DISQUS

hopelesspedant · 1 year ago

I agree about Vicky Iseman.

I disagree about not condemning Edwards - not so much for the affair (that wouldn't affect my feelings about qualifications for office), but for the recklessness of having it while he was already a candidate, knowing the risks, and then lying about it when asked

Had he been the candidate, he'd have been destroyed. And he had to know it, and just hoped it wouldn't come out.

And that lack of judgment is indeed worth condeming.

Rob Mule · 1 year ago

his family became aware of the affair in 2006

Then why the f--k did he run for President this year???
What's wrong with so many of the people drawn to active roles in modern politics???

Slim Cognito · 1 year ago

I don't care what consenting adults do but I hate to see families hurt like this, (and when I say families in this instance I mean the wife and kids) Obviously Newty and McCain can't comment on this for obvious reasons. I will say thanks goodness Edwards didn't get the nomination.

Slim Cognito · 1 year ago

(I obviously got a little carried away with the word obvious, oops)

hawkseye · 1 year ago

Obviously, you mean to be a careful writer. :-)

Baseballgirl · 1 year ago

I have to agree with hopeless. My biggest problem is not the affair itself but the selfishness and recklessness of doing it during the campaign. What if he had been the nominee? We could have been looking at a President McCain for sure (or a President Giuliani or, worse yet, a President Huckabee).

He should never have run this year or, he could have dropped out when Elilabeth's health took a turn for the worse and called it good. No one would have questioned it. That he would have the gall to continue his bid knowing what would happen if it came out ( and it WOULD come out-obviously) speaks volumes and really pisses me off.

houstonray · 1 year ago

Agree 100%...I just told my partner on the phone the same thing, "thank GOD he was not the nominee, or we would have just lost it". Sad thing is, I was for Edwards before I was for Obama. Had he stayed in until Texas voted in the primaries, I would have cast my vote for him. My heart goes out to the family, it's never a pleasant thing to have to deal with, and while it is and and should be a private matter, I think he was very reckless with the whole situation and I'm glad I didn't vote for him. As you said, it speaks volumes to me too...

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

He left the race because of this, I'm sure of it. I saw him the day before he dropped out while he was campaigning in Oklahoma. I was one of his delegates. I'm disappointed but THANK GOD he got out, and this story should end up being a GIFT to Obama if played right. John McCain DID what John Edwards just did. Therefore, John McCain needs to be asked what he would do in this situation... I want both candidates to answer!

FatRat · 1 year ago

You are 100% correct!

hawkseye · 1 year ago

Definitely agree, but it doesn't piss me off. Just makes me tired.

The size ego required for a major political run---is a trap, probably for most candidates.

JMOHR · 1 year ago

No more Edwards as a future candidate. On a more sensible note, see how the democrats may wander but always end up making their marriages work whereas Republicans tend to dump their wives when they are physically ill or otherwise need to be replaced by the latest trophy wife.

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

but remember! John McCain DID have an AFFAIR with Cindy and was running around on his FIRST WIFE before he eventually dumped her for Cindy. At least John Edwards is no longer running for President. John McCain IS running for President.

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

Yea, where is Vicki Iseman and where is the whole story showing John McCain's history of cheating?

If the media is going to go into hysterics over this, they need to cover how McCain cheated on then divorced his sick wife with his party girl, Cindy McCain.

scooter in brooklyn · 1 year ago

suprisingly, brad blakeman who is usually a major league asshole when he punditizes on msnbc has taken the high road this afternoon.

hopelesspedant · 1 year ago

Maybe because the subject of a presidential candidate's adultery(ies) is not exactly at the top of the McCain campaigns wish list.

Slim Cognito · 1 year ago

Agreed. I doubt McCain wants to comment on a politician who cheated on his ill wife and lied about it.

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

Blakeman realizes the only way to win is to not get in a tit for tat because MCCAIN WILL LOSE if they start delving too deeply into the adultery mess. The strategy for Republicans is to let the retarded newsreaders spread a Red Herring that this somehow affects Obama, which it DOESN'T, while personally trying to play "concern troll" and act like we should just move on. If you looked closely, Blakeman had a very desperate look about him. Believe me, Republicans DON'T want to go there.

RenoAnne · 1 year ago

Thank god he didn't get the nomination.

