Elizabeth Edwards: Please Don't Advocate Health Reform Until You Stop Lying About John

I don't understand why Elizabeth keeps making statements that she knows to be lies about John Edwards, the woman he fell in love with and the baby they conceived together. For the sake of everyone involved and because health care reform matters so much, I wish she would stop.

It's a bad, profoundly selfish idea to put oneself out as an advocate for health reform while at the same time lying to national TV audience. But there was Elizabeth Edwards Wednesday night on Larry King Live, doing both.

King asked her about DNA tests and her husband and she said, "My expectation is that, at some point, something happens. I hope for the sake of this child that it happens, you know, in a quiet way."

But something has already happened and Elizabeth is well aware of it.

Almost exactly a year ago, I laid out where the Edwards story was headed including the fact that Rielle Hunter's baby's father is John Edwards. In past couple of weeks, The National Enquirer started reporting that DNA tests had taken place, Edwards is the father and Hunter is looking for a house in North Carolina to be nearer to Edwards. Anyone who follows this story knows that The Enquirer is the paper of record and has been consistently correct on the facts.

So Elizabeth Edward is lying. Again. Shamelessly. Same as back in May of this year when said told Oprah Winfrey, "I've seen a picture of the baby. I have no idea. It doesn't look like my children but I don't have any idea."

The same way she lied to her rapt audience at DailyKos in 2007 and said that "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."

Is this a private matter for the Edwardses? Hardly.

There are so many people whose lives were touched by the Edwards's pattern of deception that it can't be considered private. A short list includes people like Andrew Young, who Edwards paid off to claim paternity. Young is married. And has kids. Young is working on a book now.

There's the late Fred Baron, who spent the last few months of his life paying for Rielle Hunter and the Youngs to live together in Santa Barbara. There are supporters and staffers who were lied to personally. And I amstill banned from DailyKos....

No, it's not just private. And along the way Elizabeth Edwards moved herself from victim to conspirator.

Does Elizabeth Edwards have some masochistic drive to seek publicity about her husband's affair? Why appear on Larry King NOW -- when her husband has made the cover of the Enquirer for the last two weeks? Ironically, it seems like Elizabeth's painful-to-witness book tour a few months ago is at least partially responsible for Hunter's decision to stop suffering in silence and demand that John Edwards step up and act responsibly.

As much as Rielle Hunter gets castigated as 'a gold digger' and worse, getting on the bad side of a rich, powerful, sympathetic but ruthless public figure like Elizabeth Edwards couldn't have been easy. Elizabeth has been able to fib and obfuscate her way through softball interviewers like Larry and Oprah and drip contempt for Hunter while not allowing interviewers to mention her by name.

For someone like Elizabeth Edwards, who's considered an advocate for women, to play the 'slutty stalker' card against Hunter over and over must have been infuriating. Elizabeth was able to toss out lines like "This person is very different from me and really very different from him. We're basically old-fashioned people."

And Elizabeth dished to Oprah, "John went to dinner at a nearby restaurant, and when he walked back to the hotel she was standing in front of the hotel. She said to him, 'You are so hot.'" knowing that it was unlikely that Oprah would ask her what John's old-fashioned response was.

John and Elizabeth Edwards could have been great advocates for progressive causes. Maybe someday they will be. But not now. They have shown nothing but contempt for their supporters, the press and the truth. While they don't owe the public the whole truth, they can't advocate issues effectively when they simply will not stop lying

 

 

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Comments

[MrsPeel]

What on earth is your problem with this comment?

When Elizabeth Edwards speaks publicly on health care, she does so as a fellow of the Center for American Progress. Her listed areas of expertise are health care and poverty. http://www.americanprogress.org/experts

She is carving out yet another new professional niche for herself, independent of her husband. She retired from practicing law after the death of the Edwards' son Wade in 1996. She went on to bear two more children: one at 48 and one at 50. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Edwards

Besides her husband's betrayal, and her recurring cancer, her father died in 2008. Even without all these stressors and fight for survival, we are not privy to her inner life. Who are we to judge her?

Has it ever occurred to you critics that she is still the mother of two young children and is trying to protect them? As a fellow at CAP, perhaps she is preparing herself for a life independent of John while the legal process plays itself out. As a matter of diplomacy and probably law, it's wise she not make news. Besides, it's not on her to clean up John's mess.

Meanwhile, by not making news she is able to contribute substantively to our health-care policy; she is taking care of her health without public complaint; she is taking care of her chidren; and she is far more gracious than most of us could ever hope to be.

[Bellanova]

Excellent post, Lee. Elizabeth Edwards has been so sanctified by the media and assorted libruls that it is just unseemly. Yet her own behavior in the whole matter is less than stellar and full of cultivated naivete, if not premeditated dishonesty. (Not that there is a great difference between the two.)

