Dear Elizabeth Edwards

[question everything]

I supported both campaigns, in 2004 and 2008, donated small sums, and was thrilled to shake John's hands in both campaigns, the last time, braving a 20 below temp. weather, with black ice on the roads. I and few hundreds, including freshly hired campaign workers.

But I don't get your current revelations, that he should not have run.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gfS4LzmFA6VdrfQDdsnen21fz_jAD97SLC082

Yes, you found out about the affair after his declaration to run. But when you found out that your cancer has returned, this would have been the perfect opportunity to quit the race in dignity.

Understandably, you chose to immerse yourself in the race instead of wallowing in self-pity about the affair and about your illness. But you could have immersed yourself in promoting universal health care that has been important for you outside the campaign.

As it is, the two of you jeopardized our party's chances to take both the White House and Congress. Both of you are young enough, certainly your daughter could point out to you, that these days, with everyone clicking a picture with a cell phone, when service people cannot wait to spill gossip on talk shows, that the affair could not have remained secret. Not for long.

Had John been the nominee and then the news would have come out, it would have been President John McCain (and now I feel like throwing up)

I feel for you. You are a brave, intelligent and caring person. But you, at least, should have known better. And this is why it is doubtful that John will ever be able to return to public life. It is not the affair, or even lying about it. It is the very selfish continuation of a campaign that could have derailed the whole party. This is something that most of us will have hard time to forget and forgive.

Well, maybe in 16 years, after we have had four terms of Democratic Presidents.

[demokatgurrl]

1. I understand, but it was HIS campaign not hers

and HIS decision whether to continue or not. Her options were only whether to continue WITH him, in the campaign and the marriage. She could, quite clearly, not control his actions.

[karynnj]

19. yes and no - I dobt anyone would run if their spouse was against it

It is incredibly hard and without that support it would be harder.

[joeybee12]

2. I recalling hearing that she insisted he continue the campaign even

after she found out...sounds like some revisionist history or she's trying to set the record straight. Not sure who to believe.

[blm]

37. In her defense, she may not have been in the right frame of mind due to heavy meds

and feeling too vulnerable to buck his insistence on going forward.

Heck, every day I go to physical therapy I have to take an oxycodone and I feel too out of it to drive, let alone make serious decisions.

[dorkulon]

3. It's worse than just gossip, there were reporters on his trail.

The Enquirer was openly accusing him, and following him around. To continue to run under that circumstance was flat-out nuts.

[lunatica]

4. Hindsight is perfect

Must be nice to be so righteous

[Flying Dream Blues]

6. He's right...if Edwards cared about doing the right thing, if not

for his wife and family, but for the country, he wouldn't have risked having us end up with McCain or worse. I'm sorry you can't see the big picture.

[lunatica]

8. He's attacking Elizabeth in his open letter

Which I find reprehensible

[Flying Dream Blues]

7. Deleted dupe nt

[question everything]

15. Anyone seeking public life, whether in politics or in entertainment

who does not realize that every move and every word are being recorded to come back and haunt him, shows either arrogance or ignorance and, at least in politics, does not deserve to hold a leadership position.

Remember Allen and his maccaca comment?

Personally, I think that this phenomenon keeps many skilled and dedicated people from entering the public arena, which is sad. I think it started when someone asked Bill Clinton, in 1992, whether he was wearing boxers or briefs.

And I think it was sad that Obama (and, perhaps Clinton, I don't remember) could not say things in closed meeting without their comments being recorded and leaked out.

It used to be that people felt honored to be present at closed, private meeting. Or even to be part of a ruling body, like the cabinet. Now, they cannot wait to rush out and "spill the beans."

We cannot even leave families to grieve in private, when a loved one gets killed in a sensational story, reporters and cameras camp in their front doors, and microphones get shoved in their faces.

[Occam Bandage]

5. I don't blame her at all.

He was the candidate. It was his decision to make, and not hers; the most she could do in private was to ask. She was a victim of both cancer and infidelity, and was under the constant pressure and scrutiny that goes along with campaigns. In such times, I do not think it is reasonable to demand that she divorce him, take the affair public, or anything of the sort. I doubt I'd have the emotional strength to do that in her shoes. She was in a terrible situation, and while it would have been heroic for her to stand up and end her husband's career, I do not expect or demand heroism.

John is a rat bastard, and I have no sympathy for him. Elizabeth, on the other hand, is a victim who had no good options available to her. I'm simply glad that John Edwards didn't win the nomination, for her sake as well as that of a country.

[JerseygirlCT]

9. Completely agree with you. nt

[mnhtnbb]

13. She had plenty of good options. She's a smart woman, has her own money,

didn't need to stay with him to spend the rest of her life doing something meaningful.

We are all very lucky that there were so many other good options in the race.

[karynnj]

21. She then went on to play the attack dog on his campaign

protected by a cocoon of being ill - making it very hard for others to respond. She didn't simply play the suppotive wife role or even the role she palyed in 2004.

