John Edwards couldn't keep it zipped either

My sympathy to Elizabeth and the adult daughter

hopefully the story won't impact the younger children.
just sad.

For me, the worst will be my lover who never liked Edwards, saying I told you so...ad infinitum

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

---

by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:14:58 PM CDT

I wondered when "The Blend" was going to mention this.......

since this had started several weeks ago and I noticed how eeerily quiet it was around here. Now that being said.....

WHAT A F**KING A$$HOLE PR!CK, I supported him in 04 and again in 06. I thought that his honesty and dedication to his wife and family and his fight for the working poor in this country was a breath of fresh air. I KNOW I'm nowhere as humiliated as Ms. Edwards but I feel like a fool now.

At least with Clinton, we all knew going in he liked the ladies but John Edwards is acting like a freakin Republican; Oh look at my family values and honest face. The audacity in using your wife's illness for maximum political mileage at a morning news conference and being holed up with some whore at the Beverly Hilton in the afternoon makes him a pathetic excuse of a human.

And who the f**k does he think he is; deciding that gays and lesbians don't deserve marriage, when he is just another FINE example of heterosexual's stewardship of matrimony

I have never been so disillusioned about the state and future of this country as I am today. God help our children and God please rid of this pestilence we have come to know as the Baby Boomers.

If Mr. Edwards is reading this, as one of your most ardent supporters I want you to know that what I am about to say is from the bottom of my heart:

John Edwards, DROP DEAD.

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me. Hunter S.

---

by: txwhtboy @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 21:02:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Damn!

I don't care about the affair, that between the parties involved.  But, Mr. Edwards has proved himself to be a liar with all his previous denials.  How sad.  He was one of the very few pols I trusted and thought to be fairly honest.

This is enough to push me into the 'they are all liars' camp.

And, he's yet another het who's against marriage equality while crapping on the institution himself: hypocrite most foul.

---

by: Storm @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:22:23 PM CDT

Can anyone keep it zipped?

Is it too much to expect?

---

by: angie @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:22:41 PM CDT

What a jackass.

Thank the FSM that he didn't win the nomination.

---

by: johnbinpt @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:23:26 PM CDT

John = Newt

pathetic

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

---

by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:28:18 PM CDT

Big Difference

Newt, and McCain, and Guiliani, etc. etc. etc. all left their wives to be with their mistresses - Newt of course dumped his wife while she was ill. At least Edwards stayed with his sick wife.  

---

by: CPT_Doom @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 16:04:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yes, the gonads are

always have been and always will be - human nature.

The error lies in expecting politicians to meet a certain puritanical stereotype.

Few do it - Bush and Nixon and Carter are all that come to mind.

Nothing to do now except wait for the self-righteous moralizing to die down, luckily he isn't the nominee.

But we can all pray that some day we will judge our leaders by their policies and abilitites and not their gonad control

---

by: tiponeill @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:53:50 PM CDT

um, yeah, i expect politicians to meet some principles.

not any principles i set for them, but the ones they have the nerve to foist onto the rest of us.  mr "i'm just not there yet on gay marriage" is a heterosupremecist family values hypocrite. he deserves to be dragged through the mud he's thrown at those of us he would keep as 2nd class citizens.

Lurleen on Twitter

---

by: Lurleen @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 16:26:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sigh...

In spite of myself, I must admit to being very disappointed. I liked John Edwards more than most of this year's presidential field. He talked about real ideas and plans and addressed class and health care, and Elizabeth Edwards is really an amazing woman. I know we're supposed to be above caring about these personal issues, but now whenever I hear about him, I won't be able to avoid feeling that disappointment again.

---

by: guspup @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:57:39 PM CDT

You said it. :(

---

by: OH les @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 16:23:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

if Democrats are so progressive

Why can't our leaders have more lascivious affairs?  I mean Clinton got a straight forward BJ from an intern and coworker.  I see episodes like that every night on CSI on main stream TV.  Edwards had a plain vanilla hetero encounter with a lovely woman near his own age.  No methamphetamines, No sex industry professionals with highly coveted client lists, Where is the glory hole bathroom anonymous sex made famous by our Rethuglican opponents?  Why can't democrats have really kinky sex for goodness sake? This story is so boring - yawn.  call me when the next talibangical faith huckster running for office in Utah gets outed for blood drinking - nazi themed orgies.  Now that's what I'm talking about.

