John Edwards Is A Douchebag
Tweet
First of all, for what he did to his family. Clearly inexcusable. But also what he almost did to America. Had Edwards somehow attained the Democratic nomination, this story would have surely killed his candidacy and elected John McCain. I can’t believe what an asshole this guy is.
Elizabeth, 59, who is terminally ill with cancer, speaks in far more detail than before about her husband’s infidelity in her new memoir, “Resilience,” due to be published May 12 by Broadway Books. A copy was obtained by the Daily News.
Despite feeling deeply deceived, Elizabeth Edwards nonetheless publicly stood by her husband’s side, lending his candidacy the aura of a warm, loving family life.
But she had actually wanted him to quit the race to protect the family. Edwards admitted the hanky-panky to her days after declaring his candidacy in 2006 – almost a year before the National Enquirer reported it.
63 Responses to “John Edwards Is A Douchebag”
PHOTOS: Tamara Ecclestone At The Langham Hotel
Red Front? “Center For American Freedom” Logo Echoes Communist Style
Romney Calls For Defunding Planned Parenthood, Wife Was A Donor
GOP Fundraising Email Asks Supporters To “Knock Out” Obama
Romney Comes Up Limp In Nevada
Obama Opens Lead On Romney In New Poll
What Time Is Super Bowl 2012 (Super Bowl XLVI)?
Republican Senate Candidate To Run Racist Ad During Super Bowl
Latest Entries
Weekly Standard Rolls Out The Iraq Argument For Iran
Equal Polarization, My Ass
Some Crazy Stuff That Happened In World War II
Maryland Republican Campaign Funds Used To Defend Voter Suppression
The Obama Jobs Record In One Graph
Martin O’Malley All In For Marriage Equality
Newt Gingrich, Filled With More Excrement Than Your Average Politician
New Year, Powerline Still Stupid
Thanks Again
C.K.: November 22, 1999 – January 7, 2012
Meta
Blogroll
Disclaimer
The views on this site are mine and mine alone, and do not reflect the views of my employer, Media Matters for America
© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
As someone who voted foe John Edwards for Senate in 1998, sent him money in 2004 and 2008, and who would have voted for him had his primary candidacy lasted, I would just like to say:
Fuck John Edwards. Fuck him and everybody who looks like him. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on. “Douchebag” is too kind. I’ve got more respect for Bernie Madoff than John Fucking Edwards.
And you know the usual trolls will still maintain that the worst thing Edwards did was to sue a pool drain manufacturer.
Yes–I would say he is something a woman might consider using
on a Summer’s Eve.
Talk about dodging a cheating effed up bullet that would have
given us John McCain and tundra Barbie . . .
I can’t believe the ego of these guys thinking they’ll never get caught
Well, sure that’s some awful behavior but he was a douchebag long before he started fucking around on his wife.
Let’s thank Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for helping us dodge that bullet.
Hell, maybe the media that refused to cover him back then were on to something.
And you know the usual trolls will still maintain that the worst thing Edwards did was to sue a pool drain manufacturer. –Vice
He was ALWAYS a douche bag. The fact that so many liberals supported him is a testament to how easily they’re taken in by smooth-talking charlatans and just how long it takes them to finally realize it.
He was ALWAYS a douche bag
. The fact that so many liberals supported him is a testament to howeasilythey’retaken in bysmooth-talkingcharlatansand just how long it takes them to finally realize it.Dennis, the fact that so many conservatives supported Bush is a testament to how easily they’re taken in by “straight-talking” anti-intellectual cowboys and just how long it takes them to finally realize it.
This is a fun game!
And yes, Edwards is douchebag. Let’s get you to say a prominent Republican is a douchebag, Denny-boy.
Arlen Specter up until Monday. Now he’s just another prominent Democratic douche bag, mambo.
I don’t think some of us should play this game. It seems all republicans smell good to some until they leave the corpse rotted
nest and go out into the sane world. Lock step, baby. Keep on marching lock, step . . . .
Funny thing is: when Lawrence O’Donnell called Edwards a “loser” (for political reasons, and not his cheating) on HuffPost, people tried to fry him.
