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Friday, August 8, 2008

John Edwards Admits to an Affair

posted by on August 8 at 11:59 AM

This is breaking: He had an affair and lied about it, he says.

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1

Yeah I hit that shit.

Posted by Mr. Poe | August 8, 2008 12:00 PM
2

He's too young for you, Poe!

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | August 8, 2008 12:02 PM
3

"But says he did not love her." Well that makes it better, doesn't it?

Posted by Jerod | August 8, 2008 12:04 PM
4

An affair with a woman? See? Total fag.

Posted by Dan Savage | August 8, 2008 12:06 PM
5

@2

Are you serious? Check again.

@4

I know, right?!

Posted by Mr. Poe | August 8, 2008 12:07 PM
6

Dude. It was so damn selfish of him to run for president. If this had come out right now and he was the candidate? Hello McCain.

Posted by leek | August 8, 2008 12:08 PM
7

So?

At least he's not gay like Rossi.

Posted by Will in Seattle | August 8, 2008 12:11 PM
8

@5, yeah, I guess 55 is in your range but he doesn't have that gray-haired, more wizened, sliding-down-into-elderly look you like...

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | August 8, 2008 12:12 PM
9

Not all of my tastes require gray hair. See also: the Jew.

Posted by Mr. Poe | August 8, 2008 12:14 PM
10

Holy crap! I mean, I know there have been rumblings about it for a while, but still... holy crap!

@6 - Seriously. He was my second choice for president.

Posted by Georgia Guy | August 8, 2008 12:14 PM
11

As soon as it was in the National Enquirer, I knew it was true. Seriously, why does anybody bother to doubt that rag on the big stories?

What is wrong with people like Edwards and Spitzer and Clinton that they just can't keep it in their pants for the good of the people? You can always do whatever you want once you're out of office. Why can't they wait?

Posted by whatevernevermind | August 8, 2008 12:19 PM
12

Well, at least we know why he was so firm about not wanting the VP slot now.

Posted by Levislade | August 8, 2008 12:21 PM
13

@9, ahh, yes, your Abrahamic friend is not all gray, is he...

You know, Poe, as the reigning Slog gerontophile, you should publish a hotness guide to hotness for other youngsters who crave older men. What makes a hotty and what makes a notty? I love niches like yours...20-something pecs and abs are dime-a-dozen.

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | August 8, 2008 12:27 PM
14

But he's just "not there yet" on gay marriage.

What a douche!

Posted by monkey | August 8, 2008 12:32 PM
15

The smartest of prostitutes are professional women paid to do unqualified jobs by their secret lovers

His political action committee later paid her $114,000 to produce campaign website documentaries despite her lack of experience.
Posted by Non | August 8, 2008 12:35 PM
16

And what a devastating thing for his wife to know while she dies

Posted by Non | August 8, 2008 12:37 PM
17

Well, it wasn't as if Obama was going to pick him as his running mate anyway.

Posted by pragmatic | August 8, 2008 12:38 PM
18

well well well. After 2-3 days of bringing this up finally Slog gets on it.

Turns out the big liar/sleazy/untrustable/carries time-bomb scandals/is therefore unelectable candidate was ..........John Edwards.

Posted by PC | August 8, 2008 12:45 PM
19

Can I just say a word for Mr. Edwards here? Who he screws is his own business, and hers. It's not like he's made a career out of sanctimonious opposition to infidelity. Does this hurt Mrs. Edwards? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't; I don't know and you don't either. Performing a sex act is not criminal and should not, in a rational world, disqualify one from public office. Unfortunately for Mr. Edwards, he doesn't live in a rational world; he lives in America.

Posted by Fnarf | August 8, 2008 12:50 PM
20

but fnarf..
it isn't the affair that rankles, it's the lying about it. be a ho if you want, but don't lie about it.

Posted by reverend dr dj riz | August 8, 2008 1:00 PM
21

Well, at least for the moment I'm very glad that I've never been an Edwards supporter.

I see your point, Fnarf, and you're absolutely right. I used to say the same thing during the whole Lewinsky scandal. But consider leek's point @6, and think about what would be happening right now if Edwards had been the nominee. We'd be tearing our hair out in despair and McCain would be laughing all the way to a landslide victory. What a awful selfish bastard he was for continuing to run while this shit was going down.

Posted by Hernandez | August 8, 2008 1:06 PM
22

He HAS to lie about it. That's the rules. If he admits it his career dies. He admits it now because he is forced to by media jackals. The correct answer to the question -- "it's none of your fucking business, you disgusting worm" -- is not allowed in American politics.