Oh.... maybe its about principles.

History never actually repeats itself -but it rhymes, (Twain)

---

by: cybelline1 @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:57:53 PM CDT

It IS his baby!

He says he ended the affair too long ago for it to be his baby.  Bullshit, he was just caught in a hotel room with this woman and her child less than a month ago.  That doesn't sound like an ended affair to me.

The more I think about this the more p.o.ed I get.  This breeder scumbag was against the possibility of any GLBT person ever getting married due to the "sanctity" of the institution, and all the while he's taking a giant dump on his wife, his children, and the public who supported him.  He took a oath to God, and he shat upon that oath and God by proxy.  He rubbed a big fat wad of excrement on his dying wife's face and decided an ejaculation or two was more important than his own children, what a disgusting POS.

---

by: Storm @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:58:58 PM CDT

I think he's the father too

If he'd escaped this affair without a kid, he would have stayed 1000 miles away from her after it ended, his going to see her later, doesn't pass the smell test.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

---

by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 17:55:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Elizabeth

I wonder how she feels.  And Edwards throwing out the disclaimer that he "didn't love" Hunter was pretty meaningless and shallow to say.

But as I said on my blog, what really pisses me off is that Edwards would not support marriage equality while he was campaigning.. and while he was fucking around on his own wife!

Christ!

---

by: konagod @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 16:16:39 PM CDT

Yeah, it's sad for Mrs. E

They present as such a nice partnership, with happy well-raised kids.  And maybe they still are, or will be again.  But it must be tough to work through an affair that results in a child--and maybe it's not worth it.  Best wishes to her, whatever the situation is.

"Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain" -- Iowa state motto

---

by: Sportin' Life @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 18:24:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

She Posted Something on DKos

And no I don't have a link, I'm on vacation with spotty access to the tubes, asking that she and her family be left alone by the media and by the public.

I think that we should all respect her wishes, and leave it alone.  She has enough to deal with already without having to face it everywhere she goes.

---

by: Poetry @ Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 10:17:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank goodness

.. he isn't our nominee. I supported him and voted for him in the primary. He ran for the presidency, in this critical year, knowing this ticking time bomb was out there. Now he can't even be AG. Good riddance to JE. He's Elizabeth's problem now.  

---

by: peacearena @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 16:19:09 PM CDT

I agree totally

What a huge disappointment. Worse than Gavin Newsom even.

May he drop out of sight and stay there.

---

by: vanitysmurf @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 16:59:24 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sad

I just feel so bad for Elizabeth.  She's been through so much already without being dragged through the MSM and tabloids too.

If I remember right, don't the marriage vows state "in sickness and in health".

If they don't think they can keep their sex drives under control while their spouses are sick, I'd highly recommend taking some sort of reverse Viagra pill or something!  

---

by: Jon Michaels @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 17:07:24 PM CDT

it has to be said....

apparently this is one bridge he had no trouble crossing...as compared to 'bridge' to marriage equality that he just couldn't get over.

not a shock.

just more kindling for the fires of indignation.  its ok for these assholes to do what they want but its not ok for us.

life in the good ol u s of a-hole

---

by: Patrick @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 17:50:31 PM CDT

I'm angriest about the damage he could have done to Democrats

He knew this sh*t was brewing, and if he'd been the candidate, it would have given McCain the election.
John, F*CK up your life on your OWN TIME.
The best thing all the Edwards could do is travel outside America, either seperately or together. get out of the glare of paparazi.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

---

by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 17:51:50 PM CDT

We dodged a bullet or two

Because if Barack had so much as even looked at another woman it would have been front page news. You know these pols get all SORTS of offers all the time so it's a wonder if ANY of them can keep their focus [if that's their arrangement] but there was something about Edwards I questioned. He was just too slick to me. It really pisses me off that he ran for POTUS knowing his past was gonna come out. Too many shades of Clinton and he should have known better.