And about four years ago, John Kerry told reporters about how Edwards told him a very personal story about his dad, but what creeped him out was that Edwards had told him a version of this story a year before…and back then also used the “I never told anyone this, but I’m telling you because you’re like a brother” line.
How complicit is Elizabeth, who knew about the affair since (at least) 2006, and yet still publicly supported John? She may have started out as the victim, but her silence makes her a co-conspirator.
Of course, my theory is you have to have at least a little bit of a douchebag to run for public office anyway. The conceit and self-righteousness required is pretty high.
See Vitter,David.
SF, I’m reminded of Douglas Adams “No one capable of becoming president of the Universe should ever be allowed to hold the position”, or something close to that. It’s a bit of a “truthy” line, but certainly the ego required to say “I should run everything” is only occasionally compatible with the skills and mentality to do the job well. Of course, the MSM tends to go overboard on this very issue, attacking politcians for appearing too knowledgable or interested (see Gore or anyone running for office who appears overly wonkish). They claim it’s insufficiently modest, but justified modesty isn’t nearly as wonderful as David Broder would suggest..
Broder also formulated “Broder’s Law,” which is similar to Douglas Adams’. Namely, anyone who wants to be President is too nutss to elect. True, some of our biggest douches (OT, but when did this become an acceptable mainstream perjorative?) have been politicians. On the other hand, who are our greatest monuments to?
As for Mrs. Edwards, I can’t even venture a guess as to her motives. Maybe she stuck with him because she’s an opportunist. Maybe it’s because she promised God she would.
SF- “How complicit is Elizabeth Edwards”
Yeah, she’s pretty guilty being the terminally ill
cheated up wife and mother who admitted that she didn’t
want her husband to run. Jeez– why didn’t she run to the MSM and out her children’s father. That’s something ANYONE would have done–right?
Keep on blaming those victims until the whole world heaves.
Me: “Let’s get you to say a prominent Republican is a douchebag, Denny-boy.”
Dennis: “Arlen Specter up until Monday. Now he’s just another prominent Democratic douche bag, mambo.”
So, you can’t, huh?
Whatever Edwards’s character is and was, I was more impressed at his skills, and his willingness to step up and talk on issues the other candidates were unwilling to touch with 10-meter cattle prods.
Beyond that, I have no comment on his marital infidelity–it seems a trait all too common among politicians and high-ranking businessmen…wife at home, girlfriend on the side. For the Banana Republicans out there, remember Matthew 7:4 before lumping on the Democrat.
Morality is an admirable trait, but in a President, I’ll vote for competence first (especially after the last 8 years of the Village Idiot in charge, and Darth Cheney holding his strings). Edwards’s failing in the Election may have come down to “The Affair”, but I’ll continue wondering how he might have done, and what legislation he might have tried to push to help the lower-and-middle class workers in the midst of this recession….
I’m amazed that she hasn’t blown him out, but then again, women are extremely hard to figure out.
How anyone can read that article and not feel deep sorrow for that woman is beyond me.
joaquin–she would have been entitled to the shot…I won’t deny that. I feel for any wronged spouse (having been one in my last marriage).
Dennis, when you mashed the keyboard with those fat, grease covered fingers did you tell yourself, “I am SO CLEVER for calling Specter a douchebag!” Followed with, “have I told myself lately how wonderful, I am because I’m so conservative?”
Now let’s see you call the anti-American war criminals from the Old Party that really ran my country into the ground douchebags.
Yeah, didn’t think so. Coward. Just like a right-winger.
Edwards is scum. Period.
The mainstream media, led by the LA Times, cheerfully and willingly covered for him until the National Enquirer — which, I believe, also led the charge on the Lewinsky scandal and broke the Bristol Palin pregnancy story and the Jesse Jackson child with his mistress story (where Jackson was using his non-profit to pay the woman hush money) — broke it with photos.
Some of us looked at what Edwards had done long before his infidelity was revealed and decided he was scum based purely on those deeds. This story is just affirmation that we were right all along.
Welcome to the club. Thanks for admitting we were correct.
J.