Sage24 · 1 year ago

I am so thankful that Edwards did not win the nomination. Imagine, the attacks the despicable swiftboaters and the GOP would have made on the candidate. The Dems would not have had a chance of winning in November.

What I am sad about is that Elizabeth Edwards, going through the horrors of having cancer, has to deal with something hurtful, when she is fighting for her life. Shame on Edwards.

mirth · 1 year ago

The affair says he's human. I hope it was good for both of them. But the lies make him a liar and a very reckless one. To deny paternity of the child without a paternity test makes him a SOB.

hawkseye · 1 year ago

Agree with you, but humans do lie---all of them. That doesn't excuse him.

Kes · 1 year ago

Perfect opening to bring up McCain doing the same thing to his sick wife, before he left her for an heiress. Chance of the MSM mentioning that, even as the cnn.com picture next to this story shows Obama together with Edwards: 0%

scooter in brooklyn · 1 year ago

good catch Kes. but of course, IOKIYAR

Steve_in_CNJ · 1 year ago

The moral questions are for Mr. and Mrs. Edwards to sort out. The ethical question is whether you should take campaign contributions when you have no chance of being president. Edwards should return our money.

KerrynowCampau · 1 year ago

At least the affair was with an adult woman

Shame on John

scottinsf · 1 year ago

What a disappointment.

fredndallas · 1 year ago

"I really don't care who sleeps with whom -- as long as the person isn't a hypocrite" ...

Neither do I but that comment, if it was meant to be dismissive, is really rich.

A hypocrite?

Running for President fully well knowing how incredibly important it is to the world to get rid of the Ruling Republicans with this hanging in the background sure to explode?

Running for President and making his personal "family values", his standing by Elizabeth and his wonderful family a center piece in his appeal?

Running for President with this kind of behavior when he knows that Bill Clinton's behavior is what set the stage and gave the key to the Ruling Republicans?

Then doing all the "right" things to be the Veep nominee for Obama, knowing we all would be sitting on this ticking time bomb?

Positioning himself to perhaps be the Attorney General in an Obama administration if he didn't latch onto the VP position, knowing the affair could come out at any time and destroy any credibility for the Democrats?

"as long as the person isn't a hypocrite" ????

Personally I don't give a damn who anybody sleeps with either, but I care beyond measure about the character of the President of the United States. And if I did not -- I sure as hell would after living with GWB.

The next most stunning thing to me about the Edwards saga is the incredible denial and hypocrisy from my fellow "progressive" Democrats about the coverage of this story. It is what it is and it is ugly.

On another note: it seems to me given all the coverage this will now get creates a strong argument that choices made and behaviors of John McCain deserve full coverage, as well.

And let's hope Obama does not have anything lurking.

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

Oh, for God's sake, we KNOW its ugly and hypocritical but don't underestimate how this affects the McCain camp! It affects McCain because he did the same thing. Obama? Not so much. Remember, Republicans have always been the "family values" party. Edwards tried to one up them with his "family values" and therefore looks like a hypocrite, as well. Remember, the Republicans were HYPOCRITES way before this ONE example. For every Democrat, like Edwards, I can name: Haggard, Craig, Vitter and many, many other Republicans.

mirth · 1 year ago

Consider this:

If his family was aware of the affair in 2006, then what does that say about Elizabeth's support of him running for prez?

If this part of the story is true, then she's not quite ready for sainthood.

SO damn depressing.

Busboy · 1 year ago

What's depressing to me, Mirth, is that Edwards was the only candidate that seemed to have it together and could run the country without screwing it up. Here's something more depressing: Apparently the woman was receiving money from several of Edwards' friends which was allowing her to live high on the hog in California. Don't know if it was blackmail "as such"

UncommonSense · 1 year ago

"Where is Vicki Iseman?"

Heck, you don't even have to play the "Vicki Iseman" card.

Just look at the platinum blonde trophy on stage with McCain. He was married to somebody else when he met her. Let's talk about that.

Oh, I forgot we can't talk about that because McCain was a POW 40 years ago. My bad.

Barbara917 · 1 year ago

I have no trouble condemning Edwards. He is married and has children! The ass!

Bobby · 1 year ago

I was thisclose to voting for Edwards. If he hadn't dropped out when he did, I would've voted for him instead of Obama.

