As a former campaign staffer I have a very hard time wrapping my head around this craziness.
A friend is a writer on the American daytime soap "All My Children" and if she pitched a story line like this, she probably would be laughed out of the room.
What the heck is going on? Could you imagine if Edwards ended up being the presidential nominee? Did he really think the Republicans would not find out that one, he had/was having an affair and two, he had a CHILD with his mistress? You cannot make this stuff up.
Even back in the day this would have been a scandal, even though the press stayed out of the personal lives of politicians. Hello we are not France, heh.
To me this is different than the Tiger Woods scandal. I don't care what happens between a couple if no one has broken the law. It's none of our business. He's an athlete not a politician, priest or minister. For Edwards to campaign while all this was going on, was outrageous.
As for Ms. Hunter, she needs a new publicist. She sounds straight up bananas in her GQ interview. She's complaining about the GQ photos. Seeing how she's a videographer why would she be confused that lying on a bed with no pants would seem "sexy, racy, etc." Mistresses be trippin!
I never bought into the "Saint Elizabeth Edwards" narrative but still, it's very tacky and just wrong for Hunter talk smack about a person who was married to her lover and has terminal cancer. It's not like when she met Edwards she didn't know he was married. She clearly didn't care.
What happened to civility in our society? Why can't people be discreet? Now we have some random woman yapping to the press that she slept with Sandra Bullock's husband. Is selling your soul for money really worth it?
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
22 comments:
I just read that interview.....it's all crazy for sure, the entire situation.
But, I'd love to get in a discussion about the whole thing, b/c as you said "we are not in France"...but would that be so bad? To be like that? (I'm not sure what I feel about public vs private lives of politicians...b/c I really think we shouldn't care very much about what goes on privately, but at the same time that definitely says something about what type of person they are).
Plus, I dont' know about the legality (b/c you mentioned something breaking the law)...which would definitely be a different story.
Are you saying that it would have been crazy for him to be running for office while doing this b/c of all the backlash that would have been given by the Republicans when they found out (thus, really damaging the Democratic side on which he stood)? Or is there another legal reason he shouldn't have been doing that? (morals aside which is a separate issue all together).
I'm curious about that part of it...b/c if it's just that it would have damaged probably beyond repair the Dem nomination when the Rep found out --I sometimes wonder if it would be better if we were more like France where politicians have their own private lives a bit more separate from the job they do in office (although, not sure if that could ever be completely separate as who you are affects what you do in either arena).
...hum, just throwing out observations. It's a good social study :)
Obviously, these women seem to think it's worth it. I read snippets of Riley's interview and I was just disgusted at how she made Edwards seem like some kind of poor puppy that she redeemed from the old witch cancer-bitch. Absolutely despicable.
Now we understand the politician mindset, so no explanation needed for that bastard Edwards, but... Who raised her and these other amoral women? :P
IT is very tacky.. Its like they don't care about the person they are hurting, all they care about is their five minutes of shame.. I don't like it one bit..
erin - It's one thing if a politician is being a hypocrite (i.e. a right wing Republican going on and on about gays while in the closet), or breaking the law (stealing, bribery etc. etc.) but the if problems in their marriage do not impact national security/the ability to do their job, I don't see how it's our business.
However thanks in part to the wackadoo Pilgrims and our celebrity culture we will never be like France or Sweden. It was a big deal that Reagan was divorced and before him that Kennedy was a Catholic.
I doubt an unmarried person or an atheist/agnostic would get elected President of America any time soon. I keep reading/hearing people say things like "He (the candidate) seems like the kind of person I can have a beer with." Who cares?! I want a President who is smart and can fix the many issues facing our country. I don't need or want to sit and chill with them. This is one reason Kerry lost is because he seemed "elitist". Never mind that he and Bush came from exactly the same social class and Bush was the son of a President and the grandson of a U.S. Senator.
The only legal issue regarding the Edwards situation is whether or not the campaign used campaign funds inappropriately to pay Ms. Hunter. However, if Edwards was the nominee, I can't see how he would have been able to stay in the race if the news got out.
No way. We are a very conservative country and a married candidate with a dying wife having a child with his mistress would not go over well.