---

by: heartsandflowers @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 18:06:32 PM CDT

What is it with progressive blogs?

Why is the blogosphere succumbing to American prurience and puritanism just like the MSM?

This is not the biggest story of the day, week or year but it's being treated as SHOCKING NEWS.  And people are bashing him like he's evil.

Save your ire, please, for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Condi, Powell, Gonzalez and all the other people who truly deserve it.

Pundits are talking not just about the end of Edwards's career but even claiming Elizabeth Edwards's budding career advocating for better health care is over.

This is sick, disgusting, and absolutely juvenile. People have affairs. They lie about them.  Even people whose spouses are ill.  It happens.  America should grow up and shut up.  

But it never will.

I'm not disappointed in Edwards.  I'm disappointed in the media which once again will throw something trivial at us ad nauseum to hide the enormous problems we face (as well as their own continued malfeasance and incompetence) and to keep those juggler's pins in the air. That's where the real failure is.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

---

by: Lev Raphael @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 18:11:25 PM CDT

What is it that you don't get, Lev?

Aside from being a scumbag for cheating on his terminally ill spouse, he would have condemned our country to another Republican presidency if he had won the nomination -- which wasn't all that much of a longshot, if you recall. On top of which, he could have changed the entire political dynamic this year and enabled the GOP to slither back into House and Senate majorities. SCUM. BAG.  

---

by: johnbinpt @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 18:26:36 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

not to mention

he's a sexual hypocrite for throwing his "not there yet" sanctimonious crap at us regarding marriage equality.  all the while not honoring the "traditional marriage" he supposedly was raised to believe in.  

well whatever.  don't worry, lev, he'll be off the news soon enough.  his political career is over.  and look on the bright side - now that he's proven himself to be a sexual hypocrite, he qualifies to join the gop!

Lurleen on Twitter

---

by: Lurleen @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 18:35:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This sort of story

exposes America's depth (or lack thereof):

Drooling interest in the sordid tabloid trashiness of a previous candidate's personal life versus wanting to learn about the active candidates' views of issues and proposed policies.

Look- a baby squirrel... so much more fun to consider its parentage than think about how incredibly bad a president McCain would be.


"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

---

by: Louise @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 19:29:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

watch me multitask.

i can watch that cute baby squirrel and talk about that disaster mccain!

Lurleen on Twitter

---

by: Lurleen @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 20:17:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hee!

Good one, Lurleen! But I suspect this story (which appeals so to America's mentality) will gain more legs. So between this and the Olympics, McCain's gonna get a media pass for awhile.

Unless photos come out of him EATING those lil baby squirrels!!

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

---

by: Louise @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 20:43:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm Really Disappointed

in John Edwards but not really that surprised.I'm angry that he did this to his wife, especially in the condition of her health. He should have known better. And I would say this about him if he were the presidential nominee, the president himself or my next door neighbor. I think less of him as a person because of his lies to everyone and because of what he has done to his family and especially Elizabeth. He is a grown man and he should know better.

---

by: Fiona @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 18:48:24 PM CDT

I am really disappointed

not in John Edwards, but in everyone here who feels they have the right to pile on.

Let he/she who is without sin cast the first stone. If you have NEVER done anything wrong/bad/immoral/questionable, then go ahead and complain, but Elizabeth Edwards has already come out and said it was dealt with in 2006 and was over until the media and those of you who are continuing to not let it die brought it up again.

As for "thank God he isn't the nominee," McCain also had affairs and it hasn't hurt him. As for him not supporting marriage rights for gays and lesbians, neither does Obama.

Put away your torches against John and start carrying the torches against the current administration and their puppets in the media.

---

by: nokkonwud @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 19:34:56 PM CDT

the point is

I said the personal aspect of this is none of our business; my commentary is the political stupidity of raising money, running a credible campaign tying the fortunes and hopes of supporters convincing him that he could in fact, win and take this country out of Republican hands. Had this happened if he was the nominee would have been lights out for a Dem running for the White House.