Posted by Fnarf | August 8, 2008 1:06 PM
23

@19

Actually... it's his business, her business, his dying wife's business and (most tragically) his bastard child's business. Oh and lets not forget the business of his four legitimate children (ops, make that three surviving) who now get a fun new sister to play with!

He really is living up to the purpose of the nonprofit organization he set up in memory of his dead son "to reward, encourage, and inspire young people in the pursuit of excellence" isn't he?

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | August 8, 2008 1:14 PM
24

How come when john edwards bangs one lady in 2 years he gets national headlines, but when I bang 3 women and get a sweet hj from mr poe, all in one day, no one cares?

Posted by joh | August 8, 2008 1:22 PM
25

I love you Fnarf.

@24

You still owe me five bucks.

Posted by Mr. Poe | August 8, 2008 1:26 PM
26

@23, I don't see your name on that list. Fucking cunt.

Posted by Fnarf | August 8, 2008 1:31 PM
27

I'm simply not keen on someone who chooses a profession that requires outright lies. If you're going to fricking run for president, don't have an affair. By contrast, if you're into polyamory, don't pick a profession that will put you in a position to lie about it. Holy fuck that was a lot of p's.

Posted by leek | August 8, 2008 2:26 PM
28

Fnarf, are you honestly saying I shouldn't think less of Edwards for fucking around on his wife, and by extension think less of his suitability to be President? Really?

Posted by Big Sven | August 8, 2008 2:30 PM
29

@20

riz, nobody -- nobody but those you're having sex with -- has a right to ask about sex. It is nobody's business. Anybody who is cretin enough to ask about your sex life deserves to be lied to. I think the greatest crime is when some pig wants to know about somebody else's sex life and gets the truth. The deserve nothing but lies, and hopefully lies that hurt them.

In the ugly real world, Hernandez is right. The country (and the world) needs desperately to defeat the Republicans and nobody with skeletons in their closet has any business risking letting the the bad guys win. There are so many good Democrats out there and those that aren't squeaky clean should go to the sidelines. Anything less is pure ego.

Fnarf, @23, is correct in his determination that You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me is a fucking cunt. That is dead on accurate.

Posted by elenchos | August 8, 2008 2:32 PM
30

Did y'all see this bit from the NY Times article?

In an interview last year with EXTRA that CNN just broadcast, Ms. Hunter said she spent about six months following Mr. Edwards around, including traveling with him to Africa. “The whole experience was life altering to me,” she said. “One of the great things about John Edwards is that he’s so open and willing to try things in new ways.”

Har.

Posted by leek | August 8, 2008 2:40 PM
31

#29 elenchos,
but see.. i also think that it's nobody's fuckin buisness . and i think that that's as proper an answer to the inquiry as any. ho's, players, hustlers and cheaters say it all the time - hell,that's what my daddy used to say followed by a rough '..and you should stay out of other folk's buisness'. but why lie ?

Posted by reverend dr dj riz | August 8, 2008 2:48 PM
32

@7 and @22 for most insightful, but @24 for the win, sadly.

Posted by Will in Seattle | August 8, 2008 2:53 PM
33

@31

Because if you lie, CNN goes away and camps out on somebody else's lawn. If you say "None of your business," CNN puts it on 24 hour rotation. They are indecent people and therefore can't accept a decent answer.

Posted by elenchos | August 8, 2008 2:59 PM
34

@28: I'm saying it's none of your fucking business. If you're thinking about who John Edwards is having sex with, now or two years ago, you're completely in the wrong.

How do you know he's "fucking around on his wife"? You know ZERO about the Edwards's family situation. And the "punishment", like the "crime", takes place ENTIRELY in the Edwards's private life. It's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. ZIP DAD NONE.

The Presidency is just a job. He's not a God, not a superhero, not a symbolic figurehead of greatness. He's an executive. I don't give a shit if he likes to get tied upside down to a wall as long as he shows up for work and does it well.

Americans have a fucked-up attitude towards sex, toward the sexual habits of other people, and towards their government. it's grossly inappropriate -- a thousand times more inappropriate than having sex with a woman you're not married to.

Posted by Fnarf | August 8, 2008 3:08 PM
35

I am young. Throughout my relatively short life the media has done nothing but disappoint me. Make me resentful and hateful towards it.

