ever after without hearing the details of their marital wreckage and, more to the point, is it at all relevant to voters who did not otherwise sense that John Edwards was not to be trusted, even if he had never succumbed to the stalker who told him "You're so hot"?
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The Chutzpah of John Edwards
Emerging from the Democratic Party witness protection program, the former perpetual candidate is slouching toward redemption tonight for a discussion of last week's elections at Indiana University and next week to debate Karl Rove, his Republican counterpart in shamelessness, at an American Bankers Association meeting in San Francisco (paying them with taxpayer bailout money, no doubt).
There used to a timeline for public rehabilitation, but it has been erased, first by Rove's instant reincarnation from Bush's smear-master as a political pundit and now by John Edwards' popping up in public only three months after a weasel-worded admission of adultery for being caught red-handed by a tabloid.
If it were not for the presidential campaign, Edwards' attempt to regain political respectability might have started even sooner as the concept of shame disappears completely in national politics.
The next thing you know, we will see a convicted felon reelected to the Senate and a vice-presidential candidate who wrecked her party's campaign strutting and spouting off on network TV.
There used to a timeline for public rehabilitation, but it has been erased, first by Rove's instant reincarnation from Bush's smear-master as a political pundit and now by John Edwards' popping up in public only three months after a weasel-worded admission of adultery for being caught red-handed by a tabloid.
If it were not for the presidential campaign, Edwards' attempt to regain political respectability might have started even sooner as the concept of shame disappears completely in national politics.
The next thing you know, we will see a convicted felon reelected to the Senate and a vice-presidential candidate who wrecked her party's campaign strutting and spouting off on network TV.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Paging Erin Brockovich
With all the evidence of malpractice on Wall Street and in Washington, what taxpayers need is good representation for a class-action suit, and they don't even have to consult the Yellow Pages.
Legal crusader Erin Brockovich, the eponymous heroine of the 2000 movie, is consulting for a New York law firm, soliciting cases, investigating claims and starring in TV commercials seeking individuals who may have contracted lung cancer from exposure to asbestos.
Who better to take on toxic financiers and politicians than the feisty California woman who pushed one of the biggest class-action suits in American history and ended up being played by Julia Roberts in an Oscar-winning performance?
If Brockovich does well, she could follow in the footsteps of John Edwards who parlayed a career in negligence law into a Senate seat and a shot at the presidential nomination. Then again, maybe not.
Legal crusader Erin Brockovich, the eponymous heroine of the 2000 movie, is consulting for a New York law firm, soliciting cases, investigating claims and starring in TV commercials seeking individuals who may have contracted lung cancer from exposure to asbestos.
Who better to take on toxic financiers and politicians than the feisty California woman who pushed one of the biggest class-action suits in American history and ended up being played by Julia Roberts in an Oscar-winning performance?
If Brockovich does well, she could follow in the footsteps of John Edwards who parlayed a career in negligence law into a Senate seat and a shot at the presidential nomination. Then again, maybe not.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Kennedy Scandal, Low-Rent Version
He won't be running for VP again, he won't even attend the Democratic convention, but John Edwards is still in the news with reports of a Virgin Island vacation by private jet for Rielle Hunter and her baby as well as rumblings of contributor unhappiness about the $100,000-plus of campaign funds paid her to videograph their time together.
In every scandal, there are haunting questions about motives, about what prompts people to risk humiliation and invite disaster by their choices.
In the Edwards debacle, it's easy to accept his own explanation of ego and hubris, even while doubting his sanitized confession, but what teases the imagination is why the woman involved, Rielle Hunter, would go ahead and have a baby when not doing so might have kept the affair from becoming public.
A provocative clue comes from, of all places, the ESPN website by a lawyer-sports journalist who ties Ms. Hunter, nee Lisa Druck, to a decades-old criminal case in which prominent Florida "sportsmen" conspired to kill thoroughbred horses to collect on insurance.
