Will The Real John Edwards Sit Down?

Everyone act surprised: John Edwards, the handsome, millionaire, politician attorney wunderkind stepped outside of his marriage. Wow. Let's crucify him! He had an extra marital affair with some videographer, he might well be a baby daddy, the media is going ape-shit, his wife is terminally ill.

Edwards is being called everything from a cheater and liar to a terrible husband and a horrid leader.

He had an extracurricular affair. He made a mistake.

The thing is this isn't another sex scandal. We are ruining a woman's last few months on earth. I'm a bit of a camel when it comes to politicians and their sex scandals. I thought Elliot Spitzer had given us our fill on political sex scandals for a few years. Sorry, Ashley, time for that Project Runway special: Rielle Hunter is in now. You are but a dim memory!

Everyone keeps saying Edwards is heartless for cheating on his cancer-stricken wife, yet nobody considers how heartless it is to exploit the affair publicly. Elizabeth Edwards has agreed: "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."

I'm taking off my PR Person hat for a second. Aside from those aggressive, intreprid reporters at the Enquirer , nobody is happy about this. And while I am disappointed we have to be talking about this on HuffPo today, I understand the public's interest but it's being inflamed. It does not need be another sordid, unstoppable tabloid tale that takes our eye off something very important: November.

Perhaps there is positive in this: I'd like to see journalists can talk about the strain terminal illness puts on marriages. Every year thousands of couples struggle while dealing with a personal illness - there are even special cancer/divorce lawyers in the Yellow Pages... It's shocking to hear how many couples split, cheat, leave, or no longer know how to relate to each other once the cancer has left.

There's a worthwhile story.

Is it too much to ask that while we publicly dissect these people's private traumas that we elevate the conversation by talking about the underlying issues that effect so many: think how many couples would love to see how their struggles are shared by others? We are missing an actual opportunity to educate people, provide a service to the public.

The media still claims a special place in American society, freedoms enumerated specifically in the Constitution. That special place in society comes with responsibilities and should be earned. Their role is to function on behalf of the public good but if they are incapable of doing anything beyond regurgitating obvious facts of some well known scandal then they are not doing anything we can't do ourselves.

Some man (albeit, a very famous one) loved his wife, made a pretty awful mistake and she is now dying. There is nothing funny here. But the tragedy here is the dereliction of duty of the press.

In the end Edwards, like Spitzer before him, will fade into the Gary Hart night. What will we be left with but more tawdry feelings about a couple we admired. There's nothing good in it. So let's stop gossiping and get on with it.

Signing off...Richard Laermer, author of 2011: Trendspotting.

Comments

[khristmaskathy]

I know that people have affairs and that things happen. My disappointment in Mr. Edwards is that he took his wife campaigning. He didn't even tell her about the affair until AFTER he announced for presidential candidate. He let his wife do all of that and promoted the illusion that he is a dedicated, loyal family man and it helped him win some votes. And I agree, what happened to the donation money? I donated to him and voted for him in early voting and am extremely disappointed and disillusioned by all of this. That being said, I have a lot of respect for Elizabeth Edwards and I admire her strength, courage and the fact that she puts family first even when fighting an illness. But her husband is a different story and now when I see his picture or see him on television, I cringe inside and I remember all the people he has hurt and the pain he has caused.

[Jsens3]

Sure this too will fade away. But is just too juicy to let go right now. Edward's mea culpa moderated by his observation he only schtupped Reille when his wife was in remission is less than satisfactory, in fact many are outraged by it. Monica Lewinsky never had Bill's baby (Given what we know about their of sexual proclivities (har) that would indeed have been a miracle!); Bill never put Monica in a million dollar house, the Enquirer says it has a mountain more goodies for publication which it will dole out tantalizingly and sparingly. This is far from over.

[MzTexas]

I don't care if he cheated on Elizabeth or had a child out of wedlock . . . he's not my husband. I do care that, when confronted with facts concerning this affair, he lied. Just think how much better it would have been for everyone concerned if he'd simply said when asked, "I made a mistake in my marriage and hurt my wife. She is aware of the mistake and she has forgiven me. Next question." No, he had to lie. That's the issue.