Plus I don't think it would be unfair to question Edwards' judgment. Would we really want someone that reckless and narcissistic to be leader of the country? Think of all the people who voted for him, worked for him and believed in him. He let them all down. I can't imagine what his children are thinking.
viajera - I wonder what Edwards thinks of her comments about him. She makes him sound like this poor man who was completely emasculated by evil Elizabeth. Come on, the man was a trial lawyer! Those guys are ruthless. While I can understand maybe he felt guilty about leaving a marriage that had been through so much, I don't understand why he didn't wear a condom.
oi - every time I think some people's quest for fame couldn't get any lower, it does.
oh my. she is a wackadoodle. I am so glad you posted that link. I needed to shake my head in incredulousness today. For pete's sake. Keep it to yourself woman! It's your private business. No. I forgot. There is no private business in the good ol' USA. Everything is fodder.
We might be a conservative country, but we are also a very young childish country, one that gets off on this kind of voyeurism. Europeans have had this and worse, roll their eyes and say "next?" We love the sordid details in America. And this woman is just the person to deliver them.
Oh man.
Politicians are human. Why do we keep faulting them for that? Right, left or in the middle they are still people. Man that is some kind of pressure to put on someone on top of a pretty important job. Even Superman had his problems.
As for the fame-whores I too am sick to death of them. Getting famous for sleeping with and/or breaking up a marriage, is that really a career track in Hollywood now? Sad really. I cringe when I hear a child answer "what do you want to be when you get older" with "famous". Money and fame seem to out weigh right from wrong now a days.
NYC, have you heard the story about the tattoo model that slept with Jesse James, Sandra Bullock's husband? I mean these women discuss me and disgrace our species. I am disturbed..ickkk
The whole damn thing is disgraceful. I never trusted him for some reason and now I know, Instinct.
I don't think the issue is so much that Edwards had a mistress or a child by her but that he denied that the child could possibly be his. If a man treats his own flesh and blood so cheaply how would he treat a bunch of strangers in a country of which he was president of?
diana - it's crazy. Now one of Tiger's women has released all the text messages he sent to her. He was into some kinky stuff and now everyone knows about it. Yikes.
sm - I agree. I see Speidi and all these other no talents hacks making millions a year and think damn, why did I go to college again or work so hard? I should have just gone on Flavor Of Love or something.
oi - yes. She is giving interviews all over the place. Why...I don't know.
glamah16 - I thought he was a little too slick. I did laugh when the some GOP operative called him a Breck Boy. That said, I liked what he said about the Two Americas. He did bring up some important issues.
j. doe - It's called compartmentalizing.
Hunter explains his denial in the GQ article. He is taking care of the child and sees her. If he was the nominee and the scandal broke he would have had to drop out immediately. So yes that he had a mistress and a child with her while campaigning for President would have been an issue. A big one. This is why his supporters are furious with him. A mistress on the payroll is a problem. Good thing he's rich because his political career is over.
Why can't these guys at least find a tramp that can keep her mouth shut?!?!?
If we were in France, you'd never hear a peep out of the other woman...and she certainly wouldn't be a pole dancer, pancake waitress, porn "star," Hooter Girl, or a Leni Riefenstahl Wannabe!
winegrrl - arrogance? Stupidity? shallowness? I don't get it. The public never heard about George Bush Senior's rumored mistress. Probably because she had a career, a life of her own and wasn't trying to become famous.
The soap writer here. (Thanks for the shout out!) You're right. Not only couldn't we make this up, we wouldn't. Because the whole thing is so unbelievably disrespectful not only to Elizabeth Edwards but to all the children involved and to the public who was sold a tremendous and potentially disastrous lie. And now the players all seem to be finding some perverse satisfaction in keeping the drama alive. But shame on us for fueling the story with our interest.
And this is definitely a BIG story. Way bigger than John Edwards and Tiger and Jesse James. Something is going on in America with all this deception and fear and destruction surrounding sexuality. Whether it's infidelity or homosexuality or gay marriage -- we just can't deal in a productive, mature, progressive way.