One of them, Lester Munson reports, was the young woman's late father who arranged to have a show horse she owned and jockeyed electrocuted to cash in on a $150,000 policy rather than accept $25,000 less by selling the animal.
From this seamy background, the self-created Rielle Hunter went on to a notorious career on the Manhattan party scene, immortalized by the novelist Jay McInerney in a roman a clef as, in his words, a "cocaine-addled, sexually voracious 20-year-old who was, shall we say, inspired by Lisa."
The fount of wisdom on the Edwards affair, the National Enquirer, now reports that "Hunter's own lawyer advised her to allow Edwards to take a paternity test but she refused out of misguided belief that Edwards will marry her after the death of his cancer-stricken wife."
There are echoes here, on a far tackier level, of Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedys. One of her last visitors the day she died was Peter Lawford, JFK's Hollywood brother-in-law, in an attempt to disentangle Marilyn from Robert Kennedy, reflecting a disordered state of mind that had led to hope there could be a future for her with a prominent married Catholic politician who was then the father of seven.
The Edwards parallel suggests that, even in the 21st century, marrying up is still a fantasy of redemption from a rotten childhood.
In every scandal, there are haunting questions about motives, about what prompts people to risk humiliation and invite disaster by their choices.
In the Edwards debacle, it's easy to accept his own explanation of ego and hubris, even while doubting his sanitized confession, but what teases the imagination is why the woman involved, Rielle Hunter, would go ahead and have a baby when not doing so might have kept the affair from becoming public.
A provocative clue comes from, of all places, the ESPN website by a lawyer-sports journalist who ties Ms. Hunter, nee Lisa Druck, to a decades-old criminal case in which prominent Florida "sportsmen" conspired to kill thoroughbred horses to collect on insurance.
One of them, Lester Munson reports, was the young woman's late father who arranged to have a show horse she owned and jockeyed electrocuted to cash in on a $150,000 policy rather than accept $25,000 less by selling the animal.
From this seamy background, the self-created Rielle Hunter went on to a notorious career on the Manhattan party scene, immortalized by the novelist Jay McInerney in a roman a clef as, in his words, a "cocaine-addled, sexually voracious 20-year-old who was, shall we say, inspired by Lisa."
The fount of wisdom on the Edwards affair, the National Enquirer, now reports that "Hunter's own lawyer advised her to allow Edwards to take a paternity test but she refused out of misguided belief that Edwards will marry her after the death of his cancer-stricken wife."
There are echoes here, on a far tackier level, of Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedys. One of her last visitors the day she died was Peter Lawford, JFK's Hollywood brother-in-law, in an attempt to disentangle Marilyn from Robert Kennedy, reflecting a disordered state of mind that had led to hope there could be a future for her with a prominent married Catholic politician who was then the father of seven.
The Edwards parallel suggests that, even in the 21st century, marrying up is still a fantasy of redemption from a rotten childhood.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
John Edwards Channels Nixon
In his weekend of "confession," there are echoes of Richard Nixon's ploy of "modified limited hangout" during the Watergate crisis, a strategy of concealing crucial information while appearing to come clean.
It didn't save Nixon's presidency and, from early indications, John Edwards' political career won't survive either.
As the Senate Watergate Committee was closing in on the truth, Nixon ordered John Dean to prepare a report that would mix partial admissions with misinformation and resistance to further investigation, a parallel to the World War II tactic of Nazi subs sending debris to the surface to make Allied attackers think they had destroyed their target.
John Edwards' "limited hangout" Friday night consisted of a vague admission of adultery, coupled with denials and evasions about everything from the paternity of Rielle Hunter's child to the money his finance director has been giving her, coupled with his willingness to take a DNA test and have all the facts out in the open.
Now, Ms. Hunter is declining the test, and Edwards' generous friend is asserting the payments are a private matter.
"I have been stripped bare," Edwards said in his statement Friday. Not really, but we know as much as we need to know and the only thing left for him to do is go away--quietly. His tacky affair is no Watergate.