Michale, I hardly find being impeached for something which in no way, shape or form rose to the level of the intent of the framers when they mentioned "high crimes and misdemeanors" coming out "smelling like a rose." I hardly find having the special prosecutor determining that it was necessary for every American citizen to read about his stupidity in the local paper coming out "smelling like a rose."

Was never a fan of Clinton or his wife, but I am a HUGE fan of our Constitution and our laws. The impeachment of Bill Clinton was such a farce. Now, there are actually REAL high crimes and misdemeanors and George W. Bush is going to come out of it "smelling like a rose."

[Michale32086]

My "smelling like a rose" comment was not directed at the immediate aftermath, but rather at the viability of Bill's political career after leaving office.

Michale.....

[thegaygardener]

"...unstoppable tabloid tale that takes our eye off something very important: November."

I couldn't agree more! This is why I think this is so much more than another politician sex scandal. Yea. it is that much worse because Mrs. Edwards is ill.
But what about NOVEMBER?

Was John Edwards really considering November when he embarked on this affair? When he had the love child? when he paid off a campaign worker to take the fall for him? When he (according to today's reports) paid $14,000 in CAMPAIGN Funds to Ms. Hunter AFTER she was done working in order to buy her "unused videotapes and cooperation? When he went on TV & lied about the length of the affair & the paternity of the child & the hush money payments?

He who publically condemned BILL CLINTON for (IMHO) a lesser offense. KNEW he had done these awful things. KNEW he would likely be exposed. KNEW the Republicans would crucify him & the party. He MIGHT have been the nominee!! Was he so absolutely sure he would NOT be?? HILLARY & BARACK could have cancelled each other out eventually & EDWARDS would be the last man standing! If he were the nominee, JOHN MCCAIN would be the defacto President today. WE ARE NOT FRANCE!
The affair & what he did to his wife IS a private matter. That he chose to "roll the dice" with the nomination & the future of the country is the unforgivable SIN!

[2zzday]

Excuse me, when Edwards made his remarks about Clinton in 1999 as far as we know at this time he was still a faithful husband. And my understanding is the funds paid to Ms. Hunter after her campaign work was done came from other sources outside the campaign. And finally, why would it be so awful to be a bit more like France if that means we can accept the human weakness of politicians when their failures did not directly impact us? Edwards got out of the campaign early when he did not do well in South Carolina so projecting him into the position of nominee is just an exercise in speculation.

[Michale32086]

I was referring to the funds paid above and beyond the $100,000 paid to Hunter for the... ahem... video work..

The $15K per month, plus the almost half a million paid to one of three lawyers involved.

Where did that money come from???

Michale.....

[Bulbul]

True, adultery is between a man and his fife, but this is a very critical time , the country is at war with terrible economy , lost jobs, not being able to have food on the table...and Edwards played mind game with his loyal supporters.

[Michale32086]

This really isn't an issue about John Edwards' cheating..

This really isn't an issue about LYING about cheating. As Bill Clinton has proven, you can lie all day long about sex and infidelity and still come out smelling like a rose...

What this is about is the nearly one million dollars that has been paid to Edwards' mistress and his co-conspirators...

Where did that money come from???

Edwards needs to come clean about this if he EVER hopes to put this behind him...

Michale.....

[poomplet]

EXACTLY....this isn't about adultry anymore; it's about the money and the paternity of the baby.

Some might argue about the baby, but my god, when one of your lackies steps up to falsely claim it's his, and when you DENY LEGITIMACY/BIRTH-RIGHT to your child on a global scale...it becomes an important issue. MAYBE he's doing this to protect Elizabeth from the exponentially-worse heartbreak that his paternity would create...but I think it's that he's still trying to hide the money trails.

And of course, the money is intertwined w/the baby; paying off the mom...paying off the lackies family...probably doing it all w/election money, that's more about the baby than the affair.

Finally, Edwards took $$MILLIONS$$ from citizens & backers for his camapaign when he knew this was going to torpedo him. THAT is reprehensible...and THAT demands that the truth be ferreted out.

So stop this "it's not our business" crap....it IS our business that this idiot took money on bad faith....probably/illegally used it to hush everyone up and probably altered the result of the Democratic primary (Hillary would be the nominee had he not ever run).