I'm so glad I voted for Obama.

Shame on you, John Edwards!

FunMe · 1 year ago

National Enquirer has been reporting about this for awhile. Wow, its sure gives them more legitimacy wouldn't you say?

Meanwhile, I m disappointed with John. So i get we are all human and make mistakes. But didn't anyone learn from Gary Hart?

kladinvt · 1 year ago

Well, I'm pissed off. Spitzer, Edwards, what the f*** goes through these people's minds?

If I can't get married to the person I love then I think adultery should be made a crime. Let's see how that goes over with the "protect marriage" crowd.

SecretScoundrel · 1 year ago

I live in North Carolina and I like many others have never trusted Edwards for some reason. When you meet him in person there is something untrustworthy about him. I've said this many times and I did not support him. Now I know why.

Bush_Bites · 1 year ago

Yeah, I kind of felt the same way.

From Shrum's book:

Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story with him that he'd never told anyone else—that after his son Wade had been killed, he climbed onto the slab at the funeral home, laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he'd do all he could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade's ideals of service. Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me later, Edwards had recounted the same exact story to him, almost in the exact same words, a year or two before—and with the same preface, that he'd never shared the memory with anyone else. Kerry said he found it chilling, and he decided he couldn't pick Edwards unless he met with him again.

tbhull · 1 year ago

Vicki Iseman? Anal sex does not count.

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

That is TOO FUNNY!

shrrrr · 1 year ago

I'll bet the baby is his and he's lied to his wife about when the affair ended. Hell, it never ended. He is dead.

DAB · 1 year ago

This news makes me sick. I sent the man money. I would have voted for him if he hadn't dropped out of the campaign by the time my state had its primary. That he could have been contemplating a presidential run in 2006 AND thought he could get away with this is pretty stupid. And I thought he was smart.

And he is a hypocrite, at least in the sense that he can oppose gay marriage (although I respected how he did it, and made it clear his family didn't agree with his opposition) based on the way he understands marriage, but he can himself have an affair? That's hypocrisy.

I don't see how what he did is any worse than what McCain has done, however, and it's worth noting that one didn't get his party's nomination while the other has. But I think it would be wise if both Edwardses (yes, also Elizabeth, despite how much I admire her and her honesty) were to stay away from the convention. Even having her on the stage is only going to remind people of this story and what was done to her and will end up being what commentators talk about, rather than the otherwise salient points she'd likely be able to make about healthcare had this story not been true.

kladinvt · 1 year ago

Well at least he didn't get caught in the men's room like so many repugs!

Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 1 year ago

Mmmm I am in a monogamous gay relationship but I cannot get married. And the big reason? It will destroy marriage? Excuse me? Thank god he lost the primary race or McSame would be a landslide

gumbygirl · 1 year ago

He admits to the affair, but somehow seems to think it's ok because "he doesn't love her." Asshole. Good riddance.

whomod · 1 year ago

I'm watching Shuster on MSNBC and the only BIG hypocrisy I see is the fact that in one breath the traditional media is going to turn up their nose at the tabloid that broke the story even as they breathlessly reveal and repeat ad naseum every sordid little detail.

houstonray · 1 year ago

Amen to the gay marriage comments. This kind of stuff just pisses me off....gay marriage will destroy traditional marriage and then we have these kinds of stories come out yet we still can't get married. John Edwards is a coward, and a jerk. Plain and simple. I feel sorry for his wife and family, but have no sympathy for him. You reap what you sow Mr. Edwards....

Polly_Tics · 1 year ago

Joe,
You ask "But, if the GOP'ers or the traditional media decide to make a big issue out of this one, I have one question: Where's Vicki Iseman?" Well, I was just watching MSNBC and some Republican hack (whom I have never seen before by the by) and all he did was point the finger AT not just John Edwards, but the ENTIRE Democratic Party. He spoke about how the media should and would follow up on this story and added that it is sure to impact the convention.

Frankly, I tend to agree with Joe on who sleeps with whom and have mixed feelings about this story. As a John Edwards supporter, it is safe to assume I feel protective about him and how the trashy National Enquirer develops stories, but this whole thing makes me question Edwards judgment in handling this thing. After the awful days of Bill Clinton's "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky..." to what actually happened to him politically. How can any politician think that they can get away with this stuff?

