The news sez:RALEIGH, N.C. -- Two weeks after a devastating revelation sent her husband into political exile, Elizabeth Edwards isn't getting the steady sympathy usually afforded to a woman scorned.
Instead, she's faced criticism from dedicated Democrats who think she was too willing to keep the affair a secret to help John Edwards' political ambitions, as well as her own.
At a time when she was expected to hold a prominent role in pushing an agenda of
improved health care for Americans, she stands silent. While fellow Democrats converge in Denver to nominate Barack Obama for president, Edwards remains in
seclusion in North Carolina.
It seems an odd way to treat a woman with incurable cancer wronged by a cheating husband, the latest in a series of deep hardships in life that includes the death of a teenage son.
But some former followers have questioned the recklessness of keeping the affair under wraps even though her husband - a former U.S. senator, two-time presidential candidate and the 2004 vice presidential nominee - said he confessed the affair in 2006, before the campaign began in earnest the next year.
Maybe Elizabeth had an elaborate scheme to get the ultimate revenge. What if she planned to help propel her husband almost as far as he could go, right though the Democratic nomination, and then just weeks before the general election let the affair news out of the bag.
Bwah-haa-haa-haa.
Oh, she could have really played it up. She could have played on our sympathies for her plight both as a victim of a cheating husband and a victim of cancer. She could have actively asked -no begged- everyone NOT to vote for her husband in the general election and many would have complied.
Sure that’s a little far-fetched but I’m publicly giving Lifetime network permission to turn the idea into one or more movies.
22 comments:
John Edwards built a career on suing doctors. While he said that he was defending the rights of poor downtrodden patients wronged by the evils of the medical world, we find in the end that it is he who is evil. Now he must live in shame as a self-righteous blowhard.
He must also stand helpless watching his family die from the lack of medical prowess and technology. Did it ever occur to him that the money wasted on loathsome lawyers such as himself could have been spent more productively on finding cures for diseases that his wife now suffers from.
It just goes to show that what goes around comes around. What sweet revenge for a pathetic and disgusting human being.
I’m sorry, but John Edwards’ affair has nothing to do with his work. Nor is there anything at all wrong with suing doctors when they are in the wrong. Please provide unbiased examples of how Edwards profited off of unwarranted lawsuits. Knee-jerk, know-nothing lawyer bashing is boring. The fact that you think his getting caught in an affair is somehow retribution for being a lawyer is stupid. Idiots like you should be banned from ever using the services of an attorney. Good luck in court, pal! Oh, and I assume John McCain and Ronald Reagan are also evil people in your mind for having affairs. Oh, wait, they’re Republicans, it’s OK.
Maybe we should dig up the bones of Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower and Lady Bird Johnson, and desecrate their memory for having the gall to keep silent about their husbands' affairs.
Gee, Elizabeth didn't want to be humiliated by going public with the fact that her husband had an affair with a younger woman...Shame on her...what in the hell was she thinking!!
I agree with the one poster, regarding the fact that so many other public figures have had affairs, what's the point in singling this one out? I'm not condoning infedelity in a marriage, but why blame the wife? Having an affair does not mean you cannot do your job, whether you are a car salesman, teacher, or President of the United States. The press never bothered JFK, yet his womanizing was fairly well known. Did it affect his handling of the Cuban Missle Crisis? Too many people out there are hypocrits when it comes to judging other people. There's only one entity that judges........
what the hell is wrong with people. The family was going through some heavy stuff and yet in still you wanted the woman to talk about her pain. I would like the media and critics to take that wide lens camera and start looking in their closet. The world has been turned on it's ear when you attack peoples person pain and anguish for our own pleasure. Get it together...
Can we not leave Elizabeth Edwards alone? The woman is dying from cancer and there are so many other things going on in her life. As somebody who watched a mother die from cancer, you have no idea what it's like until you've been in the situation. Where is the compassion and empathy? Is this where we are as a country? I do not excuse infidelity, but I agree with another poster -- let's get it together.
The bored and boring media strikes again... and bored and boring America laps it up
I actually dont even care about his affair. I feel sorry for his cancer stricken wife. It must suck to have your husband walk out on you during a time of need.
i agree with rickmonday.
edwards chose to end his career when he decided to screw around on elizabeth and her choice to keep mum about the infidelity is why people are not happy with her now.
it all boils down to the choices they made and all in the name of popularity...sad, really sad.
i would suggest that john fess up to the daughter and get on with things. you can't deny it forever!!
I'm sorry, but any woman would want to keep this private. Just because she's a politicians wife doesn't make that change at all. Does it affect how Edwards would do his job? No. I dislike him as a politician for other reasons, but he's not the first man, or even politician, to step out on his wife, and he surely won't be the last.
Let the woman have some peace. I can't imagine how embarrassing and horrible this whole situation is for her!
