John Edwards Admits to Creepin'

The talking heads on television are in a feeding frenzy.

Speculation of infidelity by John Edwards first surfaced during the dawn of the Democratic primary season (in late 2007) with a story by none other than the National Enquirer. The Edwards Camp issued a number of denials and since the story had been broken by a sensational supermarket rag - like the Enquirer - most "reputable" news services let the story wane. And let John Edwards raise money and continue his quest for the Democratic nomination.

Well, the Enquirer came back a few weeks ago with news that this woman that Edwards has been creepin' with was with child... and John Edwards was caught by paparazzi in Los Angeles visiting with Rielle Hunter and his lovechild late one night. Another series of denials. But this time the story stuck.

Edwards has decided to 'fess up... he has taped a segment on Nightline which will be broadcast on ABC on the evening of Friday, August 8, 2008 (yeah, the same night of the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics on NBC). In the interview, Edwards acknowledged the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter, which began after she was hired to make documentary videos for his campaign. But he continues to deny being the father of her child, even though, he has yet to take a DNA test.

A former Edwards campaign aide, Andrew Young, claims he is the father of Frances Quinn Hunter, who was born on Feb. 27, 2008. The Charlotte Observer reported last week that a copy of the infant’s birth certificate did not list the name of the father.

This news is obviously tough on his family. His wife, Elizabeth, is still recovering from a bout with cancer and recall that their teenage son was killed in a traffic accident over a decade ago. Elizabeth Edwards pours out her heart in a post that she wrote on DailyKos.com earlier today:

Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some – most recently – caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences. None of these has been easy. But we have stood with one another through them all. Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him.

John made a terrible mistake in 2006. The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done. But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my diagnosis in March of 2007. This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well. Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.

The pain of the long journey since 2006 was about to be renewed.

John has spoken in a long on-camera interview I hope you watch. Admitting one’s mistakes is a hard thing for anyone to do, and I am proud of the courage John showed by his honesty in the face of shame. The toll on our family of news helicopters over our house and reporters in our driveway is yet unknown. But now the truth is out, and the repair work that began in 2006 will continue. I ask that the public, who expressed concern about the harm John’s conduct has done to us, think also about the real harm that the present voyeurism does and give me and my family the privacy we need at this time.

Read the major news service stories about the Edwards Affair here and here and here.

Read Elizabeth Edwards's post on DailyKos.com here.


plez sez: my heart goes out to the wife and family as this display of human frailty gets played out in public -- tabloid style.

power. money. two awesome aphrodisiacs that direct the actions of many. john edwards isn't the first presidential candidate who has taken the opportunity to creep with sexy young available women, he won't be the last. think about gary hart's ride to bimini on a boat named "monkey business" with donna rice back in 1988... ah, nothing new here! except, now we have a 24-hour news cycle and if not for that one picture of gary hart, he may still be a player in national politics. think about bill clinton getting his knob polished in the oval office by monica lewinsky; if not for that episode, hillary clinton might be the democratic nominee this year!

the consequences of his actions will probably relegate john edwards to a footnote in this presidential campaign. he was never a big challenge to either Obama or Clinton, but it appeared that he could've played a role in either of their administrations. there was vice president talk. there has been talk of attorney general in a Barack Obama administration. i doubt he'll be in denver for the democratic national convention, where he would've been given time on stage... he'll have to be content to eat humble pie at his big house in north carolina.

this whole sordid episode is kind of creepy, seeing as his wife is still recovering from a second bout with cancer. but it gets worse. it appears that one of edwards's campaign aides, by the name of andrew young, admits to lining up for sloppy seconds and got ms. hunter preggers. YUCK!

...as TLC so aptly sang it, "so i creep!"

"Creep" by TLC

So I creep yeah
Just keep it on the down low
Said nobody is supposed 2 know

So I creep yeah
'Cause [s]he doesn't know what I do
And no attention goes to show oh

So I creep...