I dunno, I feel terrible that the press is going after him in the cheesy manner it has (MSNBC anchor made some crude comments about all of this a la Faux Noise) and I guess we will be hearing more on this whole thing. Ick.

JamesR · 1 year ago

Yawn.

He's a politician. We'd not be electing him to be High Priest or anything. He's a trial lawyer, and a good one. If the best mechanic in town had an affair, would you not take your car to him? Say he played bingo and you didn't believe in gambling, would it be worth the safely of your vehicle?

His hypocrisy regarding his stance on the 'sacredness' of heterosexual marriage aside, he would make a great Attorney General and we shouldn't hold his penis against him. So to speak.

I'm more peeved this legitimizes the Enquirer.

JamesR · 1 year ago

I am amending my comments to note my agreement with most of the previous posters. Not just to innoculate me from a snarky comment but because I agree with the mundane evaluation at the same time I maintain my initial more idealistic view.

I was for him, I liked his healthcare policies, and his social policies. These are public things - I would rather he be a private weasel than a public weasel, I think he had the capacity to keep the two separate. Except he was a really BAD private weasel. The fucker. What. An. Idiot.

It's like his wife, having terminal cancer before she knew it, Edwards had political terminal cancer, and knew it, for years before we all knew it. And ran for president after knowing it. Very similar to those marriage related laws regarding entering an engagement fraudulently. (A heterosexual marriage of course.)

It is rich though. having the party of Newt Gingrich / McCain get all high and mighty over this, but c'est la vie. The Obama people undoubtedly knew about this, hence the separation between the two ever since Edward's endorsement.

bluestockton · 1 year ago

First Dickie Scruggs and his attempted bribe, now Edwards. What's with these trial lawyers getting reckless all of a sudden? Incredible that they'd risk so much for so little.

cab02149 · 1 year ago

It is none of my business. It does not reflect a man's character. It never has. That Elizabeth remains is a credit to their relationship. The repub Media will use it against the democrats. The brain dead voters will pay voracious attention, never asking 'what has this to do with anything important to me or the country"?
It is much more than benign gossip in the hands of war mongers, racists, homophobes and all manner of a dehumanized electorate. Good job Television. You have made a nation of sheep into a nation of zombies.

Bush_Bites · 1 year ago

I feel the same way about him I do about Bubba.

OK, fine, it's his private life.

But planting a time bomb like that on yourself and asking people to support you with their time, money and devotion is the height of reckless self centeredness.

They both let the team down.

ZennButtKicker (tlhwraith) · 1 year ago

Edwards. Come on, what was he thinking. I agree that I don't have a strong opinion about him having an affair, that's between him, his wife, and whatever God he prays to. HOWEVER, to run for President of the United States, as a Democrat, after the way the last Democrat was almost removed from office surrounding an affair? Was Edwards high?

Anyway, I guess hindsight is 20/20 and perhaps it was a good thing that the guy I actually voted for didn't get the nomination. I join with many other people today in praying with all our strength that Obama had enough self-control to keep his nose clean of something like this AND that McCain/Viagra did not!

Bush_Bites · 1 year ago

You kidding?

Obama's a Dagwood Bumstead.

I can tell who an operator is and who isn't.

Obama's as square as they come.

Busboy · 1 year ago

Major Tom to ground control: I think your radar is seriously defective.

bluestockton · 1 year ago

Can't remember where I saw it, but some right-wingers are circulating a list of Obama acquaintances who have "mysteriously" died. Wouldn't surprise me if it's the very same hit list they used to peddle about BIll Clinton, with only a name or two changed.

PeteWa · 1 year ago

Everyone knows that only Republicans can get away with cheating on their wives.
Although repukes usually seem to prefer underage boys or girls, or mistresses that they can choke.
Or hookers who will diaper them.
IOKIYAR

Busboy · 1 year ago

Sounds like you have an identity crisis...

PeteWa · 1 year ago

Looks like you have once again brought your own personal brand of Weak Sauce to the thread.

Busboy · 1 year ago

Why do you remind me of the "Joker"?

DreamOn · 1 year ago

Sheesh! Christ on a cracker! Can I have my $500 back, please? For all I know they have an open marriage - whatever, fine really - but talk about reckless. The National Enquirer has also reported that Bush is drinking again - let's examine that as well.

