Edwards is probably finished as far as presidential runs go, but how many more times would he run, anyway? I don't think this would prevent him from taking a position like Attorney General or Secretary of Labor, both of which he's been mentioned for.

That's quite a Freudian slip -- to spell "Probably" as "Probaby"!

Yes.

As you point out, it is conceivable (not likely, but still possible) that Elizabeth was OK with this relationship. Some couples have this kind of arrangement (cough, cough, Hillary and Bill, cough) and we don't know if they struck a similar bargain, perhaps because of her illness.

That said, the idea that he would campaign for the presidency knowing that this could come to the surface and paralyze his campaign shows that he was mindbogglingly stupid, incredibly narcissistic or both.

I think he's finished.  Nobody was more passionate in his support for Edwards than I was.  Now I am just disgusted.  I really don't want to hear anymore about him.  

What a shame.

Neil

Oh, of course he is, the optics are all wrong.

Well, ok, in this case he actually is finished.  Americans don't mind Republicans who cheat on their wives, or ditch their first wives at rather inconvenient times, and then marry exceptionally rich, beautiful women decades younger then them because they lurve God and the Flag.  Jimmy Carter has lust in his heart?  Yep, it is the end of civilization.

It was fun while it lasted Mr. Edwards.  

Oh, and by the way, John, how tacky do you have to be to cheat on Elizabeth?  Good lord.

He's done.  Toast.  Finished.  Even if it was proven beyond a doubt that the baby isn't his.  You can't cheat on as beloved a figure as Elizabeth Edwards and survive it.

Guess he can start getting ready for the 2009 edition of Dancing With The Stars.

Yes, but will the media go there with John McCain.  Of course they should, because of the 3 political couples being mentioned lately: Clintons, McCains, Obamas, which couple do not have the added burden of an affair over their heads.  Oh yeah, Barack & Michelle Obama.  Mark my words though, no one will mention McCain, but you can bet every news story will lump the Clintons and the Obamas with the Edwards.

Sad.

What makes you think we've heard the last about Iseman? Clearly, there's no longer any love lost between McCain and the Times. The reporters also, equally clearly, were sitting on more than what they reported.

A philandering two-time national campaign loser?  Um, yes.  Yes, he is finished.

Well, honestly, a man who would leave Elizabeth Edwards at home in order to sleep with Reille Hunter is a man I wouldn't trust to make any judgments more complex than "Colonel's original or extra crispy?"

Anyway, it's not like John left his wife for a younger, hotter, richer woman after Elizabeth loyally waited for him through seven years of captivity as a POW. Now _that_ would have been despicable.

Finished.

Edwards's whole candidacy revolved around morality. The cause still stands. It is immoral that there are millions of uninsured, homeless, and unnecessarily incarcerated people around the US due to dumb policies. But his image is indelibly tarnished. He has revealed himself to be a hubristic, selfish ass for launching a presidential campaign based on morality, with his wife as his most effective spokesperson, while leading this kind of double, dishonest, adulterous life. There are too many people who have the same moral ideas without the baggage--at least one would hope so. Is he the only qualified Secretary of Labor or AG? Of course not. Why would anybody choose him? The man is far from irreplaceable.  

I wonder if his passion on the stump was inspired by some need for expiation. He certainly did inspire, making this revelation an especially large let down. What a disappointment.

Yes, he's done. Bill Clinton screwed all future philanders over with his Lewinsky tryst.

And I don't think it's Iseman's allegations they should worry about. Instead it's that McCain was a 42 year old married naval officer chasing a 24 years old heiress around a cocktail party in Hawaii.

His courtship of Cindy was like last weeks news; just swap Cindy for Paris, John for John, and Obama’s trip for whatever it was McCain was doing in Hawaii.

"Well, ok, in this case he actually is finished.  Americans don't mind Republicans who cheat on their wives, or ditch their first wives at rather inconvenient times, and then marry exceptionally rich, beautiful women decades younger then them because they lurve God and the Flag."

I was about to make this exact same point, but you beat me to it. You forgot to mention that the woman cheated on in this case was crippled in a car accident.

I've already read several conservative bloggers' scathing comments on Edwards' confession. Not one mention of the fact that McCain cheated on and left his wife who had been crippled in a car accident for an extremely wealthy human Barbie doll.

Not that this excuses Edwards. He better be telling the truth that it's not his kid, or he's really finished. And I guess the implication in his confession is that it's ok he cheated on her because her cancer was in remission and she already knows?

