Friday, August 08, 2008

The Whole John Edwards Thing




Doesn't she look like Camilla?

I'm sorry.

I digress.

I haven't had anything to say about this before now because it was all National Inquirer, Fox News and sensationalist blogger fodder. And I don't feed that crap.

But now that we have actual facts to discuss, I will be happy to share my point of view.

If you are coming here expecting some knee-jerk, left-wing, "moon-bat" defense of John Edwards you'll come away disappointed.

Because unlike republican ditto-zombies, I don't take my talking points and marching orders from anybody. I have an actual, functional, well educated, well-read, critical mind and I use it to form my own opinions based on objective, verifiable facts.

What Edwards did was despicable. There is no defense. Period.

I have a shitload of faults, shortcomings and more general fuckedupedness than a grown man on the downhill side of a century should have.

Between relationships, I make no apologies about being the most enthusiastic, unrepentant manwhore the world has ever seen. I love me some wimmins! All shapes, sizes, colors and temperaments!

But one thing I have never done and will never do is cheat on a partner in a committed relationship. Not once, ever.

I think that trust is the very core of any loving, committed relationship. A lack of trust leads to suspicion, jealousy, invasion of privacy, hostility and ultimately the death of the relationship.

Once a trust is betrayed, I don't think there is any way to re-establish it. How could they?

And a "relationship" that started as an affair? Even if they later divorced their spouses and got married, how could there ever be any trust in the relationship knowing that they came together through mutual infidelity?

No, you will find no defense of John Edwards here.

He is out as Vice President.

He is out as a Cabinet Member.

He is probably done politically, period.

Yes, other politicians have survived sexual scandals. But none of them had a wife with terminal cancer. None of them trotted out the story about the death of a son to illustrate what a cohesive family unit they are. None of them used the cancer to generate sympathy and support.

I won't even use this as an opportunity to trot out all of the hyper-hypocritical, right-wing, evangelical, self-righteous bigots who turned out to be airport-bathroom-homosexuals, pedophiles or philanderers. My ISP doesn't give me that much free bandwidth.

It doesn't matter what party you belong to or whether you believe in god or which direction your sexuality swings. I'm even okay with "swinging"...The Lifestyle, if that's what both people want. Play together, or not at all.

But if you don't have trust...if one person is deceiving the other...if one or both of them are hypocrites...professing one set of values while living another...if your life (alone or together) is built on a foundation of lies, well, things are doomed to end badly.

The more public and vocal you are in your self righteousness about such things, the more humiliating your descent into ridicule and contempt will be when you fail to live up to those ideals.

And that is as it should be.

10 comments:

GB, RN said...

There's other pics and vids of the "other woman". She looks tons better in those.

What I found amazing about the whole thing is that, tabloid or not, The Enquire had photos and the whole nine, yet no other news agency would touch it unless it was overseas. Granted, they are not exactly "reputable" news source, but the length that other news agencies went to sweep this under the rug was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

I agree, John Edwards is America's Biggest Douchebag right now. I can't imagine what life is like in that house. He was more than happy to allow the "dying wife" to be the face of his campaign, while he was more than happy to pork Camilla. Whatever.

It's safe to say his political career is dead.

Dan said...

XO, you should read up on Newt.

And while it wasn't cancer that harmed her, you might be interested in reading up on McCain's "damaged wife".

Just in regard to your point about nobody else doing this - not as a defense of the guy who did his best to lose the White House.

Anonymous said...

So this supposedly happened in 2006 and all is now well on the homefront. Well, I wonder then what Johnny was doing with her 2 weeks ago into the wee hours of the morning before he ran through the hotel and locked himself in the bathroom to get away from reporters. Talking? yah right.

At least Obama can escape this mess entirely while soaking up the sun in Hawaii while McCain is taking the hit all over the internet, on By the way, Dan, McCain was at least separated from his wife before he started the Cindy fling. But, believe me, I don't believe he deserves a good conduct medal for the way he treated his ex either.

Suzanne Karmin said...

Right on!

If these politicians are really so fed up with their marriages that they feel they have to cheat, they would gain so much more credibility by just getting divorced first before getting some strange. I would rather vote for someone who was divorced and honest than someone who was married, pushing family values, and gettin some on the side.

It just makes it so much worse that the wife had cancer too. What a douche.

MoxieMamaKC said...

XO, First...hugs and kisses for saying EXACTLY what I feel/think from the female perspective. It is ALL about trust in your spouse. YES, she looks like Camila. (I thought that before I read your post, so thanks for the observation validation).

I swing both ways when it comes to party lines. I vote on the individual's perspective, not the party.

There is no defense for John Edwards (who I previously wanted as my democratic candidate). The cancer thing will be his downfall...what a DOUCHE! Whatever happened to "Stand by Your (Wo-Man)?

I hate unsubstantiated self-righteousness. I'm so disappointed...

My favorite paragraph: "Because unlike republican ditto-zombies, I don't take my talking points and marching orders from anybody. I have an actual, functional, well educated, well-read, critical mind and I use it to form my own opinions based on objective, verifiable facts.

Rock on brutha. Rock on.

But, I'm not a ManWhore. I'll leave that to the professionals...

Thanks for writing this...

Poodles said...

I completely agree. I never understood affairs. If you are done with the relationship you are in, then leave and whore it up all you want to.

The DLC said...

JE is clearly an asshole, but I don't think this should have any bearing on his political career whatsoever. As much as they try, politicans are not robots. I'm not gonna judge anyone.

Unless they are republicans.

kcmeesha said...

why do American voters expect a candidate to even mention morality or bring his wife into election. I'll vote for an evil, cheating asshole who can lay out AND execute a plan for the country and economy before I will ever vote for a clueless moron with "good" moral values. You are electing a politician not a pope, all this extraneous crap only distracts the voter from the fact that your candidates are worthless talentless sacks of shit.

Xavier Onassis said...

meesha - I agree on the moral posturing. I remember back when Clinton got his blow job and the republicans were talking about how he had "lost the moral authority to lead".

WTF? What "moral authority"? What the fuck is that?

Politicians are professional liars. They are like used car salesmen. It's how they make a living. The politicians who make it to Washington are the very best of the liars and the president is the best of the best!

Why would anyone expect anything else. It's what they do.

Well Hell Michelle said...

John Edwards is a decent looking guy, even though he's short in person. He could have pulled way better than that for a mistress. Just sayin'.