We can wish all for America to "grow up" regarding extramarital affairs, but the political reality is that for any candidate in 2008, this scenario is a nightmare and a killer for the presidency. Most Americans are not going to overlook a pol cheating on a current spouse with cancer, no less. McCain would be toast if he admitted to cheating on Cindy. His timing -- dumping his wife years ago -- is why he's not paying the price now.

---

by: Pam Spaulding @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 20:13:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Exactly

You nailed it, Pam.

---

by: johnbinpt @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 20:22:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Spot on, Pam

Having said that, at this particular point in time he holds no office and is candidate for none, there is no reason to dwell on this endlessly.

Maybe we can use this failure for good. Always remind people this is EXACTLY what McCain did to his ex wife. When she was hurt & hospitalized, while they were still married, he ran off & got a new trophy of solid gold (she's rich, too).

Republicns who mention Edwards between now & the election should be asked how it differs from their candidate's affair(s?).  

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by: ellipse @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 08:44:29 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Zactly.

That this could have come out in this part of the election cycle if he'd have been the nominee...

It's just unbelievable the gamble he took with futures of the Democratic rank and file -- with all Americans -- by running for president with this indiscretion in his very recent past. It definitely would have been a character issue based on his lying about the incident to the press and the public.

If he were the Democratic Party's nominee this year, I believe it's likely his indiscretion would have guaranteed four more years of a Republican in the White House for the reasons Pam spelled out. That he gambled with *my* and my LGBT peers civil rights because he couldn't keep it in his pants seems unconscionable to me.

-----
~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 21:55:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Don't forget the higher standards...

..that we apply to certain professions, like it or not. It's expecting schoolteachers to be teetotalers (my cousin teaches school in Illinois, and he said lives in another town so in part he can go to a bar after work and not have the parent of one of his students get their knickers in a twist). If one is supposed to be some kind of good example and publicly perceived as such, human foibles are totally off limits. Is this immature on the part of the public? Perhaps, but it also a reality, and unlikely to change.

"More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read." -- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

---

by: Switchhttr69 @ Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 09:42:24 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I think the MSM knows McCain's probably

dicking around as we speak. If only the Enquirer would tail him as hot and fast as it did Edwards.

---

by: Pam Spaulding @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 20:21:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Vicki Iseman

...still missing...

Or replaced by a younger model.

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

---

by: Louise @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 20:47:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

John Edwards

In the future DON'T f*ckin judge gay marriages

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

---

by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 20:54:23 PM CDT

It's pretty easy to see what's wrong

Certainly such individuals deserve criticism for their personal failings. But ultimately at the root of it are two things. One, we remain in denial that most people are sexual beings, so myths abound about the absolute sanctity of marriages and committed relationships. Edwards probably acted like 100 million Americans have, DESPITE their love for their partners/spouses.

The second expands on that: ours basically remains a sexually retarded society. As a result, some folks don't get their ya-yas out when young, so by the time they make a commitment, they still have unexplored sexual issues, fantasies, etc. And years later, they let loose, no matter what the risks are.

I've seen plenty of places in this country where the young are sexually inhibited, marry relatively young and they remain curious or unfulfilled and maybe their perfect mates for 20 or 30 years, then whammo.

So despite the fact that betrayal is a character issue, the notion that Edwards did something extremely rare deserving of major rebuke is silly. He was dumb. It's a shame it's been exposed so all the holier-than-thous can magnify it into something monstrous.

Dumb is pretty human. I think it's enough to say "well, that sucks" and move on. Kinda like when you see someone getting a speeding ticket.

---

by: Kevin Hayden @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 01:01:58 AM CDT

too bad edwards

didn't have your "we're all just human" attitude when he shat on marriage equality, aye?

Lurleen on Twitter

---

by: Lurleen @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 11:41:20 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

OMG!

OMG!  First Edwards and now possibly McCain?  Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.

---

by: xrk9854 @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 05:22:25 AM CDT

McCain

oh please oh please oh please....

Then watch the Repugs try to put lipstick on THAT pig!!

Er, sorry petey... you know what I mean.