Especially if Elizabeth knew of the affair, but in any event, it really should be nobody's business. But of course in sex- and love-sick America Edwards is finished with electoral politics, and will undeservedly have to suffer the gauntlet of hypocritical moralisms and cheap slurs. It's times like this I really hate my country(wo)men. Though all the details haven't been heard (would that they never will) I might well have greater compassion and respect for the Edwardses than previously. We know and care so much about freedom and liberty, but know next to nothing about living.

You write about McCain's past as though there is some doubt about his character. We know that he cheated on his first wife, left her and married Cindy McCain. Fortunately for him his ex-wife says good things about him. But HIllary says good things about Bill. I think that Edwards past affair shouldn't be disqualifying becuase that would mean that if you leave your wife then its OK. We can never know the details of a politicians marriage. If Edwards wants to run for office thats fine with me. I don't care for his brand of populism or for the fact that he never did anything as a senator. But if I did like Edwards this just wouldn't change my mind.

Edwards was already finished as a presidential candidate. There's no "should" about it. He will be finished, should or not.

I'm going to be judgmental here: if Elizabeth knew of the affair, it's just weird.  Most people can't relate to that.  Indeed, while affairs are common (look at amazingly high the divorce stats), open marriages just aren't.  More people can relate to John Wayne Bobbitt than they can an open marriage.  And, ipso facto, it's not tenable in politics no matter what the historical precedent for such concealed arrangements.  Sorry for my non-libertarian moment.  Please, begin the litany of MYOBs

Iseman?  Who cares about Vicki Iseman?

John McCain was married to another woman when he met the current Mrs. McCain.  He began the affair and ended his marriage while his first wife was recovering from a crippling car accident.

Those are the issues that John McCain would prefer not to discuss.

A small detail all of you are forgetting is that Edwards and his mistress apparently didn't bother with birth control, since Edwards is averring that the affair ended too soon for her to be pregnant by him. A politician cheating is one thing, but, good gracious, not bothering to wear a cap is just moronic. Also, what doesn't make any sense is that if the father is that someone involved with the Edwards campaign, why on Earth is his name not on the birth certificate? Finally, I hate like heck to admit to this, but I've got to credit Ann Coulter for alerting me to this in last Saturday's column. I'm as big an Edwards fan as they come, but I'd never read or seen anything about this until her column. (Sheesh, I'm crediting Ann Coulter with something positive -- yeah, it must indeed be 32 degrees in Hell.)

He's finished. The man's always been a lightweight who got by on his tall tales propped up with urgent, heartfelt moral sincerity. No props left anymore.

Look for him to start a green technology venture fund.

fwiw I couldn't care less about the affair. Or even the kid, who probably has lovely blue eyes. The issue is the same one that caused John Kerry to peg Edwards as an a**hole in his VP vetting interview in 2004, and that made the same impression on me when I heard Edwards speak: he is flagrantly, painfully full of sh*t. The man is a fabulist.

Here's the link to Bob Shrum's telling of the Kerry anecdote-- takes your breath away. Too bad Kerry didn't have the courage to stick with his initial conviction on this guy. www.time.com/.../0,8599,1626498-2,00.html

"Kerry talked with several potential picks, including Gephardt and Edwards. He was comfortable after his conversations with Gephardt, but even queasier about Edwards after they met. 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. "

Why did he have to say he didn't love her? Do we care?

Ugh.

I can't believe he put the country as risk like that.  What an ass.

vasectomy. This is something that every guy who already has a family and is over 40 should get. If he had a vasectomy he could deny away since he would know it is almost impossible for the kid to be his.

In any future national health care plan vasectomies should be 100% covered for men.

Stick a fork in him.  But the larger point:  what hkanders said.  Perfect moment for the media to put the spotlight on how McCain treated his first wife...

"More people can relate to John Wayne Bobbitt than they can an open marriage."

Yes, but I think that he was the . . . er . . . foreshortened victim of his wife's attack, no?  You probably mean "relate to Lorena Bobbitt" as the emotionally injured perpetrator.  To be honest, as a guy I find it a bit wincingly painful to "relate" too viscerally to JWB.

It should be said also that the Bobbitt affair was about marital rape, not open marriage.

Well, yes, he's finished, but I'm not sure if he's any more "finished" now (awkward, yes, but you know what I mean) than he was before this news broke.  All this does is push him from the ordinary "unsuccessful presidential candidate" category (honorable mention for not succeeding twice) into Gary Hart territory.  And, well, who worries about Gary Hart anymore?

The dumb fucker is finished for me.

