08/08/2008
ABC: John Edwards Admits Affair, Says He Lied During Campaign
The affair that has been simmering at the National Enquirer has broke wide open.
"John Edwards repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extramarital affair with a novice filmmaker, the former Senator admitted to ABC News today. In an interview for broadcast tonight on Nightline, Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he did have an affair with 44-year old Rielle Hunter, but said that he did not love her. Edwards also denied he was the father of Hunter's baby girl, Frances Quinn, although the one-time Democratic Presidential candidate said he has not taken a paternity test. Edwards said he knew he was not the father based on timing of the baby's birth on February 27, 2008. He said his affair ended too soon for him to have been the father."
Posted 4:10 PM EST by Andy Towle in Democratic Party, John Edwards, News | Permalink
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all i can say about this drama is THank the lord we chose Obama.
this is a good opportunity for the democrats to remind the voters that mccain dumped wife #1 for his mistress cindy.
just saying.
Posted by: johnosahon | Aug 8, 2008 7:12:50 PM
Rudy, you are definitely my hero! Even when I disagree with you on political issues, you hold my respect and admiration. Well stated....Edwards is an "ass". And that has nothing to do with his politics!
Posted by: RB | Aug 8, 2008 8:40:03 PM
The affair is between him and his wife. Why would he admit publicly to something that would hurt his ailing wife? Seriously, given his wife's health issues, the stress of this must be incredible.
Frankly, I wish that everyone would take a break and think about Elizabeth Edwards. This is a woman who has been not only a friend to gays but is battling cancer.
We can bloviate all we want about how terrible John Edwards is but what about Elizabeth?
The woman is going through chemo and cancer treatments while worrying about dying and leaving behind two small children. Now she has to face the media vultures who will all want to stick a microphone in her face.
Taking pleasure in this situation when Elizabeth Edwards, a champion for the gay community, is suffering is pretty crappy.
Posted by: noah | Aug 8, 2008 8:45:55 PM
LOL. ALL politicians are the same. Scumbags at best. They'll say anything to get your money for their campaigns and then Fu@K you in the end. Michael Bedwell I wish you would shut the F up!
Posted by: LOL | Aug 8, 2008 8:55:42 PM
Noah, thank you for your comment. It doesn't make Mr. Edwards any less creepy, and certainly, if he was concerned for his wife's health, he might have thought better (or thought, period) about having an affair. But the fallout will adversely affect someone who doesn't deserve, and who may even be hurt in her recovery because of, the feeding frenzy.
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Posted by: reuben armstrong show | Aug 8, 2008 9:35:00 PM
For once in a very long time I've had my opinion of a politician shattered. I thought Edwards was a good guy, and this news makes that not true by any stretch. There are no politicians with open relationships. He was cheating, and on a very decent woman.
He sucks. I'd thought he was a decent guy, and I was wrong. He has no excuse for the pain he's caused his family or the potential demage he caused his party.
Posted by: Paul R | Aug 8, 2008 9:39:54 PM
Edwards behaved DISGRACEFULLY and needs to be punished. If we all make excuses for this bullshit behavior, we'll get more of this in the future.
I hope Elizabeth Edwards is watching "Waiting to Exhale" and stuffing a voodoo doll with her hubby's socks.
Why can't he be a fucking man and totally come clean? What an asshole.
Posted by: Gerry | Aug 8, 2008 10:08:31 PM
Disgraceful lying fucker. If you don't intend to keep the vows, don't make them.
Posted by: van | Aug 8, 2008 10:32:38 PM
Yeah, Edwards is a jerk for cheating on his wife. But get serious about all this moralizing. He cheated on his wife and not you or me. How many of you gave a thought to Edwards the day before yesterday?
Cheating on one's spouse is not the worst thing one can do. He didn't beat his wife or kids or start a phony war that has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.
But Edwards is not an evil Republican who made it his duty to demonize gays and lesbians. Read is platform.
If you folks want to become indignant about something, why not focus on the real criminal who have shredded the constitutions and are only to happy to demonize GLBT folks for political gain.