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

---

by: Louise @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 10:09:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Finally someone has made a sensible reply to this tempest in a teacup

I was dismayed and terribly disappointed reading the disparaging - self righteous commentary by the PHB community on John Edward' (non event) feeding frenzy regarding who he chooses to have sex with.  Some of the commentary here has sounded straight out of the right wing play book.  I thought this was a progressive community.  Here is an article posted on Huff Post that finally makes some sense out this trumped up tragedy.

Larisa Alexandrovna: The passengers gossip as the ship sinks: An Open Letter

Well, it seems that the ONLY news anywhere and everywhere is that John Edwards had an affair two years ago. Why is this news? I understand why it is of interest to the far-right, as they have an unhealthy obsession with sexuality and are also looking for a distraction - any distraction - to shift the conversation away from the obvious: The Republican party has imploded under the weight of corruption and crime, leading directly to the White House.

Reputable journalists did right to ignore this non-story as long as they did. Tabloid gutter belongs in the in trash-dumps like the Enquirer. Yesterday, however, that all changed. Hounded by the far right and stalked by the Enquirer, John Edwards came forward to explain that which we have no business asking about.

Glass Houses and Stones

Did this man break the law in some way that I am not aware of? Did this man demand to know what you did in your bedroom or insist that private sexual acts are for the government to know? No. That kind of sexual, obsessive deviancy is how the right-wing functions.

John Edwards ran as a Presidential candidate not on the platform of his bed, but on real and serious issues. Only people with little intelligence, moral insufficiency, and/or no ability to discuss anything of value would see this tabloid story as worthy of attention given the Constitutional crisis this country is drowning in.

Edwards was concerned about American jobs being shipped overseas, about health-care access for all Americans, about the right of American workers to be treated like human beings. That has not changed.

Under the best of circumstances, a marriage - any marriage - goes through difficulties. Throw in the death of a child and the cancer of a spouse and people get overwhelmed. Do I condone his affair? I have no right to even ask this question, let alone answer it.

Do you condone his affair? Because if you attempt to even answer this question, I think it only appropriate that you share with us your own sexual history, including slips such as this if you have any. You want to publicly demolish a man because of something private, legal, and something his wife had agreed to forgive him for? Then I want your sexual resume on the table.

I have no right to demand of someone that they share with me, or answer to me, issues that are private and legal for the same reason I would think it inappropriate for anyone to demand that of me. So if you are going to demand such answers and dig through someone's life for such private information, you better be able to defend your own life and behavior and you better be ready to make it public. What gives any of you the right to pass judgment on a private matter with no relation to you?

Simply put, I ask one question: have you ever cheated on a spouse or partner? If you want to pass judgment on Mr. Edwards, I think it only fair that you be willing to explain yourself and your "family values" qualifications in this regard.

High Crimes

But none of this is really the issue and never has been. The Edwards story is important because it can be stretched far and wide, to cover all other background noise which an uneducated populace can easily forget when a sensational and sleazy story is before them.

Both the left and the right, as well as the mainstream media have been talking about this private matter non-stop as though it were newsworthy. Edwards is not a public official, nor is he now running for public office now. Even if he were, it is a matter for him and his wife to resolve. So why is this news? Because when he was running for public office he did not want to share his private (legal) life with you? Do you have the right to even ask? Unless there is some illegal activity going on, what right do you have to know what a public figure does privately in their bedroom if it is not used as a political "family values" tool against citizens of this nation? Did Edwards try to pass the no cheating constitutional amendment and I simply missed it? I do recall the same-sex marriage ban amendment being shoved down our throats by people who were gay or criminal deviants. But I do not recall Edwards ever demanding to know how any of us lived and loved privately, nor did he insist on enforcing his view on how we should live and love.

Most importantly, why is actual criminal activity committed by officials currently in office NOT news 24/7 or the only thing wall to wall from blog to blog?