I am very disappointed. This makes me regret I didn't vote for Kucinich. Judging by his vote on FISA, Obama seems more interested in screwing me. A bad trade.

nikto · 1 year ago

Where's Vicki Iseman?






Uh, it's a fairly safe bet she is dead, and the body destroyed.

That's how The REAL GOP operates.

We are seeing the REAL GOP in action at this time,
on behalf of McCain.

Slam-dunk.

lucky hussein · 1 year ago

Fact: you can have an affair and still be an excellent family person
Fact: you can have an affair and still be a moral and/or political leader
Fact: you can have an affair and still be president (in a mature country)
Fact: you can be bi-sexual and still love your marriage partner and be a great parent
Fact: people's affairs are their own g-dam business

nikto · 1 year ago

ELIZABETH EDWARDS would make a better President than her husband, IMO.


In a perfect world, SHE would be the candidate.

tlsintx · 1 year ago

what nikto said.

JoeSudbay · 1 year ago

These comments have been fascinating. I have gone back and forth all afternoon. The emails and IMs I've been getting are all expressing anger and outrage at Edwards -- especially from my female friends. The main argument is what hopelesspedant wrote in the first comment: why the hell did he run when this had happened. That part is disturbing.

mirth · 1 year ago

And why, if she knew of the affair, which was sure to be revealed during this critical election, did Elizabeth support his run? If it is true that she knew, as Edwards asserts, then the recklessness isn't limited to John, although the blame for all of it, of course, is.

Damn

nicho · 1 year ago

John Edwards repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extramarital affair with a novice filmmaker, the former Senator admitted to ABC News today.

Isn't it interesting that Democrats "lie," but, as far as the corporate media is concerned, Republicans never do. Republicans make statements that "are at odds with earlier statements." They "vary from the facts." They issue "contradictory remarks." But you will never see the corporate media open a story with "George Bush lied repeatedly today."

FunMe · 1 year ago

kinda like "mispoke", "mistruths", etc.

CDS2 · 1 year ago

Can you imagine what would have happened to the Democrat party if he had won the nomination? Holy Shit. As Krauthammer stated today, even the Italian Communists should be able to win over any Republican in this election, but if it had been Edwards.....Holy Shit !!! Anyway, I'm glad this scumbag got cought with his pants down. He made way too much money screwing the Medical Profession.

Busboy · 1 year ago

Because, Joe, his "friends" thought the problem was under control. It's coming out that Edwards' "friends" were paying the woman and were making sure that she was living in luxury digs in CA. Blackmail? does it qualify? Who knows. The end result is that a guy who had the world on a platter has let off-limits pussy screw up his life.

dommyluc · 1 year ago

Let's see McGeezer's campaign or the Rethugs make a big deal out of this. I'm sure John McCain't would LOVE to remind people how he had an sexual affair with a 20-something millionairess while his faithful, crippled wife - who stood by him and fought for him all the time he was a POW - suffered at home (of course, he didn't have an illegimate child, except for that black one that his good pal and best bud, Karl Rove, told us about). Man, one can only hope they're that stupid. And while they're at it, let's hope they try and blame the housing and bank crises on Obama, too, so we can bring up McCoot's involvement with the Keating S&L megabuck disaster.

CDS2 · 1 year ago

Change the subject much ?

dommyluc · 1 year ago

The subject is adultery, and personally I couldn't give a shit what people do in their marriage - you know, that sanctified institution only currently legal for two people of opposite sexes that ends up in divorce over 50% of the time. It's just the hypocrites that I despise, wheter Dem or Rep, and it's about time the MSM started saying what has been proven to be true- that John McCain - who IS a presidential candidate, and not Edwards, who DIDN'T get the nomination - was a serial adulterer, despite the lies he told about this subject in his book. And he may well still be, if some reporter had the balls to dig up Vicki Iseman (hopefully, not literally dig her up). The media spent 24/7 on Clinton's affairs. Why not McCain's? Because he was held in a prison camp? Bullshit!! I'm sure many POWs have returned home without resorting to adultery. I'm tired of this white glove treatment of McCain, glossing over his enormous flaws to make him seem more honest than he is. He's a fucking stereotypical inside the Beltway politician. He's not a maverick - that's James Garner, who would probably make a better president than McSame ever would.