[mzmolly]

10. "She says she wanted him to drop out of the race to protect the family from media scrutiny,"

Sounds like she wanted him to drop out?

Perhaps that ego he talked about got in the way?

[DURHAM D]

11. I'm sorry but you should have figured out all on your own -

that John was/is an empty suit. It was not difficult to figure out.

Among other things, he made his first campaign trip to Iowa less than one year after he was elected to the U.S. Senate and used his "foundation" for campaign purposes.

[question everything]

17. As did Obama

As soon as he was elected to the Senate he started building a grassroots organization in Iowa.

And I think that Obama spent less years in the Senate than Edwards did. After all, Edwards term ended in 2004 while Obama's is still on.

As soon as Obama arrived at the Senate he realized that this was not what he wanted. Unlike Hillary, he was not going to spend some years in the back seats, to listen and to learn. And... Dashcel and, I think, Kennedy, grabbed the opportunity to talk him into running. This was an important year that was not going to happen again: no incumbent, with Bush and the Republicans losing favor with voters.

I am proud of Obama and agree with everything that he says and does. But let's keep the facts straight.

[karynnj]

22. Obama had 8 years in the Illinois Senate, where Edwards had none other

than his US Senate role. In addition, Obama had important legislation - on nuclear proliferation with Lugar and Ethics with Feingold. Edwards had none. Hillary actually had less total years in legislatures - she only had slightly less than 8 years at the time of the general election.

Incidentally, it was Durbin and Daschle who counseled him to run - after them the next was Kerry, who was on board for a few months before the Obama team timed the official endorsement. (Kennedy moved after Kerry)

[Withywindle]

24. It was Dick Durbin who really first pushed Obama to run.

The other IL Senator.

Fair or not, comparing their respective brief Senate careers, Obama's approval ratings in IL were much higher than Edwards's in NC. And Obama was getting a LOT of pressure from within his own state to make the Presidential run - he wasn't "drafted" exactly, but close!

[sandnsea]

12. Bill Clinton ran

Hillary supported him. With a parade of women waiting to pop out all over the place.

Then Hillary ran, knowing full well Bill still has his women on the side.

So why shouldn't John Edwards run?

[havocmom]

16. not all marriages use same ground rules

not all marriage partners share all information or ways of dealing with facts.

[sandnsea]

29. The marriage isn't the question

The question is that people who are in a tizz over John Edwards have repeatedly given the Clintons a pass.

I'm not even an Edwards fan and I can see that.

[question everything]

34. As we discussed on a different thread

1992 is considered a generation ago.

Certainly without blogs, and YouTube and 24 hour news - CNN was kinda limping - the stories about "bimbo eruptions" could have been accepted or dismissed by the voters. And if you accepted the stories, you knew what you were voting for. The stories came even before the New Hampshire primaries. Edwards ran as a clean altar boy with a perfect family, Clinton never did.

Just as FDR and JFK (and Eisenhower?) could not have gotten away with their affairs these days.

Times have changed. This is what I stated in the OP - that these days you cannot hide anything about you if you are in the public eye, not only running for office, and both should have realized this.

[ecstatic]

14. Not even in 16 yrs. What exactly does he bring to the table

that is so special?

[question everything]

18. Poverty is still a problem in American, and is growing

Sure, he is rich, but when was the last time that we had someone charismatic who could keep the media on him talking about poverty? About universal health care?

I think that it was only after he dropped that Obama and Clinton tried to fill in his ideas about health care.

[ecstatic]

26. True, poverty is a huge concern but I was never

convinced that Edwards was serious about solving the problem. It seemed like an easy theme to latch onto to make a name for himself.

[karynnj]

27. You are still blinded by his koolaid

He dropped out when he saw that he would have to go into debt to participate on superTuesday, where he was polling in every state below the 15% needed to get delegates. He ran the risk of continuing and ending up with ZERO delegates on SuperTuesday. As to healthcare, both Obama and Hillary already had plans that had nearly the same goals as his - they argued over the differences - but what was more significant was the similarities. In 2004, many candidates did not come close to calling for universal access to health insurance. Kerry's program had that and in the last February 2004 primary debate Edwards, who covered just kids attacked Kerry because Edwards said his plan was too ambitious.

Both Obama and HRC had a history of doing something for health care, Edwards did not. Obama sponsored a bill for Illinois' version of S-CHIP and HRC lobbied her husband to include S-CHIP in the budget to fund it in 1997. Kerry along with Kennedy wrote the precursor bill to S-CHIP, so he too had accomplishments here.