It seems to me that if he hadn't have gone to that motel 2 weeks ago, he could have kept denying that the story was tabloid trash.

He was finihsed before he started. He's, and I have sung this song repeatedly, an opportunistic, low life, crass and drooling spittle with ambition. I have always detested him. He's the oppsite of a mentsch.

Geez you could almost think this guy used to be a trial lawyer.

blackton

Hey Blackie, take it easy with that, all guys screw around rhetoric, or you just might get yourself and me into trouble.  :-)  And as far as vasectomies go, unless you're a terminal philanderer, then I think it's best to follow that old mechanics axiom, if it ain't broke don't fix it.  I'll keep my vital juices flowing a while longer thank you, I have no doubt that time and tide will dry them up in due course.

Itzik

Easy there B-man, Edwards may be a slick Southern Democrat with identity problems as well as a number of other flaws, but perhaps you should hold off on your final judgment of people that you don't know personally.  It's easy to judge someone else when you haven't walked in their shoes or lived their life. As I'm sure you understand nothing is ever as cut and dry as it seems to the casual observer from a distance.

I see Edwards is still denying that the child is his, but it seems unlikely he would be making clandestine rendezvouses with a mother and child that isn't his. If the child does turn out to be John's, and he's denied being the father for political reasons these last months, then I would have to agree with you, that he is certainly no mensch, because there is no bigger loser than a man who denies responsibility for his child.

So let's reserve final judgment till we know for sure, though it does look as if Edwards himself may be unsure if he is the father or not, but make no mistake, it is his responsibility and his responsibility alone to find out one way or the other. Either way it does seem like he is somewhat lacking in some of the most basic moral fiber and character.  Such deficit should never be acceptable in those we choose as our leaders.

---------------------------------------------------

Big hat tip to The National Enquirer for breaking this story open when many others were ignoring it in recent weeks and all through the Democratic primary.  Just goes to show that there is a place in this world for muckraking rumor mongers, and that the truth they uncover is just real and valid as any truth that the so-called credible journalistic entities can show us. No matter how big a liar you are, you always have the option of telling the truth and redeeming yourself with the power that truth holds.

Well, I see that other posters did *their* homework while I indulged in what Channy calls "typical cant of the tragic left" or some damn thing. I guess Edwards has been exposed, so to speak.

Now I read, "Finally, I hate like heck to admit to this, but I've got to credit Ann Coulter for alerting me to this in last Saturday's column. I'm as big an Edwards fan as they come, but I'd never read or seen anything about this until her column. (Sheesh, I'm crediting Ann Coulter with something positive -- yeah, it must indeed be 32 degrees in Hell.)   __kevincollins

I hope she retracted (!) her earlier taunt that Edwards is gay.

aaronBBrown, your vital juices would still be flowing, absent the sperm. Vasectomy is not the same thing as castration.

Another thing re: Edwards: why was this woman travelling with him during his campaign after the affair was supposedly over? I mean, if I were Elizabeth, I would absolutely INSIST that she not be in his life in any way shape or form after the confession. I just cannot imagine any kind of scenario where you would keep your lover around after you'd confessed your affair to your wife, unless you were intending to continue with said affair. Especially if you're campaigning to be POTUS. She wasn't even a professional filmmaker, so it's not like she was providing a service that was so valuable nobody else could do it.

Unless you're lying about the confession timeline.

And now we find out that his finance guy was paying this woman regular sums to keep her mouth shut  and supposedly Edwards had no idea he was doing so. Yeah, sure . . .

I think he's lying about the timeline, and this makes his claim to not be the father just as fishy.

I hope he's finished. It's always been my sense that Edwards was something of a smooth dilettante, Clinton minus the wonkery. But I didn't realize how much like Clinton he was...

"Love child" is a term of art, a quaint euphamism to replace "illegitimate", and is not dependent on actual love between the parents. Also it is a fabulous Supremes song.

And yeah, I hope this shines the spotlight on McCain's much-worse treatment of his previous wife. If nothing else, it should be shining it without the media's help, in the brains of every person. And then would be the inevitable follow-up spotlight on the difference in media attention, and how odd that is considering that McCain is a nominee and Edwards is not.

... but perhaps you should hold off on your final judgment of people that you don't know personally.  It's easy to judge someone else when you haven't walked in their shoes or lived their life...

Kind of makes judging difficult if not impossible.

...Also it is a fabulous Supremes song...