Edwards Drops Out of Race

The New York Times reports that John Edwards has decided to drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination for President. He is expected to make a speech from New Orleans today - the same city where he kicked off his campaign.

Edwards ran a vigorous campaign, but could never get past the top two with either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. He has spoken with the two of them by phone, but has not said whether he will endorse either of them.

Read the entire New York Times article here.

plez sez: this is a good move by john edwards. the early primaries have shown that his message was not going to get past those of Obama or Clinton... this has been a two-horse race from the beginning (even though, edwards did have a respectible showing in the Iowa Caucus, where he was in a virtual dead heat with clinton for second place).

plezWorld thinks edwards would be a good vice-presidential running mate for either Obama or clinton, as both will need a southern presence on the ticket come november. the only issue may be that he is TOO LIBERAL and both obama & clinton should look for a more moderate democrat to balance their tickets.

Elizabeth Edwards: "We Can't Make John Black"

I happened upon this blog entry while perusing AOL earlier today. It illustrates quite a juxtaposition in the way this election cycle will be viewed. In past years, it was difficult for a Black man (Jackson, Sharpton, Keyes, etc.) or a woman (Chisholm, Ferraro, etc.) to be given serious consideration as a nominee for a national election. Now, it is difficult for a white man to shine through the clutter and distinguish himself because he is not Black nor a woman.

Calhoun writes: "Elizabeth Edwards is not afraid to speak her mind. And now she's catching flak for a controversial quote in a COIinsight.com article about the way in which the Web is dominating the 2008 campaign:

The Web can be liberating. "It's about bypassing the sieve of the mainstream media," says Elizabeth Edwards, wife and confidant of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards. "The idea that you have people standing between you and the voter is diminished, and the capacity to speak directly empowers candidates to trust their own voices." With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama hogging media coverage, campaigns can push their messages without paying for ads.
"In some ways, it's the way we have to go," Edwards says. "We can't make John black, we can't make him a woman. Those things get you a lot of press, worth a certain amount of fundraising dollars. Now it's nice to get on the news, but not the be all and end all."

The implication that Obama and Hillary consider getting attention for being black or a woman "the be all and end all" is, of course, completely absurd, especially given how much black-on-black racism the Obama campaign has faced, and how dizzy everyone got when Hillary showed the tiniest bit of cleavage.

Her remarks are also the ultimate in irony. She spent the article praising the Web; now that same engine will work overtime to crucify her.

You can read the entire article (and the large number of associated comments) here.

plez sez: Mrs. Edwards speaks the truth, a truth that is not so pleasant to hear, but often times the truth doesn't come accompanied by a bouquet of roses. our society is rife with racial and sexual stereotypes and prejudices. this is odd and unchartered territory to have two articulate, intelligent, and viable presidential candidates who happen to be minorities. with the mainstream media falling over themselves to document and broadcast their every utterance, it will become increasing difficult for a white man to get much face time, unless he has some distinguishing characteristics that would warrant his exposure. John Edwards has neither the pedigree of Hillary, nor the fresh-face and hopeful exuberance of Obama; he is merely a face in a crowd (with a nice haircut)!

John Edwards appears to be a bright, intelligent, and articulate man, but i'm afraid vanilla isn't the flavor of the month. he is indistinguishable from Joe Biden and Chris Dodd (some people are probably scratching their heads, "like who?")... i rest my case! *smile* he is a cookie-cutter animal cracker in a chocolate chip world: he is no different from the other white men who are vying for the Democratic nomination.

Elizabeth Edwards isn't a racist, i am sure that she doesn't think that only a white man is qualified to occupy the white house: she's a realist. she spoke out of frustration that her husband is beating his head (with its $400 haircuts) against the wall wondering how in the hell is he going to get his message out when he can't deliver his stump speech in blackface nor can he grow a set of C cups (in the next couple of months).

think of it this way, if being president of the united states hinged on one having actual credentials, then george w. bush wouldn't be president today. some things (and all truths) are just out of your control.