The media designated Edwards as charismatic, but did you ever notice he NEVER lived up to their hype? In 2004, they pushed him like crazy after Iowa and NH, but other than in SC, Kerry, beat him soundly in states Edwards should have won - all Southern, South western or rural. The fact is that the media recently covered Michele Obama at soup kitchens and at an event for Youthbuild, a very successful program for underprivledged youths, that Kerry has gotten funding for for about 2 decades. Michelle also has had events with underprivledged kids. Frankly, Michelle Obama, with her compassion and brillance, is right now an incredible spokeswoman and she seems far more sincere than Edwards ever was. Remember, she too started as a community organizer - and Barack's supervisor. That after graduating from Princeton and Harvard Law. (Rather more impressive than going first to corporate law as Edwards did - and the Obamas started no richer than Edwards did.)

[karynnj]

20. Having now seen a brief mention of this on CNN, Edwards is nuts to have written this book

It simply brings the whole story up again, making JRE look worse and to some degree even hurting EE. This is not a good story for the Democratic party and it is absolutely unclear what this book adds to anything.

How much better it would have been had she simply continued working on healthcare.

[CTyankee]

28. Oh, I think the criticism of her actions from within the party really stung her and she

wanted to set the record straight.

Her judgment was faulty. It was faulty when she decided to take those hormone injections to get pregnant in her late 40s, when hormone replacement therapy was being blamed for so many breast cancers (I have known several women who had cancer after taking HRT).

She is probably very sensitive to this right now. Maybe that feeling so hurts her that she makes another bad decision in writing this book. Sometimes trying to explain just gets you in more hot water...

[karynnj]

32. Those are good, but sad points

I think this book will hurt her and it will likely make her husband look even worse - I just don't see how this can help her - unless she really didn't know until late January 2008. This, of course, makes JRE a bigger liar, and a liar while confessing - which is the worst time to do so.

The really sad thing is that some of these interviews may be hell. I would imagine that it will be painful for her and painful for people who care about the Edwards to watch. Though it may not be her intention, this will likely make it far longer, if ever, before JRE will be able to surface in any real way.

[CTyankee]

33. If she didn't know until Jan. 2008 then she really IS sad. That would be awful.

This is a terrible outcome for her. JRE is done, that's for sure. He may re-emerge, probably after Elizabeth's death, to a kind of Gary Hart second act in life. It will also be a sad thing. He ruined his life and her life and came damn close to ruining his kids' lives, or at least the little ones. This man was a cancer on people's lives. I am so upset with the fact that I believed in him...

[karynnj]

36. I wouldn't rule that out

At least I doubt she knew before April 2007. At the point her diagnosis worsened, it is hard to believe she wouldn't have insisted that he bow out then. It would have given them a unique opportunity to quit with sympathy and support from everyone. Also, if the baby is his - and it is easier to believe she is than she isn't, that baby was conceived around then.

He actually may have a harder time than Hart, who was an excellent Senator and brilliant. He really was far ahead of the almost everyone on how to deal with terrorism and was, with Rudman, the author of the report Bush ignored. (In fact, as he shared this with Kerry, he would have been an interesting out of the box VP for Kerry. He could have highlighted, in a way that few others could, how in the 1990s Kerry was one of the very few Senators who understood the threat and worked to pass legislation that helped in following the money - that wasn't passed until after 911. He also is a friend of Kerry's - he gave a fantastic introduction at Kerry's national security speech at Faneuil Hall in 2006 - he would have had Kerry's back, rather than worrying about his own image.)

[JonLP24]

39. I'm sure the book has alot of wonderful things. Remember the media likes the sensationist hot topics

She is great person and I have seen so on the A&E documentary of the candidate's families such as EE, Heinz(forgot first name - but there is a scene of her signing a ketchup bottle) mostly. Dean's wife had few scenes because she was working while her husband was on the campaign trial. Very private for the most part. She has incredible patience with her kids and I admire that.

[Dappleganger]

23. I'm not going to judge her.

She was facing a lot at the time.

[tritsofme]

25. As someone who has been highly critical of John Edwards throughout his political career, I place no

blame on one of the greatest victims of John's reckless and politically negligent actions, his cancer stricken wife.

John Edwards and his lingering apologists (not accusing the OP) are the only bad guys here.

[marshall]

30. And Hillary probably thinks Bill shouldn't have ordered pizza too

It's easy to look back on a horrifically stressful event and second guess the steps that lead up to it.

[question everything]

35. As I stated above, it is not the affair and the lies

it is the arrogance and/or ignorance to believe that they will not be revealed.

Even during the Lewinski's affair we did not have all the blogs, and the around the clock cable chattering that we have now. We don't have everyone with a cell phone where every conversation and events can be recorded and transmitted.

This is my point. That they thought that they could hide it, especially since the Enquirer was on the story before Edwards even announced his candidacy.

[Dorian Gray]

31. Honestly

I've stayed out of most of the John Edwards posts because I have really negative feelings toward him these days.

But I think it's highly unfair to chagrin his wife for his decisions or hers. She's gone through cancer AND being cheated on, and I don't think that it's right to reprimand her for something that was his doing. That doesn't mean that I think her actions are perfect, but I do understand them.

[JonLP24]

38. WTH? Honestly if she still lurks I hope she does not see this

It's like attacking Michelle for Barack's decisions.