I am saddened but not surprised by the treatment you've received on DailyKos. I have observed how intolerant some progressive communities can be. Reminds one of the good old Dubya days when you either were "with us or against us," no in-between, and god forbid you expressed any doubts or stopped toeing the party line. It's a bit like being back in the middle school, faced with the in-crowd and its insistence on conformity -- or else.

Forget Daily Kos. Keep doing what you do. I am a big fan of your videos, BTW (and rather appalled by the often unfair treatment you receive on Bob Cesca's blog -- but now that I know the background story of your reporting on the Edwardses and the DK fall-out, it sort of makes sense, in that unsavory way that progressive intolerance can assume sometimes).

[StacyM]

Elizabeth may be guilty of lying about her husband, but I don't think castigating her is right either. The much larger part of this story is a cancer survivor trying to pick up the pieces of her ruined life. Can you even fathom being in her shoes? No, having cancer and a lying, cheating husband isn't an excuse for being a hypocrite, but cut her some slack. If we went after the John Edwards, Glenn Becks, and Rush Limbaughs of the world half as hard and with half as much righteous indignation as we went after the Elizabeth Edwards of the world, maybe we'd see some results.

[roshni]

she could stay out of the media instead of constantly giving interviews perpetuating lies.......

[FearlessFreep]

THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER is the "paper of record" for people who think sex scandals are the important issue of our time.

[tsobserver]

Are you kidding? People have to tell the truth about their own lives before they can advocate a particular position? Who thought up this crazy notion? If we enforced this, we'd have to repeal the First Amendment. Get real!

[JustAnotherScreenname]

Okay, Lee, you were right about Edwards having an affair and the Daily Kos crowd was wrong for not wanting to believe it. Can you get on with your life now? Don't you have other things to be concerned about, like providing health insurance to your own kids?

[KafeSociety]

> Anyone who follows this story knows that The Enquirer is the paper of record
> and has been consistently correct on the facts.

After seeing this line, I read the rest of the article expecting more irony, but didn't find any, & realized to my shock Stranahan was serious.

That you get more "real news" on The Daily Show than Faux Noise, that I can buy...but The National Enquirer being "the paper of record"... Really?

[Connie Beck]

Excellent post. Elizabeth Edwards can have cancer and also be a liar; can be dying and still be a fake. There are many Americans who help people in need; we are not like Elizabeth Edwards, who
only does so when she see her name in lights, or on a check for a speaking engagement fee.
She was deceptive in promoting her husband as a vice presidential nominee when she knew
the news maybe have come out and sunk the Obama election. She deceptively included a little
tidbit about her husband's affair so that she could sell books. And she is no more a victim than
any other married woman who is a pain to come home to, complains all the time, never makes
her husband feel like a man, and then is supposedly shocked when he finds the attention he
wants in the arms of another woman.

[roshni]

I don't agree with the last part of your post blaming EE for JE's affair. I agree with the first part that she has become a fake.

[waloc]

Hmmm....let me think...why am I so angry? Because my family gave $4000 tand knocked on doors and made phone calls to help them get elected to the white house based on the millions of interviews they both made telling me how much they believed in their causes, how much they loved each other and how they knew they were the best candidates for the White House.

Tell you what - go throw 4 grand out the window and waste a bunch of your time and then be so cavalier about a bunch of crooks.

[whatever2]

Why would anyone give $4000 to any politician? I could see giving it to a charity or to a family member, but a politician? No. For that matter, who has an extra $4000 that they can afford to give away to a politician? And finally, were you funding the message or were you funding a personality of the candidate? Is this the new democratic thing? We're going to become better republicans than the republicans?

[jmr08]

Both Elizabeth and John Edwards are liars. Cancer is no excuse for lying just as many on here have said. Thats all there is to it. Even John with his pushing about global warming. If he is so concerned about it than why is Bush more "green" than John Edwards?? Look it up the comparisons between their homes. The Edwards' have no credit with me and many others.

[StrategicThinker]

Not the only ones in politics.

[eShirl]

Good grief, leave her alone. God forbid any of us be flawed human beings.

[roshni]

She won't leave the interviews alone. That is the problem.

[soccermom]

Lee, it's you who should be honest about your motive. Your post has nothing to do with health care. It's another attempt to bash Elizabeth Edwards, so don't try to justify it by mentioning health care. Edwards' statement didn't really say anything about whether a test was taken or not--just that the facts about the baby's paternity will come out. You have been trying to bring the Edwards' down for months, but why? Do you have something personally against them? Do you like to make families suffer? If you have any verifiable information to share, fine, but you're still just speculating.