Here is what should be on the TV, radio, and in all newspapers and blogs 24/7:

1. Russia's attack on Georgia (which suggests that the US is no longer the lone super-power)

2. Revelations that the White House had ordered evidence to be fabricated in order to start an illegal war (which we are in now)

3. Evidence that the Anthrax terrorist attacks came from a US government lab (despite what we all believe about Dr. Ivin's alleged relationship to the attacks)

4. The fact that the Bush administration was more interested in blaming the Anthrax attacks on Al Qaeda and Iraq than in securing this nation (a pattern of criminal neglect that frankly warrants criminal charges)

5. The fact that Karl Rove was briefed that an Anthrax vaccine was making our soldiers sick and that he sought to control the damages of the "political problem" this information could pose, not remotely interested in addressing the health of our troops - the troops he claims to support.

6. The evidence that the Vice President wanted to kill Americans in order to frame Iran and start a war

7. The fact that American naval ships are starting to build up again in the Gulf region as a threat to Iran

Do you understand what I am saying? All of you, do you understand that any time wasted on poking around the bedroom of a man - who has not committed any crime and is not in any political office or government position - is time wasted in dealing with a serious domestic crisis of epic proportions that if not addressed urgently and corrected immediately will sink this nation?

What is enough to wake you from your negligent slumber? Because the rise of gas prices (and their manipulation), the depletion of the US treasury (some lost, some stolen, some moved to private sector), the record number of people losing their homes, are apparently not enough.

What is wrong with all of you on the right, left, center, sideways and all ways? Drop this Edwards story. Stop talking about it. Stop linking to it. Stop giving it attention. In any other time, I would sit quietly while those of you busy passing judgment engaged in your obsessive voyeuristic behavior. But now is not that time, not by a long shot.

A nation sinking cannot afford to play gotcha with something as unimportant as a vanilla sexual affair of a man not in any office of power and whose reputation is otherwise entirely solid. It is also wise to consider that his wife is ill with cancer and even basic respect for her feelings might be a reason to back off for people with any integrity. Or is everything for sale?

Instead, I urge you to put all of your energy into any of the seven pressing issues I have listed or any others that are equally as important. Our collective attention is far more urgently needed in other areas. I only listed seven, but as we all well know, there is far more known and even more that is still hidden from public view.

Do I need to go on or do you yet get it? Do you see the ship is sinking? If so, what are you doing to salvage it?


History never actually repeats itself -but it rhymes, (Twain)

---

by: cybelline1 @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 11:52:56 AM CDT

cybelline1

You are completely within your right to have your feelings about Edwards.
You OVER STEP your rights, telling everyone else they can't express sadness or anger, or any other G*D DAMN emotion they feel.
No one voted you Thought Police Chief.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 12:48:15 PM CDT

Touche' sir .... I.......submit to your overwhelming logic

Finally someone has made a sensible reply to this tempest in a teacup  
I was dismayed and terribly disappointed reading the disparaging - self righteous commentary by the PHB community on John Edward' (non event) feeding frenzy regarding who he chooses to have sex with.  Some of the commentary here has sounded straight out of the right wing play book.  I thought this was a progressive community.  Here is an article posted on Huff Post that finally makes some sense out this trumped up tragedy.

Thanks Pete your usually pithy commentary is once again right on target.  Maybe you could use that razor sharp wit to demonstrate exactly what part of this quote tells people what they should do or think?  Hmmmmm.  Who's the thought police?

History never actually repeats itself -but it rhymes, (Twain)

---

by: cybelline1 @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 17:42:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

you

"Some of the commentary here has sounded straight out of the right wing play book.  I thought this was a progressive community."

You are stating if you express sadness or anger over Edwards you are the same as the Reich wing and not a part of the Progressive community.

yeah that's you Ms. Thought Police Chief.

It was also unclear what you quoted and what was your contribution, quotation marks...wouldn't hurt.
Cuz in that quote was all kinds of "SHOULDS."

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 21:18:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

cybelline1

Perhaps you've found creating posts dripping with sarcasm worked somewhere with someone...it doesn't with me.
Don't bother commenting to me, and I'll ignore what you post.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 00:42:51 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hubris, Sex, Politics and Culture

John Edwards is now an American Circus distraction. But so much about this really bothers me. Not the affair itself. But rather Edwards' letting go of the very qualities of careful judgment and intelligent discernment that brought him to wealth and power, his blind belief that he could manage and contain the affair while electioneering self-righteously on a path set by the secular dogmas of progressive liberal morality and his arrogant refusal to accept the reality that the affair had been exposed.

