Edwards fesses up
August 8th, 2008 at 03:26pm Pat Cunningham
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic presidential hopeful earlier this year, ADMITS he had an extra-marital affair with a woman named Rielle Hunter, whom he met a couple of years ago in a New York City bar.
Edwards will be interviewed tonight on ABC’s “Nightline” program.
UPDATE: So, why did so many of the mainstream news organizations shun this story like the plague until now?
Well, as the Raw Story explains HERE (scroll down to the eighth paragraph), the main problem is that the only medium making a fuss over this thing was the National Enquirer, which has a long record of fabricating stuff and getting sued for big money.
Anybody who thinks the mainstream media wanted to cover up for Edwards out of political bias doesn’t know how the news business works. The Clinton-Lewinsky story is instructive in that regard. The first whiff of that scandal touched off a media explosion that eventually led to Clinton’s impeachment.
UPDATE II: Edwards’ former campaign manager, David Bonior, is highly P.O.’d at his ex-boss.
UPDATE III: The full text of John Edwards’ statement:
“In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99% honest is no longer enough.
”I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.
“It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry. In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up – feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.
“I have given a complete interview on this matter and having done so, will have nothing more to say.”
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23 Comments Add your own
1. coldhotel | August 8th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
They look a lot alike. What a sorry man; I used to respect him.
2. Pat Cunningham | August 8th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I feel especially sorry for Elizabeth Edwards, who, as you know, has inoperable cancer.
3. Mike Carroll | August 8th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
We have a saying where I work-”You knew he was a snake when you picked him up.” If that wasn’t obvious about Edwards, it should have been. He can now return to his bottom feeding as a plaintiff’s attorney. At least he can no longer be under consideration for AG in an Obama administration as had been rumored.
4. Pat Cunningham | August 8th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Mike: Is your characterization of Edwards’ work as “bottom feeding” based on knowledge of the cases he’s handled? Or is it simply a gratuitous slam at all plaintiffs’ attorneys? We all can cite cases of ridiculous lawsuits and excessive monetary awards, but they don’t make all tort suits unjustifiable or all plaintiffs’ attorneys ambulance chasers. Stereoyping of trial lawyers is as unfair as stereotyping of corporations and their executives. I’ve known more than a few sleazeballs in both categories. I know no details of John Edwards’ trial work, so I’ll withhold judgement. When I was a boy, I knew and admired a trial lawyer who represented our family in a wrongful death suit stemming from an industrial accident in which my father was killed on the job. Frankly, I have no knowledge of the merits of the case, and I’d probably be biased if I did. But the experience set me on a path on which I’m inclined to regard attorneys with perhaps a more open mind than would otherwise be the case. You went to law school. I think you can understand. Or do you think tort cases should be forever banned and injured plaintiffs left with no recourse in the courts?
5. Mike Carroll | August 8th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Pat-I have read more than enough regarding cases that John Edwards has handled to be more than comfortable in my characterization of him as a bottom feeder.
I respect the majority of those who practice law. My father is an attorney although long retired. I tilted at more than my share of windmills when I was a law clerk representing indigent clients. There is a place and a need for plaintiff attorneys to recover damages that should rightfully be granted. Such was obviously the case with your father.
I can assure you, however, that I have been on the receiving end of numerous wrongful termination cases filed by plaintiff’s attorneys that were totally without merit. I prefer the English system where the loser pays.
6. Pat Cunningham | August 8th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Mike: Fair enough. You understand, of course, that I was just asking, not accusing.
7. Mike Carroll | August 9th, 2008 at 7:22 am
No problem. My best friend growing up, and still a good friend today, is a plaintiffs attorney and a raging liberal to boot.I sent him a framed picture of W for Christmas.
8. LD | August 9th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Can we go back to talking about the two candidates running for President now? I’m just not that interested in who John Edwards slept with. Is the rest of the country that interested? Apparently all the news programs are hoping so, but I’m not so sure.
9. Kaus | August 9th, 2008 at 10:04 am
LD…this blog is about national politics. I know you want to bury your head in the sand right now, but Edwards was one of the 3 best candidates to democratic voters and merits conversation and also was positioning to be in Barry’s Cabinet and in Denver for the DNC. Add this debacle to to why THIS political season is one of the most exciting races in the last 100 years (I’m sure Pat’s been around for them all).