Mikki --SE Pennsylvania · 1 year ago

Dommyluc: I could not agree more with what you say. Insane McCain has spent so much time polishing this pious image of himself as "war-hero" and "POW" that he really believes it himself. As General Clark said and got so much flack about: McCain's experiences as POW DO NOT qualify him to be POTUS and they should not qualify him for a pass by the MSM. They should be turning over every stone in his past and seeking out the truth about the man's seedy and questionable past. He is clearly a crook, a liar, a charlatan, and a moral leper.

dommyluc · 1 year ago

There's a question I keep asking McCain supporters and the traditional media when I comment on their websites: how does being a POW qualify you to be President? No one has yet answered my question. They change the subject and try to say that military experience gives you qualifications. But that wasn't the question, and besides, in the military people HAVE to follow your orders, while the President is (or WAS, until Bush2) a servant of the people who can remove you from office. And as I recall, there is nothing in the Constitution which states that military experience is a prerequisite for being President. So I will keep asking: how does John McCain's POW status qualify him to be President? Anyone? Lady in the back row? Wolf? Mornin' Joe? Billo? Sean? Dana Milbank? (Crickets).

Nigel Elliott · 1 year ago

Depressing story. Shame on Edwards and shame on the media and blogs for not asking more questions from the get go. This story should have been over almost a year ago. Now the wingnuts have another fake example of liberal media bias because our side dismissed the NE story outright.

It's Friday. Cheer up. Listen to some tunes..... ;-)

Michael Jackson - Billy Jean
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzp0JETG0Pw

CDS2 · 1 year ago

"Fake example"?

jr · 1 year ago

"we still won't ever mention McCain's first wife"-cable news

falloch · 1 year ago

Folks: Today was the opening ceremony of the Olympics w/ an estimated 3-4 billion viewers. Today Russia sent tanks into S. Ossetia, after US-backed Georgia attacked S. Ossetia. And the US MSM is full of 'Edwards the Philanderer' stories. Meanwhile, there are two US aircraft carrier fleets heading towards the Persian Gulf to join the one that's already there, accompanied by French and British aircraft carriers after joint naval exercises called 'Operation Brimstone' in the Atlantic, to enforce an illegal embargo on Iran, which will ratchet up the situation in the Gulf bigtime. Yes, it's sad and muy disappointing about Edwards - but there's a lot going on in the world right now that's got jackshit to do with him and his personal life (i.e. a 'brief affair' could basically be a one-night stand in a stressed-out period of madness, or he's just Bill Clinton all over again). They are trying to pull the proverbial wool over our eyes again, as something awful cooked up by Cheney unfolds yet again.

Busboy · 1 year ago

Now, falloch, that's just a bunch of shinola. Edwards has been visiting the woman regularly. He's been under surveillance by the intrepid reporters at the "clintonesque" National Enquirer. (run by an FOB, friend of Bill)

falloch · 1 year ago

Fair play Busboy - I live overseas, and access some US MSM on the net, but don't have time to keep up to date with everything! But I still think the attention on Edwards is of course politically expedient for both Repugs and enemy-within Dems, but is also a distraction from not just the election campaign, but also something else brewing in the world that we need to keep an eye on, as well as what's happening to the money markets, etc.

Busboy · 1 year ago

You're "right on" about the distraction. But, you know us: We don't turn off the TV even when the planes fly into the skyscrapers...

ctnyc · 1 year ago

Falloch is absolutely right. There's some serious shit going down in the world and in this country, and all US MSM can focus on is the private life of a man who -- while a prominent Democrat -- does not even hold an elected office.

And for the record, I don't like it when the private lives of Republicans are more important than real news either, but at least Edwards has not engaged in the hypocrisy of basing his career on a "family values" platform as so many caught-red-handed Repugs have.

Politcians are people, just like the rest of us. The divorce rate in the US hovers around 50%, as does the rate of marital infidelity. People need to stop feigning outrage whenever this happens and grow the hell up. There are real problems that need our attention, and we're salivating over who is sleeping with whom. Is it any wonder that our collective teen-aged sensibility has led to two terms for an overblown frat boy?

Can we ever talk about real issues? Jesus effin' Christ.

CDS2 · 1 year ago

Did ya catch the time spent on Senator Craig on this blog?

mirth · 1 year ago

Ok. I'll just say it outright.