It didn't save Nixon's presidency and, from early indications, John Edwards' political career won't survive either.
As the Senate Watergate Committee was closing in on the truth, Nixon ordered John Dean to prepare a report that would mix partial admissions with misinformation and resistance to further investigation, a parallel to the World War II tactic of Nazi subs sending debris to the surface to make Allied attackers think they had destroyed their target.
John Edwards' "limited hangout" Friday night consisted of a vague admission of adultery, coupled with denials and evasions about everything from the paternity of Rielle Hunter's child to the money his finance director has been giving her, coupled with his willingness to take a DNA test and have all the facts out in the open.
Now, Ms. Hunter is declining the test, and Edwards' generous friend is asserting the payments are a private matter.
"I have been stripped bare," Edwards said in his statement Friday. Not really, but we know as much as we need to know and the only thing left for him to do is go away--quietly. His tacky affair is no Watergate.
Friday, August 08, 2008
John Edwards Owns Up
The MSM's silent soap opera is over.
From ABC: "In an interview for broadcast tonight on Nightline, Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he did have an affair with 44-year old Rielle Hunter, but said that he did not love her." (Reminiscent of Bill Clinton's admission that he smoked marijuana but did not inhale?)
Even in confessing, Mr. Sincere is still playing the angles, timing his disclosure for a late Friday night news dump when all eyes will be on the opening of the Olympics. (My confession: Edwards has always brought out the worst in me, a skepticism bordering on cynicism. More here.)
"It is time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path," Edwards says.
Amen to that.
From ABC: "In an interview for broadcast tonight on Nightline, Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he did have an affair with 44-year old Rielle Hunter, but said that he did not love her." (Reminiscent of Bill Clinton's admission that he smoked marijuana but did not inhale?)
Even in confessing, Mr. Sincere is still playing the angles, timing his disclosure for a late Friday night news dump when all eyes will be on the opening of the Olympics. (My confession: Edwards has always brought out the worst in me, a skepticism bordering on cynicism. More here.)
"It is time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path," Edwards says.
Amen to that.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Opening John Edwards' Back Door
Like nature, scandal abhors a vacuum. Ignored by the MSM for weeks, the John Edwards illegitimate child story is oozing into sight with debate over his role at the Democratic convention.
"If there is not an explanation that’s satisfactory, acceptable and meets high moral standards...he would not be a prime candidate to make a major address to the convention," Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chair, tells the Charlotte Observer.
"He absolutely does have to (resolve it). If it's not true, he has to issue a stronger denial," says a Democratic strategist who ran Edwards’ 1998 Senate race. "It's a very damaging thing.
"The big media has tried to be responsible and handle this with kid gloves, but it's clearly getting ready to bust out. If it's not true, he's got to stand up and say, 'This is not true. That is not my child and I'm going to take legal action against the people who are spreading these lies.' It's not enough to say, 'That’s tabloid trash.'"
No, it isn't and Edwards' continuing silence, while understandable on the personal level, does not bode well for his reputation and any future role on the national political stage.
"If there is not an explanation that’s satisfactory, acceptable and meets high moral standards...he would not be a prime candidate to make a major address to the convention," Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chair, tells the Charlotte Observer.
"He absolutely does have to (resolve it). If it's not true, he has to issue a stronger denial," says a Democratic strategist who ran Edwards’ 1998 Senate race. "It's a very damaging thing.
"The big media has tried to be responsible and handle this with kid gloves, but it's clearly getting ready to bust out. If it's not true, he's got to stand up and say, 'This is not true. That is not my child and I'm going to take legal action against the people who are spreading these lies.' It's not enough to say, 'That’s tabloid trash.'"
No, it isn't and Edwards' continuing silence, while understandable on the personal level, does not bode well for his reputation and any future role on the national political stage.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Jawing Over John Edwards
Today will be a test for us all--journalists, bloggers, the whole world of political punditry--in confronting the National Enquirer coup in staking out and catching John Edwards in a visit to what it delicately calls "his mistress and secret love child."