This Edwards scandal is no exception to the low, juvenile, soul-less- and lets face it- disgusting tactics conservative media outlets try their best to smear the party, and by association, the running candidate associated with them. The coming out of this "scandal" is absolutely not a coincidence. I doubt anyone can't see that.

To draw attention away from the actual point- the man who people need to see, need to hear- and try to smear his party since they are coming up empty with methods of smearing the man himself. I . . . I can't stand this anymore.

Posted by MarsAttack | August 8, 2008 3:08 PM
36

Fnarf & elenchos-

It's depressing to me that you pretend that morality has nothing to do with leadership when it suits you. Wasn't that one of the core arguments for Obama, that he was less sleazy than Clinton?!?

But don't take my word for it. Ask John Edwards. Here's what he said in 1999 about Bill Clinton:

I think this President has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen.
Posted by Big Sven | August 8, 2008 3:24 PM
37

The problem, Big Sven, is that you don't know ANYTHING about John Edwards's morality. And you are not in any kind of a position to judge that, nor offer punishment. Mrs. Edwards might be -- neither of us knows that either -- but not you.

The fact that Elizabeth Edwards stayed with John two years after finding out about the affair tells me EVERYTHING I need to know.

Posted by Fnarf | August 8, 2008 3:43 PM
38

Well come on, Fnarf. By virtue of the same "we don't really know" philosophy, you have no idea what her staying with him means or meant.

Posted by leek | August 8, 2008 4:05 PM
39

And there is the need to police public safety, like stopping muggings or water pollution, and the need to police private morality, which is all about what you do with your own body. What you stick into your body, or what things you participate in with your body in private. The state has no need to know about or interfere with private morality. And the electorate has no need either.

Again, nothing is more important than stopping the Republicans, and so in this election we can't stand on this principle. Edwards should have quit for that reason, not because he is "immoral". But then maybe he figure -- or knew -- that Hillary and Obama were just as vulnerable and that one of them had to stop the bad guys. So why not him?

Posted by elenchos | August 8, 2008 4:07 PM
40

Exactly. And I make no claims. It's the perverts and the bluenoses (yes, they are the same people) who think they know, and make claims, and throw around words like "morality" and "shameful" when they know nothing of the situation. I say nothing of the kind. For me, the entire issue never comes up. I base my views of John Edwards on what he says and does politically, not what he does with his dick.

Is having sex with another woman when you are married immoral? There is no single answer to that question. Some people do it while their wife is in the bed with them; other people destroy their marriage by doing it. Only the judgmental are keen to know where other people are on the spectrum. It's a fucking witchhunt.

Posted by Fnarf | August 8, 2008 4:14 PM
41

Right, so whether or not Elizabeth stayed with him should mean nothing to you too.

Posted by leek | August 8, 2008 4:54 PM
42

I'm with Sven on this one. You can talk about the "morality" of this all you want, but hypocrisy is hypocrisy. How can I trust a guy who says that shit about Clinton's affair, then pulls something like this? The guy's word is worth nothing.

And his judgment is even worse. I mean, Christ! He knew this could blow up in his face. Regardless of whether it's rational, in this country you can't admit to an affair in the middle of a presidential race and expect to win. Edwards knows this, and ran anyway. He put the party--and the country--at risk of more GOP death, greed, etc, at the service of his own ego and self-aggrandizement.

He should be ashamed of himself.

Posted by Matthew | August 8, 2008 5:29 PM
43

The fact that a woman dying from cancer didn't leave her husband after he admitted an affair shows it's cool? Well, yes, it's possible they had an open relationship, but another explanation is that she's in a pretty tough situation and needs what support/insurance/money regardless of what he did.

Anyway, Edwards says he apologized, why would he need to do that if he had an agreement?

Finally, did Edwards inquire about Clinton's "situation" (did he have an open relationship) before slamming him? Of course not.

My question - how many more months before Edwards admits that baby is his and the relationship is ongoing?

Posted by bob | August 8, 2008 8:51 PM
44

Men have affairs - that is there nature.

Men lie - that is there nature.

Men who have affairs and lie about them are rats but undeserving of your contumely.

People who judge these men with disdain and distrust because they expected better are naïve.

Do you imagine for one nano-second that McCain and Obama have not had affairs? Call me when the haze of Beijing evaporates and you are once again able to correctly process thought. The affairs that they have had are only the business of Barbara Walters and PEOPLE magazine. Priorities, folks, please!


Posted by RHETT ORACLE | August 9, 2008 11:18 AM

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