This is trivial sh@t.
Posted by: noah | Aug 8, 2008 10:32:39 PM
Apparently, he didn't love his wife either. I can imagine that with $300 haircuts he loves only himself (this makes him an average politician and well-into-the-fold tort attorney). Of course, full-of-himself Newt Gingrich did the same thing to his sick wife and let's not forget the incredible duo that are the McGreeveys. Yes, yes, Edwards was always the type to send himself flowers on Valentine's Day, and that vanity probably made him all the more popular here on TR. Now a little secret, if you are a bigwig in DC and haven't had an affair then people there think there is something wrong with you. It seems from the news that Democrats are more like to have str8 sex scandals and Republicans to have gay sex scandals--and in a lot of ways this makes sense, but it's making is seem as though there are more gay Republicans on a national level than gay Democrats!
Posted by: anon | Aug 8, 2008 11:21:57 PM
LIAR!!!
Posted by: mark | Aug 9, 2008 12:13:05 AM
So after running for president on the national stage, the Edwards want some privacy.
Posted by: Privacy Please | Aug 9, 2008 12:18:17 AM
NOAH, seriously. You have to stop. You are making too much sense to me. You are making me want commit infidelity with you. I kid.
Seriously for real. An infidelity is mostly the concern of those immediately and intimately involved. This sanctimonious outrage I am reading is something I find troubling. Tell me, is there anyone out there who might have had a personal, private indiscretion (or several) who, in his professional life, operated effectively, ethically, or even exemplarily? Any doctors out there who have frequented the baths (middle America HATES that shit) or hooked up after a night at a bar or whatever? Any teachers who taught in the morning after one too many at Wednesday Night Beer Bash (Hint: back in the day, I slept with you)? Is there anyone out there who cheated on a partner (or committed ANY questionable act) yet was able to fulfill the requirements of their job on a day-to-day basis? Oh, and here's a good one: Anyone out there have fantasies that don't involve their partner... and enjoy them?
I "get" that people want integrity from leaders. But define integrity in real, human terms. He who is without sin and all that. In other times, other cultures, paramours were accepted, and expected. We live in interestingly dichotomous times; while emphasizing sexuality, pleasure, and self-interest, we still come screeching to a puritanical halt should anyone actually get caught being human.
Honestly, I've felt disappointment with this news. I wish he was more hero and less human. But as Noah has posted, aren't there transgressions by leaders directly affecting us that ought to receive your outrage?
Posted by: JT | Aug 9, 2008 1:08:14 AM
I guess "TWO AMERICAS" includes TWO famiLIES!
no sympathy here.
Posted by: mark | Aug 9, 2008 1:31:25 AM
On matters sexual, Democrats - and liberals in general - are hypocrites. They divide homosexuals into the "hot lesbians" and the "gross gay guys". So much for equality. And then you have the hypocrisy of someone like Edwards, a man who has been reported as saying that marriage is a sacred pact.
If you want to know why I won't be voting Democrat, it's because of liberals' double standards.
Posted by: jason | Aug 9, 2008 1:48:42 AM
Jason. Right there with you my friend.
MCCAIN 2008!
Posted by: mark | Aug 9, 2008 2:09:51 AM
Mark,
I'm not necessarily going to vote McCain. We have to keep in mind that McCain will put in conservative judges to keep the right-wingers happy. Let's not enable it.
But I'm certainly not going to vote for liberals/Democrats. They are total hypocrites. When it comes to gay and bisexual men, liberalism's attitude is best described as a phony acceptance based on segregation. They want us tucked away in the gay ghettos and not out there in the mainstream. We aren't the "hot lesbians" or "hot bi babes", don't forget.
Thumbs down to liberalism's hypocrisy and thumbs down to its political embodiment in the form of the Democrats. They can have their "hot lesbians" but they sure as hell aren't going to have my vote.
Posted by: jason | Aug 9, 2008 8:15:45 AM
Noah and JT are right. Edwards didn't cheat on us, and who really knows what goes on between him and his wife?