I cannot believe that people do not understand a woman wanting to keep the humiliation and pain of discovering her husband has cheated on her a private matter. It would be bad enough to discover your spouse has betrayed you, but to have it made public and to have to share your humiliation with the world would just be too much to bear. The poor woman lost a son, is dying from cancer, and now people are criticizing her for not wanting to publicize the fact that her husband cheated on her? What is wrong with people? Not that it excuses his behavior, but he also lost a son and is losing a wife to cancer, and the stress may have caused him to turn to someone else for comfort. (He probably felt that turning to his wife to seek comfort for the fact that he was going to lose her would not be fair to her. He did not want to burden her further.) Now, regardless of why he did what he did, his sexual infidelity does not affect his abilities as a politician or as a leader. With 50%of marriages ending in divorce, you have to realize that infidelity is commonplace (though not morally correct). Considering the enormous number of individuals who have done exactly the same thing, I am amazed that people feel they have the right to judge him. No wonder more good people do not enter politics; helping others is simply not worth the price one must pay to be allowed to do so.
Allison
So... a woman was wronged in a private manner, and decided to keep it private, and people are angry about this???
Edwards cheating is a wrong against his wife, not the american public, not the democratic party, not the tabloid readers. It is completely within her domain to decide if she wants to go public with something like this or keep it internal to the family.
It really disturbs me to hear so many people getting all offended because they feel they have a right to the internal matters of a family that isn't thier own.
Then again, it has been found the psychologically we take TV personalities and map them into our own family structure,.... so I guess this isn't too surprising.
I feel terrible for Elizabeth...She has done nothing wrong.. She kept a family matter to her self... perhaps if more americans handled there own "dirty laundry" then we wouldn't see so much of it on our streets..
Hooray for Elizabeth Edwards for her integrity...
Adultery is wrong, whether you are a private citizen or the President. It's more serious when you are in a position of authority because it opens you up to the possibility of being manipulated by those seeking to take advantage of your trying to hide your affair.
I'm also quite amazed that people would be so crass as to somehow blame Elizabeth for not wanting to make this affair public. That's just plain cruel.
Has anyone heard from or about the "afair-ee" recently?
Having once been in Elizabeth Edwards' shoes, I can certainly understand her reticence to publicly acknowledge his infidelity. However, even as a Republican, I can empathize with those who supported John Edwards' candidacy - unaware of the sword hanging over his head (and that of the Democrat party). I think Elizabeth's greatest revenge would have been to force her husband to withdraw and return campaign contributions, under threat of revelation of the affair. Had he, God forbid, been elected President, he would have been a security risk. As for his lucrative law practice, he made his fortune on the backs of obstetricians and malpractice insurance carriers, suing on medical grounds, many of which have since been debunked! He's an ambulance chaser!
Mairead,
What have you got against the "American Dream"? At least he married for love, not her money. Speaking of which, McSame cheated on his swimsuit model wife that got "ugly" in an accident. If McSame gets (s)elected, then he would have been a security risk. Oh and 2 + 2 <> 5.
geek_guy -- So many of your ilk seem to have difficulty addressing a particular subject without injecting political venom toward someone not even pertinent to the issue being discussed. Is this a congenital condition among some half-wit Democrats? I often wonder the same about some half-wit Republicans, Independents, etc. How do you all manage to skew a subject around in order to slam someone you don't like? The subject is whether Elizabeth Edwards deserves opprobrium for keeping silent about her philandering husband's affair. McCain belongs in a different blog. Duh!!!
If the blog was about E E, then why call her husband a "security risk". Why did you include your distorted view of J E income source? If I was "injecting political venom", why did you say "unaware of the sword hanging over his head (and that of the Democrat party" and "Had he, God forbid, been elected President". I was just pointing out your hypocricy like I just did again. Duh!!!
I guess I'll have to spell it out for you, as well as correct your spelling (hypocrisy -- duh!). When someone has something to hide, he or she is vulnerable to blackmail and coercion. In the case of someone as powerful as president of the United States, this could be a disaster for the country. If Edwards had been selected as the Democrat nominee, and his affair was discovered, he would have caused immeasurable harm to his party and those who worked toward his election. The subject is still the Edwards' dilemma and WHY some former supporters are upset with Elizabeth for covering up his affair. His lack of character has a direct bearing on that. Do you "get it" now? Or did I use words that were too difficult for you -- again?
Oops, I forgot one answer to your question. Check out some of John Edwards' cases and the spurious medical grounds he used to bring a jury to tears and drive a doctor out of medicine and into bankruptcy or medical insurance cancellation. Many of those grounds have since proven to be bogus -- unfounded -- false -- untrue -- just an additional indication of the lack of character inherent in John Edwards. He could have ruined the party by his duplicity -- along with devastating his wife and children even more than he has.
Yawn, McCain, Ruddie and a few other Rethug candidates all had affairs, that we know if and probably more that we don't know of. Cry crocodile tears for them. If you want to talk about "bogus -- unfounded -- false -- untrue", lets talk about the Iraq war. Ooh, butt this is supposed to be about the "devastated" E E. Hypocrisy
Post a Comment