Welcome to the club. Thanks for admitting we were correct.
Now if only you could do the same when we were correct we might be able to have a reasonable conversation.
Welcome to the club. Thanks for admitting we were correct.
But you WEREN’T correct. You and your ilk were saying he was evil because he had a nice haircut and had an occupation that allowed people to defend themselves against corporations. You may have been right, but for all the wrong reasons.
Zython, I decided Edwards was scum when it came out that his lawsuits had nearly destroyed the OB/GYN specialty in his home state, and how he had channeled the “spirit” of a child while grandstanding for a jury. His looks and his helping “people defend themselves against corporations” was irrelevant.
J.
His looks and his helping “people defend themselves against corporations” was irrelevant.
*pats Jay Tea on the head* You keep telling yourself that.
Zython, I decided Edwards was scum when it came out that his lawsuits had nearly destroyed the OB/GYN specialty in his home state,
I though conservatives hated gynecology.
Zython, you’d be wrong. Here’s Bush standing up for gynecologists.
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2004/09/08/tender-loving-c.php
J.
Zython, I decided Edwards was scum when it came out that his lawsuits had nearly destroyed the OB/GYN specialty in his home state,
Utter bullshit. Total fucking lie.
I live in said home state and the practice of gynecology is going strong. They’ll be glad to tell you, of course, how trial lawyers are keeping them from making a living, before they get back in their $50,000 SUVs and drive to their million dollar houses in gated communities.
Cheap shots, including by OW. Disappointed that you aren’t writing about how many times Obama has brought up poverty in his budget or stimulus plans. Or the fact that Obama evaded the BET questioner’s question at the press conference last night.
No, sex scandals are more popular to pounce upon on politicians and to continue to hold the wives hostage for their spouses’ out of wedlock experiences. In Europe, no one cares because they know it’s BS when it comes to politics.
Oliver, if you don’t know better, than Media Matters ought to consider a change of hands. Atrios doesn’t bring this meaningless crap up because he despises the media elite gawkers.
I’ve not been very strong in my opinion until now, but the truth is I voted in the primaries for someone who had the best ideas for change in government. That was John Edwards. When Edwards dropped out, sensibly, knowing there was no way he could win, the argument about handing the election to McCain is totally moot. You all should know that…or do you.
In the GE, I voted for the team who was supposed to adopt more progressive ideas, but instead invites someone like Specter and to support him when he has no intention to help the Dems out. Shame on you for crapping on Edwards when you should be crapping on Obama and Reid for embracing “NO” Arlen Specter.
Benny, there’s a difference between whether OW personally would change his vote based on a candidate’s history of infidelity to his wife, and whether OW knows (like we all should) that to the American public, infidelity is a deal-breaker.
I think OW’s going for the latter. I know that I am. No WAY Edwards wins in the general election if this story breaks after he won the nomination. No matter how good and progressive his policy positions were.
MBC, I hear you, but you missed my point–and it’s common overlook: Edwards dropped out on January 30, 2008 because it was clear that he didn’t have enough money to run and he got beat pretty badly in NV and SC.
Thus, the point about Edwards winning the nomination at all is moot.
But I will say this: Edwards kept a bandage around Obama’s arm when Obama was losing in red states in the primary season and endorsed him. But of course, that’s ancient history, isn’t it?
And no, the infidelity was not a deal breaker for me as he didn’t betray me personally, But he did hurt his family, which is really unfortuate. Thankfully, Elizabeth is extremely strong and she would rather rebuild than switch. Something to be said for that.
Without Edwards running both Obama and Clinton would have moved farther to the right much earlier.
Edwards made it so instead of Obama and Clinton being to the far right, they ended up being just to the right.
Clinton didn’t find her ‘progressive’ “voice” until late January 2008, after she’d been beaten in Iowa by both Edwards and Obama.
Obama STILL hasn’t found his ‘progressive’ ‘voice.’
Instead Obama has repeatedly adopted right wing policies and steered a course to the right of center.
Not that Obama’s right of center policies have kept the right wing extremists that animate what remains of the Republican Party from being perpetually enraged. But perpetual rage defines the right wing.