This is what money and a large audience and power can do to a person. Rules and standards will always be bent and warped for such people. But there is a dynamic, capricious boundary that a person of power must always be aware of and remain within. The most wealthy and powerful usually cannot accept this line.

And how is such a woman as Rielle Hunter (Lisa Druck) possible? An aging groupie passed around in the circles of New York and California writers, New Age prophets and high visibility politicians. Is she a universal female archetype or someone who can grow and exist only in an American culture?

The problem is that he has consistently shown an egregious arrogance and lack of judgment in his policy formulations and in his personal life. "I want to see our party lead on the great moral issues -- yes, me a Democrat using that word -- the great moral issues that face our country," Edwards told a crowd. "If we want to live in a moral, honest just America and if we want to live in a moral and just world, we can't wait for somebody else to do it. We have to do it."

Southern politicians just cannot avoid the flame of preaching and testifying. His public confession on Nightline was creepily Jimmy Swaggart-ish. How is it possible that he believed that he could lie his way past this problematic affair? As a trial lawyer he could lie with impunity. As a Senator he could lie with impunity. Even as a candidate for President. It always worked. He would have been Bill Clinton all over again. Only worse. The nation has dodged a bullet at a time when smooth lies and denials cannot be part of the game.  

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by: cogito @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 13:36:18 PM CDT

I once read a book called "Dick for a Day"

It consisted of witty essays written by women who speculated about what they would do with said appendage for a day. I thought about it myself and then decided I don't want one. No offense, but it just doesn't seem worth the trouble.

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by: Donica @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 14:14:16 PM CDT

Ann Richards had the most sensible answer after Monica

it's ANOTHER politician we have to forgive.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 14:31:12 PM CDT

I was at the airport in Phildelphia when this

was getting wall-to-wall coverage on CNN. The reaction was a big yawn. One guy said "He should have just done what the French President did - said Yeah, I'm having an affair, here she is." Another said "I don't care where he stuck it, it's between him and his wife."

I agree with both of them. Why is this a national issue?

Cause any fool knows, a dog needs a home; a shelter from pigs on the wing

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by: QueerInSoCal @ Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 10:07:57 AM CDT

At least it was with a woman

Yesterday afternoon, a corner store in my neighborhood was blasting the Edwards story on the television.

The big, brawny, and bald, middle eastern shop owner was chatting with two big, brawny, and bald, african american men in line.  One of them said to the other two "At least he was with a woman, right?"  followed by a round of belly laughs and high fives.

The slim, short (comparatively), balding, northern european gay guy (me) pranced up to the register with a bottle of diet Pepsi wishing he could make some cutting remark about how willing they are to accept my faggy $2.50 no matter what they think of cock sucking...but he kept it to himself and decided to stop drinking diet Pepsi rather than go in that store again.

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by: Patrick @ Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 11:10:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Patrick

you could have added...at least it was with an ADULT
cough-Mark Foley-cough

it wasn't in the bathroom stall next to me
cough-Larry Craig-cough

and no one wore diapers
cough-david Diaper Vitter-cough

Repigs dance on Edward's affair at their own peril

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 11:49:48 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Unfortunately pPp

I don't think these guys would have known Vitter or Foley and would probably only know Craig because of his attempted cocksucking not so much because of the contradictions with his politics.

These guys were just average joe, beer guzzling, pussy loving, fag bashers that don't particularly care to spend a moment engaging in political/social criticism.  

If I were one foot taller and 100lbs heavier I might have made a remark, but even then I was outnumbered and any remark I would have made would have been construed as fighting words.

Thats just the way it is on this side of the bridge, eh Mr. Edwards.  Welcome to the land of misfit toys.  You are now a member of the unwanted.

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by: Patrick @ Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 13:46:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

of course...

... the real problem here is the notion of monogamy.  All the pain and dishonesty of these sorts of domestic and political events is rooted in the unnatural proposition of monogamy.

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by: CopperStewart @ Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 13:45:00 PM CDT