It won't be a pretty picture. From this morning's MSM reticence to what surely will be a cable news orgy tonight (Fox News in hog heaven over a fallen Democratic idol on Obama's VP list), no one will pass the test with anything approaching integrity.
So bring it on--the outrage at a politician's hypocrisy, crocodile tears for Elizabeth Edwards, condemnation of the media for voyeurism, wailing over the breakdown between what's public and private--and when it's over, the caravan will move on to its higher pursuit of helping Americans pick their next president.
The public's right to know will have been served
It won't be a pretty picture. From this morning's MSM reticence to what surely will be a cable news orgy tonight (Fox News in hog heaven over a fallen Democratic idol on Obama's VP list), no one will pass the test with anything approaching integrity.
So bring it on--the outrage at a politician's hypocrisy, crocodile tears for Elizabeth Edwards, condemnation of the media for voyeurism, wailing over the breakdown between what's public and private--and when it's over, the caravan will move on to its higher pursuit of helping Americans pick their next president.
The public's right to know will have been served
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Big Field for Obama Veepstakes
The first test of his decision-making is at hand.
The short list is down to "about twenty current top government officials, former top government officials and former military leaders" as Barack Obama looks for a running mate who would both give him credibility and be qualified to succeed him.
There is Hillary Clinton, of course, but name recognition of those being considered runs all the way down to the retired former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, Gen. James Jones, who meets the first qualification but would be a little shaky on the second.
There are governors, of course--Tim Kaine of Virginia, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, although one of them, Ted Strickland has ruled himself out with a Shermanesque declaration.
Among former rivals for the nomination, John Edwards has professed no interest, leaving Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich--and Joe Biden.
The esteemed E. J. Dionne Jr. has made his choice known in the Washington Post: Biden "should be at the top of any list of vice presidential picks for Obama...Few Democrats know more about foreign policy, and few would so relish the fight against McCain on international affairs. Few are better placed to argue that withdrawal from Iraq will strengthen rather than weaken the United States."
That may be more of an argument for Biden as Secretary of State than VP, for which there are countless contenders--Jim Webb, Evan Bayh, Mark Warner, Tom Daschle, Sam Nunn and on and on.
Obama's vetting committee has a lot of work to do, but they may be inspired by recalling how less effort in going through the process produced Dick Cheney.
The short list is down to "about twenty current top government officials, former top government officials and former military leaders" as Barack Obama looks for a running mate who would both give him credibility and be qualified to succeed him.
There is Hillary Clinton, of course, but name recognition of those being considered runs all the way down to the retired former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, Gen. James Jones, who meets the first qualification but would be a little shaky on the second.
There are governors, of course--Tim Kaine of Virginia, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, although one of them, Ted Strickland has ruled himself out with a Shermanesque declaration.
Among former rivals for the nomination, John Edwards has professed no interest, leaving Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich--and Joe Biden.
The esteemed E. J. Dionne Jr. has made his choice known in the Washington Post: Biden "should be at the top of any list of vice presidential picks for Obama...Few Democrats know more about foreign policy, and few would so relish the fight against McCain on international affairs. Few are better placed to argue that withdrawal from Iraq will strengthen rather than weaken the United States."
That may be more of an argument for Biden as Secretary of State than VP, for which there are countless contenders--Jim Webb, Evan Bayh, Mark Warner, Tom Daschle, Sam Nunn and on and on.
Obama's vetting committee has a lot of work to do, but they may be inspired by recalling how less effort in going through the process produced Dick Cheney.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
John Edwards" Pitch for AG
In a reprise of his own stump speeches, John Edwards simply switched pronouns and endorsed Barack Obama tonight, positioning himself as the leading candidate for Attorney General in the new Administration.
In doing so, he was backing the clear winner of the nomination, preceding it with a eulogy for Hillary Clinton's campaign.
“It is very, very hard to get up every day and do what she’s done,” Edwards said. “It is hard to go out there and fight and speak up when the odds turn against you. What she has shown is strength and character.”