It is still a major disappointment, because he was putting much more at risk than his own marriage, and THAT he should have known. Just think if he HAD been the presumptive nominee! Or had already been chosen as VP!
But the sanctimoniousness is a little over the top, maybe because gay relationships AND gay sex are criticized so often we like to feel good about feeling superior to somebody else.
And Jason, for the umpteenth time, the double standard you refer to is about sexism and is every bit as valid among conservatives as among liberals, among Bosnians as among Americans. So give it a rest. We ALL know about it. Go preach that line on some other blog, please!
Posted by: Kevinvt | Aug 9, 2008 10:19:00 AM
Oh give me a fucking break all you reverse moral sactimonious preachers. When an elected official cheats on his or her spouse he or she demonstrates that he or she does not take his or her responsibilities, vows, and promises seriously. Because Edwards cheated on his wife there is every indication that he would have cheated on other oaths he has taken or would take in the future. And he compounded his despicable behaviour by trying to justify his actions in saying that he only fucked her, he did not love her. What a miserable scumbag. It is precisely because I pity Elizabeth Edwards having to endure media scrutiny while she is fighting for her life that I find her husband's actions so despicable.
I'll say it again: I do not give a rat's ass who any politician fucks--as long as it is by mutual consent and does not involve a minor--but such behaviour becomes a political issue and disqualifying behaviour in my opinion because it self-brands the party as a liar and a cheat. Haven't we all had enough liars and cheats as political officials? I believe it is a voter's duty to "cast the first stone" by not voting for a political candidate who demonstrates by his or her behaviour that he or she cannot be trusted to abide by their word.
Posted by: rudy | Aug 9, 2008 3:20:46 PM
DITTO, Rudy!
Posted by: Bojo | Aug 9, 2008 4:33:46 PM
Something else that's troubling (>cough< Rudy) is dichotomous thinking and generalization. A person is either good or bad, no in between. Someone who breaks one vow breaks all vows. It sure makes looking at the world easier, but is it true, or helpful?
Posted by: JT | Aug 9, 2008 6:37:09 PM
JT, there are vows and there are "vows"! Does anyone remember the scathing commentary Edwards gave over Bill Clinton's little trist with Monica or do we not want to remember?
"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."
It must not have been "disrespectful for him to do the same to Elizabeth. Afterall she is not really doing anything other than fighting for her life! Slime...preach it Rudy, preach it my brother!
Posted by: RB | Aug 9, 2008 9:26:46 PM
RB- Elizabeth supports him. Despite my disappointment, as far as their personal relationship goes, that's the most important thing. Making this THE story of the moment doesn't help her deal with her cancer.
If you expect perfection from your leaders, or anyone, you will be disappointed. People are not only just the good that they do, nor are they just the bad. Think of the worst thing you have ever done. Is that how you define yourself, or would want others to define you? Is it truly a pattern, or a blip on the radar screen?
Most of the people I have known in my life have done some pretty stupid things. Many are basically good people who have had lapses in judgment. I'm not one to throw the baby out with the bath water, as a rule.
As for Edwards, I have no particular loyalty, and find the quote you posted quite interesting. The word "hubris" comes to mind. I expect, perhaps even hope, that those words will haunt him for some time. I just don't want the fallout to fall too much on his wife and family. I also don't put personal mistakes such as this, however foolishly deliberate, on the same playing field with the errors in judgment displayed by those currently running the White House. Maybe GWB can lay claim that he didn't screw around on his wife. He sure as hell screwed around with us. And that pattern is entrenched and vivid.
Posted by: JT | Aug 10, 2008 2:32:54 AM
you know, if we were in Europe, this wouldn't even make the papers. America is so fucked up over matters of sex, we actually believe that somebody who gets laid on a regular basis isn't capable of running the country. (And since we've seen how a eunuch can screw the USA, not to mention the world, for the past eight years, perhaps it's time to take our collective heads out of our asses, people...) The United States of America is no longer a nation "of the People" but rather "Of People Magazine". Tabloid culture and overfed morons have made our country the trailer park of the world.
Posted by: ron oliver | Aug 10, 2008 3:37:18 AM