Instead of ‘muslim terrorist’ accusations during the election it would have been ‘philanderer’ accusations.
Which is really worse? Seriously?
Edwards infidelity would have been running against McCain’s infidelities, which, while I understand that IOKIYAR (see: Gingrich, Giuliani, Reagan…), would have partially muted the fauxrage.
Edwards would have won against McCain despite the infidelities.
In fact, the failing economy would have made Edwards’ populist policies a sure win.
And Edwards would have pushed for REAL CHANGE, not the little “nudges” that Obama is weakly pushing.
I read through both Obama’s and Edward’s policy offerings. Edwards would have been a much more progressive President. Not only would Edwards have been a progressive President, he would have been an aggressive progressive, that’s why the right wing piled on him early and often.
Obama on Bush’s unlawful surveillance? Obama legalized it.
Edwards made clear very early on that it was unlawful and should be prosecuted.
Obama on prosecuting Bush’s WAR CRIMES? Obama is ignoring clear evidence of torture war crimes.
Edwards made clear that Bush’s policies were monstrous and should be investigated.
Obama on Bush’s corporatism? Obama is continuing Bush’s corporatist enabling, kow towing to the banksters and putting corporatists like Geithner and Summers and Sunstein in key positions.
Edwards was railing about the right wing corporatism not just controlling the Republican Party but also that it’s infection of the Democratic Party was a BIG part of the economic problems facing America.
Edwards repeatedly offered clear, aggressive solutions to those economic realities. Many of those policies were subsequently voiced (though weakly) by Obama and Clinton.
While the right wing extremists are screaming about Obama’s “radical” shift to the center right, most progressives that are paying attention are increasingly disappointed with Obama.
The left would have been much happier with Edwards.
When Democrats start acting like Republicans (Vitter, Foley, Craig) it’s bad news. I’m happy to see Edwards serve as a warning to other Dems. And best wishes to his wife.
I don’t understand political wives.
Jaim, part of my irritation is that Republicans use fidelity as a weapon against their opponents even while they don’t live up to their own standards.
Republican Gingrich was fooling around on his (second?) wife during his attempted coup of Clinton for keeping secret his consensual affair.
Republican Giuliani? Three wives.
Republican Ronald Reagan? Two wives.
Republican John McCain? Two wives and he was a braggart about his fooling around.
Republican Vitter? Prostitution!? And the Republicans gave Vitter a standing ovation after it was revealed!?
Republican Foley? Chasing underage gay sex that was concealed by the Republican leadership. There’s a ‘what did Republican Boehner know and when did he know it’ question that still lingers.
Republican Craig? Soliciting sex in a bathroom!?
And the Dems?
While the Clintons stayed together (what a ‘traditional’ marriage does) Gingrich traded in TWO wives before marrying his third wife.
While the Edwards stayed together (what a ‘traditional’ marriage does) McCain traded in his wife for a younger, richer model.
If Obama ever strays I’ll cut him a lot of slack.
But I’ll expect to see an “Obama is a douchebag” headline on OW’s site.
As an Edwards supporter, I felt disappointed and on some level betrayed by the affair. I have written about this at my own blog:
http://www.bleedingheartland.com/diary/1793/
At the same time, many men in politics have strayed and gotten away with it. Bill Clinton is the most obvious example, but I’ve heard rumors about a lot of other men in Democratic politics who still get re-elected. Every time that happens it’s an inspiration to people like John Edwards, who assume they’ll never get caught. And probably he wouldn’t have been caught if she hadn’t gotten pregnant.
It was stupid for Edwards to have an affair while running for president, and the worst part about it from my perspective was hiring her to shoot documentaries about him so they’d have an excuse to travel together. That said, I am not surprised that he assumed he would get away with it. If it ever emerges that Obama had an affair at some point in the past, will all the people piling on Edwards now say Obama never should have run for president?
‘He was ALWAYS a douche bag. The fact that so many liberals supported him is a testament to how easily they’re taken in by smooth-talking charlatans and just how long it takes them to finally realize it.’
You’ve got the fucking nerve to say that after 8 years of President Chugalug?