He said Mrs. Clinton is a “woman who is made of steel. She is a leader in this country not because of her husband but because of what she has done."
So Edwards, as usual, has it both ways, backing the winner and praising the loser as a champion of party unity.
If he does get to be Attorney General, his experience in negligence law will come in handy to investigate and clean up eight years of abuses by the Bush-Cheney-Rove cartel.
In doing so, he was backing the clear winner of the nomination, preceding it with a eulogy for Hillary Clinton's campaign.
“It is very, very hard to get up every day and do what she’s done,” Edwards said. “It is hard to go out there and fight and speak up when the odds turn against you. What she has shown is strength and character.”
He said Mrs. Clinton is a “woman who is made of steel. She is a leader in this country not because of her husband but because of what she has done."
So Edwards, as usual, has it both ways, backing the winner and praising the loser as a champion of party unity.
If he does get to be Attorney General, his experience in negligence law will come in handy to investigate and clean up eight years of abuses by the Bush-Cheney-Rove cartel.
Monday, March 24, 2008
What's John Edwards Waiting For?
Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama last week raises the question of why the leader of the also-rans is being coy about making a choice
"John Edwards," Politico reports, "is unlikely to endorse either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton before the nomination is decided, according to interviews with several members of the former candidate's inner circle."
Why not? At this stage, the Democrats need all the clarity they can get. Despite his long-standing ties to the Clintons, Richardson made his announcement last week--a hard choice, but he made it.
Edwards has been courted with visits from Obama and Clinton, and he knows how helpful his endorsement might be, particularly in the upcoming North Carolina primary.
Why would he hold back? None of the possible reasons do him credit or even make much sense. Surely he knows enough about the two candidates to make a choice, and holding out will not encourage them at this point to take up his war on poverty any more than they already have.
Is he angling to be a kingmaker at the convention? Not likely, all but a handful of his pledged delegates are gone, and none would take direction from him in any case. Does he want to be sure to back the winner and end up in the cabinet, perhaps as Attorney General? Bad strategy. They don't give medals for showing up after the battle. Or is he just planning to become the 21st century Harold Stassen, a perennial Presidential candidate?
Jonathan Prince, Edwards’ former deputy campaign manager, thinks his man has clout, asserting "that before Ohio and Texas, the campaigns told me that the most popular Democrat in Ohio was John Edwards. And he was tied for the most popular Democrat in Texas. I would imagine that what was true in Ohio is true in Pennsylvania, too.
“One candidate is trying to show he’s got it wrapped up. I think John Edwards would help to do that. The other candidate is trying to show that things are breaking her way. I think John Edwards would help to do that also.”
Most of all, by choosing now he would set an example for his party to encourage settling their squabbles sooner rather than later to unite against the possibility of another Republican in the White House. John Edwards has dedicated himself to bringing together the two Americas. Is it too much to ask him to do something for the two Democratic parties?
"John Edwards," Politico reports, "is unlikely to endorse either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton before the nomination is decided, according to interviews with several members of the former candidate's inner circle."
Why not? At this stage, the Democrats need all the clarity they can get. Despite his long-standing ties to the Clintons, Richardson made his announcement last week--a hard choice, but he made it.
Edwards has been courted with visits from Obama and Clinton, and he knows how helpful his endorsement might be, particularly in the upcoming North Carolina primary.
Why would he hold back? None of the possible reasons do him credit or even make much sense. Surely he knows enough about the two candidates to make a choice, and holding out will not encourage them at this point to take up his war on poverty any more than they already have.
Is he angling to be a kingmaker at the convention? Not likely, all but a handful of his pledged delegates are gone, and none would take direction from him in any case. Does he want to be sure to back the winner and end up in the cabinet, perhaps as Attorney General? Bad strategy. They don't give medals for showing up after the battle. Or is he just planning to become the 21st century Harold Stassen, a perennial Presidential candidate?