You're creepy. Really Really Really Creepy.

Udate:
I'll clarify so my comment to you, CDS2, isn't just a personal attack.

You come on these threads with little to add but conservative piddle, and ridiculous conservative piddle at that, and wait for a gotcha moment so you can distort or in some way mangle what was written in the post and/or what other commenters have to say about it.

Case in point: your above statement.

Creepy.

CDS2 · 1 year ago

I appreciate your comment. I probably should have explained myself. I was commenting on CTNYC's comment "Can we ever talk about real issues? Jesus effin' Christ".

ctnyc · 1 year ago

As I clearly stated, I don't like it when Repugs' private lives are more important than real news either. My disgust about our unwillingness to have conversations about the various crises facing our country is not a comment about this site so much as the MSM in general.

Mortgage crisis, energy crisis, global warming, government-approved torture, an illegal war that has killed tens of thousands of innocent people, record deficits, illegal politicization of the Justice Department, the collapse of regulatory oversight of countless industries, and what are we talking about? Flag pins, affairs, and Paris Hilton. It would be uproariously funny if it weren't so pathetically sad.

CDS2 · 1 year ago

Mirth...Hope you came back for this?....You need to get a life.

ctnyc · 1 year ago

"You need to get a life": the go-to comment when conservatives realize they have no case :)

falloch · 1 year ago

Gosh, ctnyc, no one's ever said I was 'absolutely right' before! I am eternally grateful! For those of you that live in a place with a clear night sky (not too often in Scotland), tonight's the first night of the two-week-long Perseids meteor showers. Go out after midnight and rejoice in the beauty of lots of beautiful tiny fiery shooting stars, and thank whatever god you might worship that you're not living under other, more deadly, bright trajectories that you'd experience if you lived in Iraq or Afghanistan or a lot of other places in this world.

MommaKat · 1 year ago

Great points ctnyc and Falloch. In one breath someone bitches about this, and in the next they complain about Bush, Cheney, McSame et al having God complexes. Wonder if it's ever occurred to anyone that we end up w/ crappy politicians with a raging God complex because we demand perfection from our politicians? I want a guy who can think, problem solve, create compromise, etc. I do not expect he (she) be superhuman and never have made a mistake. We all make mistakes, give me a politician (like Obama and Edwards) who readily admits a mistake and learns from it. And by that, I don't mean bare all to the ravenous public that will eat you alive for such an admission.

How long before we can talk about issues that really matter?

Fireblazes(CheetohsandCatfood) · 1 year ago

We are lucky he did not get the nomination. His defiant lying would kill us in the election. Not the affair, but the lying about it.

dula · 1 year ago

This is just sad. Sad that Americans are so obsessed about money and power that a Democratic candidate for President would put his Party and his country at risk so he can stroke his Ego...Sad that American women still feel they have to sleep with powerful MARRIED men in order to get ahead. What is so wrong with being and ordinary person with integrity?

ShirleyGoodnessanMercy · 1 year ago

ditto

loona_c · 1 year ago

Clay feet.

Hugely disappointing.

MommaKat · 1 year ago

Pissed at Edwards? Nah, he's human, and what all this says about his character is that he owns his mistakes and takes responsibility (with his family, he doesn't owe the public jack.)

Pissed at the MSM, at the judgements circulating the blogs? Hell yes!! I (stupidly) expected more from at least Countdown, but no. The GOP doesn't need to go after this b/c the MSM will do it for them. "His political public life is over. He can't speak at the convention now..." WTF?!? McLame has numerous extra-marital affairs, Cindy and Vicky Iseman most notably, but that doesn't prevent him from running for POTUS, hell no one in the MSM raises the question. Let's all tout freakin' Clinton's speaking role at the convention, while at the very same moment we decry Edwards ability b/c, shocker, he had an affair. And Clinton did what? Neither Clinton nor McCain come clean with their wives, lie to the public, and we let it go. Edwards goes to his wife, they decide to deal with it privately (because it's a PRIVATE matter), they actually deal with it, and DAMN if he's not a pariah!