[whatever2]

The way I see it, there is no documentation at this time to back up his claim. If there was documentation, I think Rielle would already have been in front of a camera with it. But for the purposes of conjecture, let's say a test has already been taken and Mr. Stranahan has either seen it or has a copy. ...That's a medical record.

Choices would be:

A. He got an illegal copy. Thanks to HIPAA that could result in huge fines and lengthy jail time.

B. Rielle gave him a copy which then brings us around to the question of "why"? And who benefits from stirring all this up at this point in time when we should be debating healthcare options?

[Lee Stranahan - Huffpost Blogger]

Nobody is denying the DNA test has been done except you. There are no lawsuits, no statements saying the Enquirer was wrong.

And if you parse Elizabeth's statement, she doesn't deny it, either.

You're just wrong and don't understand that the Edwards lie.

[Lee Stranahan - Huffpost Blogger]

I'm not speculating about anything and Elizabeth Edwards being on King talking about health care then lying about her husband made perfect sense to write about.

And the Edwardses brought themselves down. I've said over and over that I'd love them to stop lying and start on the path to redemption of their reputations.

Instead, we get the spectacle of people with money and power manipulating the lives of others and the media. What's confusing is why you (or anyone) would defend it.

[waloc]

Why do you say she has such a big heart? B/c she is sick? Lots of us are. A person with a big heart doesn't call an innocent baby "it". amazing how caring she was on cnn after noticing it wasn't good pr.

Show me ONE clip of her volunteering in the 9th ward or helping anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone by doing anything other than giving a speech. good interview or an illness does not make a person nice. Iam tired of flakes and fakes on TV.

[bettync]

Well, waloc, there is a lot you do not know about Elizabeth Edwards. She has counseled many bereaved parents to help them survive the loss of a child. She is a champion of support groups. Her learning center in Raleigh, dedicated to the son she lost, has done enormous good for many students over many years. She takes time - even on her busiest and sickest days - to reach out to others. You don't know these things because she does not help others in order to get a publicity clip. She helps because she does have a big heart.

A lot of people in politics are fakes. You are right about that. Elizabeth Edwards is not.

[Lee Stranahan - Huffpost Blogger]

She's quite a bit of a fake, really.

[mostlyindignant]

Well Betty, even though you say you are from NC, I have to say you don't know Elizabeth at all. Yes, she established the WELL after Wade died, and has not been through the doors in probably 5 years. She is a champion of support groups what does that mean? She gets on line and talks with HER support group all the time... so does that make her a champion? and on her busiest and sickest days she ... reaches out to who? um, the staff ? I am sorry, you just don't know her at all. She has never been involved in community groups, was never a healthcare advocate until recently and never on the front line, never worked with poverty groups, soup kitchens, local causes of any sort. So, though you may THINK you know her, tell me what charities she has been actively involved in over the years-- actively involved in. Tell me what causes she championed- actively while in D.C. She lists Goodwill as one of her charities.., I think that means she gave her old clothes to them. And is the Red Window a charity store like her mom's was... uh, don't think so... . I'm with waloc, show us a clip of her - or John- back in the ninth ward, in Chapel Hill at a soup kitchen, a shelter, a hospital working with kids, a school reading to kids. Can't do it? That's because she has never done this stuff. never.

[Concerned Citizen NC]

Mostlyindignant is right. Elizabeth has no record of public service that I am aware of in my almost 30 yrs of active involvement in Raleigh. I saw online that the charity in Wade's name was begging for basic supplies like pencils and afterschool snacks (it's an afterschool program). How can she help anyone else with the loss of a child when she doesn't seem to have dealt with her own loss yet? (not one but 2 books?). Most everyone in Raleigh knows both Edwards are fakes.

[bettync]

Elizabeth Edwards is a much needed voice in the healthcare discussion. She has the ability to talk about complex issues in a way that regular people can understand. Mrs. Edwards is capable of helping a lot of worried people understand this important issue. I hope we will see more of her on television as the healthcare plan moves forward.

I wish the Edwards the very best with their private life. But it does not bother me one bit that it is now private. Elizabeth Edwards has a huge kind heart. It is really a shame that everyone does not know that about her.

[Connie Beck]

Karencnj - wake up.

Mr. Stranahan - excellent post.

I find it hard to imagine Elizabeth had to endure the red tape or any other kind of indignity in her situation. She is Elizabeth Edwards after all.

It is insulting to listen to a woman speak about health care for America when she can't even speak to the truth about a child.

[wundersmack]

What is with the hatred of Elizabeth Edwards? Calm down, people... what are you so afraid of?

Can you imagine yourself being half as gracious if your husband f**ked around and fathered another kid while lying to you and the whole country?

Get off EE--she is doing her best in her last days.