Jonathan Prince, Edwards’ former deputy campaign manager, thinks his man has clout, asserting "that before Ohio and Texas, the campaigns told me that the most popular Democrat in Ohio was John Edwards. And he was tied for the most popular Democrat in Texas. I would imagine that what was true in Ohio is true in Pennsylvania, too.
“One candidate is trying to show he’s got it wrapped up. I think John Edwards would help to do that. The other candidate is trying to show that things are breaking her way. I think John Edwards would help to do that also.”
Most of all, by choosing now he would set an example for his party to encourage settling their squabbles sooner rather than later to unite against the possibility of another Republican in the White House. John Edwards has dedicated himself to bringing together the two Americas. Is it too much to ask him to do something for the two Democratic parties?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Nader, Bloomberg in "David and Goliath"
Now that his second favorite candidate, John Edwards, has dropped out, Ralph Nader is feeling an irresistible urge to pick up the fallen standard and hurl himself once again into the breach.
Ironically, Nader's inner struggle is reported by Bloomberg.com, part of the business news empire that made New York's mayor a billionaire who is, albeit silently, having the same crisis of conscience about saving the nation with an Independent run.
Inverting their physical attributes, Nader and Bloomberg would be playing David and Goliath in a sideshow of the '08 electoral circus to prove that (a) corporate America is crushing its people or (b) only a corporate genius can straighten out the mess Bush is leaving behind.
"Look at the major areas of injustice, deprivation and solutions that are not being addressed by the major candidates," Nader tells a Bloomberg reporter while denying that his 97,488 votes in Florida elected George W. Bush who won the state by just 537 votes over Al Gore in 2000.
Calling him a spoiler, Nader says, "is basically saying that small candidates are second-class citizens."
If Nader takes his pathological hatred of the Clintons into the arena this time, he won't be traveling in even that much style if Bloomberg comes in, too. Billionaires always go first-class and don't leave much space for anyone else.
Ironically, Nader's inner struggle is reported by Bloomberg.com, part of the business news empire that made New York's mayor a billionaire who is, albeit silently, having the same crisis of conscience about saving the nation with an Independent run.
Inverting their physical attributes, Nader and Bloomberg would be playing David and Goliath in a sideshow of the '08 electoral circus to prove that (a) corporate America is crushing its people or (b) only a corporate genius can straighten out the mess Bush is leaving behind.
"Look at the major areas of injustice, deprivation and solutions that are not being addressed by the major candidates," Nader tells a Bloomberg reporter while denying that his 97,488 votes in Florida elected George W. Bush who won the state by just 537 votes over Al Gore in 2000.
Calling him a spoiler, Nader says, "is basically saying that small candidates are second-class citizens."
If Nader takes his pathological hatred of the Clintons into the arena this time, he won't be traveling in even that much style if Bloomberg comes in, too. Billionaires always go first-class and don't leave much space for anyone else.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
John Edwards as Mr. Clean
As the two front-runners mud wrestle, the Great White Hope from North Carolina keeps blinking his eyes earnestly in the hope that Democrats will turn their lonely eyes toward him.
But John Edwards, like Mitt Romney in the other contest, is just too airbrushed for the part, try as he may, and his instinct for the jugular may remind voters of the class tattletale.
The New York Observer reports Edwards at a New York fundraiser, calling John McCain too "crazy" to have his finger on the nuclear button and hinting that Hillary Clinton will be tarring Barack Obama with more Rezko mud.
But if Edwards can pull off a decent showing in South Carolina Saturday, he may be able to hang around as a vulture waiting to pick at Clinton's and Obama's bones.
If so, voters may want to recall that, under all the operatic wailing for the poor, is a multimillionaire negligence lawyer who only last year fronted for a hedge fund that victimized them and, in one tepid term in the Senate, voted for the Iraq war in 2002.
That doesn't quite qualify him for the part of Mr. Clean.
But John Edwards, like Mitt Romney in the other contest, is just too airbrushed for the part, try as he may, and his instinct for the jugular may remind voters of the class tattletale.