10. Pat Cunningham | August 9th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Yeah, let’s go back to talking about the two presidential candidates, especially the one who’s committed adultery:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-divorce11-2008jul11,0,6546861.story
11. redrover | August 9th, 2008 at 11:04 am
So let me get this straight:
John Edwards is a jerk for cheating on his wife.
But it still takes two to tango, doesn’t it?
Why isn’t the press condemning Rielle Hunter for sleeping with a man she knew was married?
I have never had much use for John Edwards. He got rich and forgot where he came from.
But he is not the only guilty party in this matter. I believe that it’s entirely possible that Ms. Hunter slept with and got pregnant by Edwards in order to be able to claim a substantial portion of his huge fortune.
Is that any better than what Edwards did?
12. Kaus | August 9th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Yawn, Pat has to go back 30 years to get news on Mccain….poor Barry was a drug induced zombie back then. Wisdom comes with age for both Barry and Mccain. Look how wise Pat is now?
Be real Pat, the major left leaning trade rags turned their nose up protecting one of their own ala the Mccain NYT lobbyist affair and Keith Olbermann interrupting his news commentary to serve up this crap.
13. Menlo Bob | August 9th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Let’s go back in time to see what Sauce said about this story when it was more than the National Enquirer reporting on it and before he expressed sympathy for Elzabeth Edwards–who, incidently, also participated in covering it up.
8. Menlo Bob | July 25th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Hey look, reporting going on over here. (Fox News)
“The Beverly Hilton Hotel guard said he encountered a shaken and ashen-faced Edwards — whom he did not immediately recognize — in a hotel men’s room early Tuesday morning in a literal tug-of-war with reporters on the other side of the door.
“What are they saying about me?” the guard said Edwards asked.
“His face just went totally white,” the guard said, when Edwards was told the reporters were shouting out questions about Edwards and Rielle Hunter, a woman the National Enquirer says is the mother of his child.”
9. Pat Cunningham | July 26th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Keep us posted, Bob. As if anbody but you and Matt Drudge gives a s–t.
14. Kaus | August 9th, 2008 at 11:41 am
And the crow dinner shall be served up on a silver platter…..
15. Q Jordon | August 9th, 2008 at 11:58 am
When it comes down to having affairs in the political arena, it appears it is the only time the two parties can agree on a bipartisanship approach. Neither party is clean in this area. It just goes to show you how many of the scumbags exist.
Whether it is Clinton, Edwards, McCain, or Gingrich, both parties have no monopoly on the adulterer’s list. It is a sad commentary on politicians in general.
It has to be part of their psychological make up to begin with, then as they are put into power they take advantage of it, as well as the other skanky individual that has the affair with them.
It takes two, but the third party, the spouse that is innocent, is the one that pays the price for it.
16. Pat Cunningham | August 9th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
By the way, Josh Marshall explains why the Edwards matter poses a danger for McCain: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/207766.php
17. Kaus | August 9th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Pat is insinuating that the press hasn’t already tried to dig up more marital stories on McCain. Pah-lease! You must be joking…..They have already tried and failed miserably.
18. Pat Cunningham | August 9th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Pah-lease yourself. Didn’t you see this link in Comment No. 10?:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-divorce11-2008jul11,0,6546861.story
19. Kaus | August 9th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Pat….30 years ago…..yawn. Comment no. 12
20. Pat Cunningham | August 9th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
OK, everybody. Get ready. Kaus will soon respond to the comment above with some lame crap about how the story is 30 years old, or Obama was doing drugs at the time, or the Enquirer hasn’t confirmed this stuff yet, or the media are biased against McCain (a real laugh!), or there’s Marxism involved here somewhere, or the Kennedys were the real philanderers, or let’s not forget Bill Clinton, or McCain has denied everything so that should be the end of it. Any guesses as to what Kaus will say? Hurry up. He’ll be back pretty shortly. I’m guessing it will be a new height of Kausness, something for the record books.
21. Pat Cunningham | August 9th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Damn! You beat my comment by nano-seconds, Kaus. But you confirmed my first guess.
22. Pat Cunningham | August 9th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
By the way, don’t judge the timing of these comments by the time-stamps. That function is erratic. I was posting comment No. 20 when Kaus’ No. 19 sneaked in ahead of mine.
23. Kaus | August 9th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
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