This is all a serious wake-up call. We need to face our repression as a country and a culture and find a way to be honest about who we are and what we want before every marriage, politician, athlete, actor, you name it -- ends up going down in a cloud of shame. This won't be easy. But if we don't move into the 21st century we'll end up as the laughing stock of the world. Our noses stuck in People Magazine while everything that really matters (education, health care, the environment, peace) goes straight down the toilet.
John Edwards is a tort lawyer. That's the one part of health care he did not want to touch, BTW - malpractice. He's a rich, misunderstood man and will be able to support as many illegitimate children as he can produce.
Let's face it. Poor rich tort johnny is just a victim. He was torn between a dying bitch of a woman and the hot fertile sex goddess. What could he do? So he just lied to everyone. Anyone with no spine would do the same thing. Beside, it would hurt those beautiful teeth to rip open a condom packet in the middle of (or rather just before) doing the wild thing.
I lived in DC when there were noises about Bush 41's long term affair. It was interesting. Like everyone at Mo and Jo's and the Palm knew it but it was not to be spoken about outside of the beltway.
It was a different world, even only 20 years ago. Things have not necessarily gotten better.
jcinnyc - ciao! I couldn't agree more.
I read on Jezebel.com that the lead story on the L.A. local news was the Sandra/Jesse story. Are you kidding me? With all the problem in that city and state that's the lead story? The tabloidzation of our culture is out of control. When are things going to change or are they only going to get worse? I fear for my nephews.
diana - poor, Johnny. Yes I do remember reading that he was not a fan of tort reform.
I'm going to assume the condom broke because I really don't understand how these married men, Jesse and Johnny, are having unprotected sex with women they are not married to. Even if their mistresses are on the pill or can't get pregnant (which wasn't the case obviously with Hunter) what about STDs? These are grown folks in their 30s, 40s and 50s. What the heck were they thinking?
I'm with you. What happened to discretion? I swear my country is going to the dogs, literally.
I don't condone infidelity but I understand it.
One thing that I will say that's great about the French: They have their dalliances but they tend to dillydally with their equal and most importantly someone who has just as much to lose as they do. In other words, mouths are kept shut and families usually stay intact.
Now, AGAIN, people, I don't condone infidelity, but I understand it.
ooh, I'm going to have to read her interview. I love that she's apparently surprised/mad that the photos look sexy?! As you said, when you pose in a bed without any pants . . . ?!?!!?!?
A couple of times in the past couple of weeks when men at my cash register have bought their copy of Playboy, I've playfully remarked on the John Mayer and how outrageous it was, thanks to your pointing me that way!!! One of our clients, a big French media type who's in every weekend, laughed when I said that JM had said such "conneries" (idiocies, but with a kind of very pejorative meaning) and replied that that was all he (JM) ever says!!
So I'm all hip on my pop culture because of you. jcinnyc puts it well. And it is the problem it is because Edwards was so set on denying it and clearly not caring who he hurt -- his wife, his young children. It just gets more to that playboy image -- these guys just think they're so special that the rules don't apply to them. I don't care about Tiger except for in the sense that he hurt his wife and family, but Edwards' recklessness with so much at stake is mind-boggling.
Great discussion!
felicia - I can't believe someone thinks it's worth 30K to wreck another person's life. This question to be famous at any cost is out of control.
kimb - grazie. The publicists for John Edwards, Jon Gosselin and Tiger Woods are probably relieved the spotlight is on someone else.
@Sistergirl
30K? Really?! She, her child, they (the baby, everybody involved in this sordid mess) were sold for a lousy 30K. There's a name for a woman this dumb, but I can't type that here.
yep...30K. So sad.
Mistresses be trippin! LOL!
Someone needs to slap these beeyotches silly. Doing people wrong then profiting from it so shamelessly makes me wonder if stoning was such a bad thing after all.
Edwards has to be delusional. There's no other explanation for his behavior - and I'm not referring to the adultery but to his seriously thinking he could get away with it/buy his way out.
Not wearing a condom: A number of men - and I'm talking about the top 5 percentile, here: doctors, mathematicians, university professors - have told me they often don't wear condoms when they screw around. Doctors, I tell you, who see it all and ought to be the most vigilant. Some of them are married, with lots to lose. When it comes to sex, apparently, the brains fly out the window.
liane - what the what?! I do not understand the no condom thing in this day and age. Are people nuts?
Post a Comment