The New York Observer reports Edwards at a New York fundraiser, calling John McCain too "crazy" to have his finger on the nuclear button and hinting that Hillary Clinton will be tarring Barack Obama with more Rezko mud.
But if Edwards can pull off a decent showing in South Carolina Saturday, he may be able to hang around as a vulture waiting to pick at Clinton's and Obama's bones.
If so, voters may want to recall that, under all the operatic wailing for the poor, is a multimillionaire negligence lawyer who only last year fronted for a hedge fund that victimized them and, in one tepid term in the Senate, voted for the Iraq war in 2002.
That doesn't quite qualify him for the part of Mr. Clean.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Democrats' Standup Demagoguery
They should have been sitting down for the first hour. The civility Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama showed in their Las Vegas round table last week and in the second hour of the Myrtle Beach debate tonight bracketed a standup slugfest that did neither of them credit.
Particularly ugly was Clinton's attempt to tar Obama with Chicago slumlord Tony Rezko and particularly slippery was Obama's trying to pass him off as a client for whom he had worked for a few hours. His relationship with the man who is under indictment in a federal corruption case is much more complicated than that (more about this here later).
But the lowlight was the pummeling Obama took from both Clinton and John Edwards for voting "present" on many occasions in the Illinois Legislature. This attempt to make him look indecisive was coming from people who did not hesitate in October 2001 to cast votes that allowed George Bush to invade Iraq.
Perhaps standing on their feet makes the candidates testy. The organizers of the next debate might consider a format that encourages them to chill out by reclining on chaise longues.
Particularly ugly was Clinton's attempt to tar Obama with Chicago slumlord Tony Rezko and particularly slippery was Obama's trying to pass him off as a client for whom he had worked for a few hours. His relationship with the man who is under indictment in a federal corruption case is much more complicated than that (more about this here later).
But the lowlight was the pummeling Obama took from both Clinton and John Edwards for voting "present" on many occasions in the Illinois Legislature. This attempt to make him look indecisive was coming from people who did not hesitate in October 2001 to cast votes that allowed George Bush to invade Iraq.
Perhaps standing on their feet makes the candidates testy. The organizers of the next debate might consider a format that encourages them to chill out by reclining on chaise longues.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Southern Fried Politicians
Fred Thompson hit his expiration date in South Carolina but may have managed to cook Mike Huckabee's goose in the process as John Edwards, after fizzling in Nevada, is in danger of becoming toast without a strong showing in South Carolina next weekend.
So much for culinary clichés, but the Presidential buffet is definitely losing its down-home flavor--no drawls or twangs in the next White House, if you don't count possible First Spouse Bill Clinton.
The Republicans' well-established Southern strategy has been derailed by the Thompson-Huckabee collision and faces a severe test in November against the appeal of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama to African-American voters.
In the long arc from the Democrats' Solid South more than half a century ago to the GOP's recent coalition of cultural conservatives, there has been a degree of unanimity that looks unlikely this year.
By nominating a McCain, Romney or Giuliani, Republicans will face fallout that won't be papered over by late conversions on abortion, immigration and gay rights or a Southern running mate on the ticket.
This November, red and blue states may form a checkered pattern all across the electoral map.
So much for culinary clichés, but the Presidential buffet is definitely losing its down-home flavor--no drawls or twangs in the next White House, if you don't count possible First Spouse Bill Clinton.
The Republicans' well-established Southern strategy has been derailed by the Thompson-Huckabee collision and faces a severe test in November against the appeal of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama to African-American voters.
In the long arc from the Democrats' Solid South more than half a century ago to the GOP's recent coalition of cultural conservatives, there has been a degree of unanimity that looks unlikely this year.
By nominating a McCain, Romney or Giuliani, Republicans will face fallout that won't be papered over by late conversions on abortion, immigration and gay rights or a Southern running mate on the ticket.
This November, red and blue states may form a checkered pattern all across the electoral map.
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