Edwards admits to affair,

[Peikko 1,575]

He may be a slimeball in terms of how he treats women/his wife but does that make him useless in other walks of life? Do we have to know about these things? Are only the sexually squeaky clean able to make political decisions?

[SteveLaura 0]

Not that I condone affairs, but I do think that politicians have to be sexually squeaky clean to be good at their jobs. I guess I have spent too long in France, another of those dubious commy countries

I agree AJ, it's not something everyone does but I think the standards that people expect from their polticians are just stupid. In normal life people have affairs and yet can still be great businessmen, doctors, or whatever, but politicians are supposed to be immune? Get real people. If it wasn't such a huge deal, they would never lie about it and the whole thing could be something that is part of their private lives and remain private.

Same goes for those pesky neo con closte homosexuals too. Because they are homosexual doesn't autmatically make them evil people, but the way people get so het up about sexual matters, well, I find it too silly.

The difference is, if you're around adulterers, it doesn't mean you will cheat on your spouse. But if you hang out with homosexuals, you will definitely get teh gheys.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Are only the sexually squeaky clean able to make political decisions?

This isn't about the sex.

This is about how he treated his wife at a time when she was at her most vulnerable.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

"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."

-- John Edwards, quoted by the Raleigh News & Observer in 1999, on Bill Clinton.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Same goes for those pesky neo con closte homosexuals too. Because they are homosexual doesn't autmatically make them evil people, but the way people get so het up about sexual matters, well, I find it too silly.

It's worth noting that the Republican Congress rode into Washington in '94 to clean it up from the amorality that the Democrats had espoused to. The Monika Lewinsky affair and subsequent impeachment of Clinton kept the idea alive ...which helped get GW Bush elected in 2000. They were the Party that touted they stood for Family Values and they were bringing dignity back to Washington...only that didn't happen. Ironically, many of the staunchest Republicans who hammered their fist with this rhetoric were the ones sending sexually exploitive emails to minor interns, engaged in pedophilia, not to mention corruption with lobbyists. So much for bringing dignity back to Washington. They ended up looking like pathetic hypocrites.

Hopefully the lesson learned is that people are people and no Party can claim higher moral ground.

Edited August 8, 2008 by Jabberwocky

[Ban Hammer 14,269]

In normal life people have affairs and yet can still be great businessmen, doctors, or whatever, but politicians are supposed to be immune? Get real people. If it wasn't such a huge deal, they would never lie about it and the whole thing could be something that is part of their private lives and remain private.

One wrinkle to bear in mind: this isn't just any spouse-cheats-on-spouse story.

Elizabeth has cancer.

He used her as a prop in his run for President.

That takes him to a special level of slimeball, in my mind.

i was wondering if anyone would remember that.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

"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."

-- John Edwards, quoted by the Raleigh News & Observer in 1999, on Bill Clinton.

He's eating those words now...f##king hypocrite.

[HAL 9000 96]

"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."

-- John Edwards, quoted by the Raleigh News & Observer in 1999, on Bill Clinton.

He's eating those words now...f##king hypocrite.

Maybe we now know the reasons he dropped out of the race. So sleazy... I wonder when this will become an electoral issue that somehow blames Obama for all the soon to come Maury-style you are/are not the father gossip.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

By the way, before anyone forgets - of the two presumptive nominees for President from the two major parties, only one is well known to have cheated on his wife. He cheated on his wife while she was essentially a cripple, recovering from an auto accident.

Hint: That candidate is not Obama.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By the way, before anyone forgets - of the two presumptive nominees for President from the two major parties, only one is well known to have cheated on his wife. He cheated on his wife while she was essentially a cripple, recovering from an auto accident.

Hint: That candidate is not Obama.

Doh!

[Jenn! 918]

One wrinkle to bear in mind: this isn't just any spouse-cheats-on-spouse story.

Elizabeth has cancer.

He used her as a prop in his run for President.

That takes him to a special level of slimeball, in my mind.

I agree. I am so disgusted and disappointed.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

By the way, before anyone forgets - of the two presumptive nominees for President from the two major parties, only one is well known to have cheated on his wife. He cheated on his wife while she was essentially a cripple, recovering from an auto accident.

Hint: That candidate is not Obama.

Doh!

This is actually a good opportuniy for Obama surrogates to point this out in the media, as a curiosity of course, not as a point of attack (that would backfire).

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Plenty of people cheat on their ill spouses. I'm not sure if a survey has been done on this, but caring for an ill, dying, or otherwise incapacitated spouse is extremely taxing, and chances are, the healthy spouse isn't getting any. It sounds heartless, but plenty of caregivers have had their sanity restored to a degree by having an affair--often with someone whose spouse is also ill. Would divorcing the ill spouse be a better alternative? Obviously it depends on the situation. I guess it's not surprising that you don't' hear too much about that type of thing.

Edwards' hypocrisy is undeniable, that's for sure.

[HAL 9000 96]

By the way, before anyone forgets - of the two presumptive nominees for President from the two major parties, only one is well known to have cheated on his wife. He cheated on his wife while she was essentially a cripple, recovering from an auto accident.

Hint: That candidate is not Obama.

Doh!

Oh... wait wait... another lying Republican... pwned!

Plenty of people cheat on their ill spouses. I'm not sure if a survey has been done on this, but caring for an ill, dying, or otherwise incapacitated spouse is extremely taxing, and chances are, the healthy spouse isn't getting any. It sounds heartless, but plenty of caregivers have had their sanity restored to a degree by having an affair--often with someone whose spouse is also ill. Would divorcing the ill spouse be a better alternative? Obviously it depends on the situation. I guess it's not surprising that you don't' hear too much about that type of thing.

Edwards' hypocrisy is undeniable, that's for sure.

Yes I've heard that in some cases, the sick spouse even condones the extramarital affair. To each marriage its own decisions. However, when its a case of deception... well... its gross, albeit normal in our society.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

By the way, before anyone forgets - of the two presumptive nominees for President from the two major parties, only one is well known to have cheated on his wife. He cheated on his wife while she was essentially a cripple, recovering from an auto accident.

Hint: That candidate is not Obama.

Doh!

Oh... wait wait... another lying Republican... pwned!

Well, not exactly.

McCain's never (to my knowledge) denied it. Basically, he was in a PoW camp and when he arrived back home his wife was a cripple and he was a 30-something man who was busy "catching up" on his 20s.

He's never denied it.

Which is why attacking him on it wouldn't work, IMO.

But reminding people of what is now ancient history, because it is an interesting sidenote to the JRE scandal? Perfectly reasonable.