It's a matter of taste, but I've gotta' take serious issue with this asessment. It's maudlin, and doesn't rock. As we used to say on Bandstand (me vicariously from my living room north of the 48th) you can't--or wouldn't want to--dance to it: 4 out of 10.

basman maybe YOU couldn't dance to it, but I could and have. And will again. Also, while all songs that rock are fabulous, the reverse is not true. The Supremes generally did not rock, although their version of "Get Ready" does rock, and is by far the best, though and never played on any oldies station as far as I can tell.

And of course it's maudin! That's a big part of its fabulousness. Ditto "Love is Here and Now You're Gone".

I hate these set piece sanctimonious apologies.

Why doesn't one of these sonofabitches say, "I had a lot of fun.  The sex was great.  I wish the hell I hadn't gotten caught."

At least it wold be the truth.  Everything else these guys say about regretting they betrayed their "values," etc is total bullshit.

by the way, John Edwards is a light-weight nothing.  Who cares if he has a public career left.  We hardly need him.

What makes all of these politicians think that in the age of intense media scrutiny they can get away with ANYTHING having to do with sexual affiars? They can start wars, neglect to prepare for hurricanes headed for crowded cities, destroy the US constitution & toruture people, sure, but NOT have sex with a woman not their wife......NEVER!

When politicians issue the mea culpae after they get caught with their pants down, it's understandable that people think they're only sorry for getting caught.  I typically take this position.  However, after having seen Edwards' Nightline interview, I think he has some genuine remorse as well.

The interview was interesting in that I was simultaneously laughing at Edwards while gaining invaluable insight in these horny politicians' motives.  When Woodruff asked why he did it, he gives his usual pre-amble about how he was a poor mill worker's son, etc.  It was remarkable to hear him stage his extramarital affair in the exact same context he used for his candidacy.  But then, he said how far he had come, exceeding the normal expectations one would have for someone born to his station, as well as his own.  This gave him excessive self-regard.  In other words, he was high as a kite, it made his dick hard, so, he celebrated with an affair.  It wasn't about Elizabeth, it was about getting more.  

Thank God he had the sense not to drag Elizabeth into this.  He was right when he said he didn't want her to have to prop him up.  It brought to mind poor Silda Wall Spitzer.  Eliot Spitzer is surely a man who's only sorry he got caught.

No, Edwards was not presidential.  It was strange to hear him assure Woodruff that he could give him a paternity test if he likes.  If he knows he's not the father, why does he have to cry uncle when a mere reporter asks him a question? That's not a man who's coming from a position of power.

I envisioned Edwards making a fine Sec'y of Labor. Oh well, he's abandoned his sick wife once, now he's lost his chance.

The unraveling of John McCain's first marriage is just sad from a human perspective.  Both were suffering in silence, he for torture and she from her car accident injuries.  I assume the years of torture warped McCain's mind so I don't want to condemn him too quickly.  Trauma often breaks up marriages, viz. the death of a child, or TBI.  I know of a couple who divorced after she sustained a head injury, with possible frontal lobe damage, and became a different, um, less inhibited person.

...basman maybe YOU couldn't dance to it, but I could and have. ..

It's clear to me that you are beyond hope. Stop in the name of love for God's sake.

(I have an LP--scratched and dusty --of The Supremes Do Smokey (vocally) or something like that, that is fabulous. Even Smokey's treacle--Tears Of A Clown--was fantastic because he is so innately talented. Diana Ross not so much. Big mistake when the lead was taken away from Florence Ballard, inmho).

Well now, I'm not so sure. "A two-hundred dollar haircut on every head and a love cild in every hotel room" is a slogan that might well prevent any slippage in traditionally blue states...

basman we will never agree on Diana Ross, that is clear, but Tears of A Clown is a terrific song even without Smokey - The English Beat did a very good version. But the Smokey version is one of my all time favorite songs. And while I listen to it, it becomes my favorite. But that is true of several other songs, I'm not going to lie.

Smokey's greatest song, I'd say,  and set right in the middle of Dave  Marsh's The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made is You've Really Got a Hold on Me, #500, which he describes as shattering. Here ya' go:uk.youtube.com/watchv=AdDnqSFYXFs&feature=related.

I saw Smokey own an audience of about 10,000 in the palm of his hand and without the Miracles about 10 years ago at the Ottawa Blues Festival.

What can I tell you?

Try this instead:uk.youtube.com/watch

I love youtube. And I love that song, though I still prefer Tears of A Clown, but why split hairs? I will say, though, that this song is no more danceable [except for the standard slowdance zombie shuffle] than Love Child, the Miracles' efforts notwithstanding.

In fact, I found a youtube that proves the danceability of Love Child:

uk.youtube.com/watch