Get real.
‘Arlen Specter up until Monday. Now he’s just another prominent Democratic douche bag, mambo.’
Riiiight……and BEFORE Monday I’m sure you held the same opinion.
‘Welcome to the club. Thanks for admitting we were correct.’
Apply that to BuchCo and then you’ve got something.
It’s consistently amazing how you ‘moral’ Conservatives will lose your fucking minds over infidelity, but lying about the necessity to go to war, wasting the lives of thousands of service personnel and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, bankrupting your nation financially and morally while polarizing your country to the brink of self destruction doesn’t bother you at all.
Your hypocrisy is matched only by your ignorance.
‘Zython, you’d be wrong. Here’s Bush standing up for gynecologists.’
Wow, that’s quite the defense he offers there; you suppose it has anything to do with the fact he thought OBGYN’s were pussy inspectors?
‘The left would have been much happier with Edwards.’
You mean the Right would have been happier with a White candidate.
We’re just fine with Obama; what about you?
I’m fine with Obama. I would have been fine with Clinton.
I would have been ecstatic with Edwards.
I had hoped for more from Obama.
So far he’s been what I expect.
A thousand times better than Bush.
A hundred times better than McCain.
Ten-thousand times better than Palin or Cheney.
But only half as good as what I expected from Edwards.
My biggest complaints with Obama is his continuation of some of Republican Bush’s noxious policies, policies which Edwards explicitly repudiated.
That aside, Obama has done a lot in his first 100 days for which I’m very grateful.
“You’ve got the fucking nerve to say that after 8 years of President Chugalug?” –jrfunkenstuff
Bush wasn’t a smooth-talking charlatan, jr. Yeah, I do have the nerve to say that about Edwards. We said he was a fake from the get-go, and he was.
Riiiight……and BEFORE Monday I’m sure you held the same opinion. –jr
I did, yes. Although less of one than John Edwards. I can’t imagine Arlen Specter fathering an illegitimate child, and then upon being caught visiting the mother and child in a hotel duck into a bathroom and then hang out there till security came and escorted him out of the hotel. But then again, you never know.
Your thinking of Republican racist segregationist Strom Thurmond, Dennis.
Or perhaps Republican Vito Fossella.
How about Republican Dan Burton?
Or perhaps your talking about Republican Karl Rove’s invention of an “illegitimate black child” used by Republican Bush to attack John McCain?
It’s astonishing that the majority of Republicans don’t know the Republican Party at all and the minority of Republicans that really do know the Republican Party are complicit with creating the fictions that mask who the Republican Party leaders really are.
Your thinking of Republican racist segregationist Strom Thurmond, Dennis. –Only Wingnut News Reference
No, News Ref, I wasn’t thinking of Strom Thurmond, nor Fossella or Burton. None of those guys ever ran for President and none of them ever hung out in a bathroom to avoid detection from being exposed.
And the links weren’t necessary, btw, especially given your chosen moniker. You’re like, “Hey, I’m the News Reference guy! I love to supply you with information that everybody already knows”. Like you’re some kind of Sesame Street character or something.
Or perhaps your talking about Republican Karl Rove’s invention of an “illegitimate black child” used by Republican Bush to attack John McCain? –Only Liberal Views Reference
Since you’re Mr. ‘News Reference’, do you have anything to support the claim that Karl Rove was behind those robocalls against McCain? Anything not from your usual far-left sources you claim to be ‘news’?
Um, Dennis, Thurmond did run for president. He also fathered an illegitimate child — on a black family servant.
Of course, that all took place long before he became a Republican, so it’s understandable why that is often airbrushed.
J.
Thanks Jay Tea. I knew about the illegitimate child but didn’t know he ever ran for President. Should’ve looked it up.
And why did he leave the Democrats? And how long was he a Republican until he finally acknowledged the child?
He’d have still been better than Obama. Edwards wouldn’t have given the bankers everything they wanted. He wouldn’t be trying to kill the UAW right now like Obama is. We’d have an honest shot of surviving this under him. Obama is too beholden to his campaign donors and his chicago-school of economics ideology to do what has to be done.
and no, this wouldn’t have elected McCain, because McCain is a philandering coward who never would have taken the risk that it would blow back at him and all his daliances.