Anybody stop to think about the fact that the Edwards family's dealt with some major blows (her diagnosis last year was a RECURRENCE of cancer....) People don't always deal with personal crisis the same as they deal with work, career or other crisis. He made a freakin mistake, recognized that, and did the right thing. I've worked with cancer patients as a hospice nurse - and the patients, their families, friends, they ALL struggle to cope, and sometimes our coping mechanisms are external - Like affairs.

Totally disillusioned on this, but not with Edwards or his family - with Olbermann, Mitchell, MSNBC, ad nauseaum, with public reaction. This country needs a serious reality check!! (so people can get over their holier than thou complexes!)

Busboy · 1 year ago

Surely you don't believe the Clintons have played their "hole card" yet and are finished with creating mayhem in this election cycle?

preznit_giv_me_turkee · 1 year ago

Where's Vicki Iseman?

maternity leave?

Mikki --SE Pennsylvania · 1 year ago

Like many others, I don't really care that Edwards had an affair. My greatest ire is aroused by the fact that he had the supreme arrogance to think , having shared this information with his wife and apparently some campaign members, that the whole sordid business could be concealed from the public and that he actually tried to run for POTUS while sitting on this timebomb. How can anyone who is supposed to be such a sharp trial lawyer even for a moment think that such scandal wont come back and bite him in the ass. It needs to be pointed out that his wife, having been told about this, went on to aid and abet his efforts to run for POTUS. She is equally guilty and to blame and deserves an equal amount of criticism and I can only hope that there might be some statute under which they could both be prosecuted and sent to jail. They and all or any members of the campaign who collaborated in the attempted coverup of this shabby adultery and the attempt to fool the public should be held up to loud and long public disgrace. Edwards must know his chances for any future political of public office are nil-- not just in the toilet, but flushed and swirling down the drain to obscurity. He and his wife and their co-conspiritors will do best following that example - get out of the public spotlight and learn to love the shadows. John Edwards has put himself in the company of adulterers like Bill Clinton and John McCain.
All white trash with money, but no amount of money can change that fact that they are trash!

dad · 1 year ago

turd

2008 · 1 year ago

What creeps me out is that over 2006-7, Edwards always appeared so young and vital, while his poor wife looked just ill, aged, and her whole shape looked out of shape.... I kept thinking now if he looks so virile and healthy, and is so close in marriage to her, why does she look so broken down?....
Now we know! He was having his fun on the side and her suspicions, eventually confirmed, must have been enough to send her into near fatal cancer! It's a fact that emotional trauma often leads to severe illness.
Yes, those 2 were on different wavelengths and it showed in their everyday appearances.

Or has my husband once put it, "that Edwards, he just has a shit-eating smile!" Hmmm......

2008 · 1 year ago

I look at the ad for Obama to the right and no offense regarding his common "shit-eating grin," too. But, at least my hubby likes Obama regardless.

Marriage can be quite hard, but wow--can John Edwards make it any harder on Elizabeth??!!

mirth · 1 year ago

What a mean-spirited comment yours is.

He didn't send her into "near fatal cancer," she had cancer. That was the cause of her "broke down" appearance.

The cruelty of your comment is astounding, but also expected from someone who sees brilliant, beautiful smiles as "shit eating."

Busboy · 1 year ago

The comment may not be overly cruel. Sometimes a person's "public" personna is the opposite of his/her familial personna. It's the "who knows what goes on behind closed doors" factuality.

mirth · 1 year ago

If it wasn't cruel, then it was stupid and I'm getting very tired of stupid. There's far too much of it going around.

And to those of us who grieve today at this stunning revelation from Edwards and our deep affection for Elizabeth shaken, the word cruelty applies.

2008 · 1 year ago

On last point, post-Olympics ceremonies (cool, I might add):

What is it with the way the denizens of the Bible Belt down in
the South and the quickest to dispose of any adherence to
biblical values about fidelity, marriage, etc.?

Only until I moved South did I start to meet married men who
would shamelessly hit on me, even after I had met their wives
and kids!! It amazed me and I never encouraged it. They really
have some kind of blind spot down here. And that kind of lying
only leads to the possibility of more indiscretions....

Women: we've got it great. (sarcasm)

smallhandff · 1 year ago

Why did this item break now, just before the Convention? Who benefits?

ClintonHater · 1 year ago

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. All those stupid Edwards supporters always blabbing about "how I supported Edwards so its not my fault if Obama is moving towards the center" and what not. Well in your face! Go Obama!