I have to wonder if finding out about this had as much to do with Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan leaving the Edwards campaign as the stupid Catholic League/Bill Donohue flap. It would explain a lot.
“And why did he [Strom Thurmond] leave the Democrats?”
As I recall it was because the Democratic Party made a principled, unwavering stand over 45 years ago to be the NOT RACIST PARTY (Thurmond became a Republican in ?1964).
Nearly all of the racists in the Democratic Party exited stage right, the majority subbsequently joined the Republican Party.
“Dixiecrat” Presidential Candidate Strom Thurmond’s racism was explicit and very popular.
Strom ran for President explicitly on SEGREGATION, keeping the “races” separate.
That didn’t prevent Thurmond from having sex with underage girl who worked for his family as a servant and fathering an illegitimate child with her that he kept secret both during and long, long after his Presidential run.
Both Republican Trent Lott and Republican Gordon Smith complimented Strom on his Presidential run in recent years.
Again, the Republican Presidential run by Strom Thurmond based on SEGREGATION, was COMMENDED by Republican Trent Lott and “MODERATE” Republican Gordon Smith.
21st century Republicans LEADERS congratulated a segregationist who fathered an illegitimate child with an underage girl of a “race” he was trying to segregate (keep separate from).
Seriously, it needs to be repeated over and over, Republicans don’t know the Republican Party at all and the minority of Republicans that really do know the Republican Party are complicit with creating the fictions that mask who the Republican Party leaders really are.
“Obama is too beholden to his” right wing “chicago-school of economics ideology to do what has to be done.”
Yup.
Obama has appointed a LOT of right of center right wing ideologues.
That would NOT have happened under an Edwards Presidency.
Since you’re Mr. ‘News Reference’, do you have anything to support the claim that Karl Rove was behind those robocalls against McCain? Anything not from your usual far-left sources you claim to be ‘news’?
TranslatioN: “I don’t care if it’s true, I don’t want to believe it!”
Edwards infidelity “wouldn’t have elected McCain, because McCain is a philandering coward who never would have taken the risk that it would blow back at him and all his daliances.”
Exactly right, “soullite”, Republican McCain wouldn’t have touched the issue (directly).
But while Republican McCain was trying to avoid his betrayal of his first wife and her kids his extremist allies would have kept making the mistake of bringing up Edwards infidelities which would have made McCain’s betrayal of his first wife and her children a “fair game” issue.
It would have also highlighted Republican McCain’s serial promiscuity, his BRAGGING about his promiscuity, his betrayal of his first wife, his turning her in for a younger, richer model.
And while many on the left are very careful about ALWAYS taking the high road there were a lot of Patriotic Lefties ready to (emotionally and intellectually) fight using the same Republican Rovian/Atwater tactics that has defined Republican political tactics and strategy for decades.
Didn’t Republican McCain brag about bagging a foreign stripper?
Isn’t McCain in bed with lobbyists serving foreign interests?
Didn’t McCain repudiate America while on foreign soil?
Have Republicans already forgotten that foreign born Republican McCain partnered with a secessionist loving Vice President whose own (underage?) child had an illegitimate child?
McCain has become so accustomed to selling out America while being protected by the corporate media that he does it without even thinking.
But even while Republican McCain is a MEDIA star that was/is literally WORSHIPED by the corporate (oh, sorry, “liberal”) media, the same historical forces would have defeated him:
Republican Bush, Cheney, Rove, Yoo, Bybee, the wrong war, the ‘cratering’ economy, Republican lawlessness, unlawful surveillance, the shredding of the Constitution, the obscene corporatism, the absurdity of Palin, the avaricious historical record of the foreign-connected lobbyists running McCain’s campaign…. and that’s just the short list.
And keep in mind, Republican McCain really WAS the best Republican Presidential option in 2008. Any of the others would have gone down even easier.
[...] as not, it takes a particular kind of douchebag to run for national office no matter where you’re [...]
John Edwards is, was and always will be a douchebag.