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Edwards’ Confession

January 21st, 2010 at 8:30 am David Frum | 6 Comments |

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John Edwards will acknowledge today that he has lied for more than a year about the paternity of his child with Rielle Hunter. It’s a pathetic end to a squalid story. It also underscores just what a champ Bill Clinton was: the art of scandal management is to transition seamlessly from “The story isn’t true” to “It’s old news.” Edwards hung onto “It’s not true” too long – meaning that when he finally had to confess, his confession in itself is new news.

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6 Comments so far ↓

  • Peregrine // Jan 21, 2010 at 8:12 am

    Edwards made a ghastly error (as a human being) by denying paternity. It’s good to see that he’s trying to set things right.

  • sinz54 // Jan 21, 2010 at 9:25 am

    Kinsey and other researchers have done surveys that revealed that some 40% of American men admitted to cheating on their wives at least once.

    There are plausible biological reasons for this, having to do with how humans evolved from apes. (Chimps are quite promiscuous.) We evolved male-female bonding, but we never quite got totally away from our ape promiscuity.

    Sadly, most women have unreasonable expectations about male fidelity to them. They should marry men with the EXPECTATION that their husbands will fall short of 100% fidelity at least once. And they should plan for that and deal with that when it happens.

  • anniemargret // Jan 21, 2010 at 6:11 pm

    Sinz: I couldn’t disagree with you more.

    If 40% of American men admitted to cheating on their wives at least once…then it stands to reason that the other 60% did not.

    And you would marry with the “expectation’ that your spouse will cheat on you???? ye gods. You have low standards indeed. Your advice to women is a throwback to turn of the century marriage. I “expect” my husband not to cheat on me. In exchange, I honor my vows to him and I don’t cheat on him. It is about honor and dignity, about a commitment not only to the person you marry, but to the marriage itself. It is about trust and not sneaking around behind someone’s back . It is about integrity and it is about character.

    If one follows your thesis, then why bother to marry at all?

    And these biological ’stats’ are starting to fray. Why? Because in this day and age, more studies are showing that women have as much sexual desire as men. Should they cheat too? Because women don’t have to worry about getting pregnant, they are ‘free’ to cheat . They’ve discovered their sexuality! For generations women repressed their sexuality. But now they’re free to cheat too!

    What a sad sorry state of affairs.

    Cheating always hurts someone. Cheating can incite violence. Cheating leads to divorce in most cases, and in those that don’t, forever tarnishes the marriage bond. Cheating demeans the marriage and breaks the bond of trust. Cheating hurts families.

    Bravo to the 60% who evolved past the apes!

  • jabbermule // Jan 22, 2010 at 3:34 am

    haha – this is new. A liberal lecturing a conservative on morality, with the conservative using an evolution-based argument…only on FrumForum :)

  • jabbermule // Jan 22, 2010 at 3:35 am

    By the way, annie, I agree with you.

  • anniemargret // Jan 22, 2010 at 8:29 am

    jabbermule: Thanks . I think either party makes a huge mistake when they try to wear that ‘we’re more moral’ hat and impugn the other party for not wearing it – because both parties have exhibited plenty of members who have fallen quite under that standard .

    Most of society rightly impugns adultery. We should. We should because it is better for families and better for society at large. I am not so harsh to understand that people have human frailties and make grievous errors and that part of it is remains solely between their own conscience and God and to the family and friends they hurt.

    But I get really tired of hearing from people who think this is ‘no big deal’ or the more politically advantageous one, ‘all politicians do that.’ No, all politicians don’t do that. Many stay within the moral boundaries of their marital vows – and more power to them. And it is a ‘big deal’ because always, always, always….cheating does no good to anyone.

    I am thinking now that Reille Hunter got what she was after. She wanted a baby with John Edwards. Because no adult woman in this day and age with so much available birth control gets pregnant unless they want to. She is now living in a million dollar house in Charlotte NC and her baby and herself will be financially cared for . You can bet they won’t have healthcare insurance worries! As someone wrote in to the newspaper, she got her retirement package already.

    Meanwhile, because of ego and because ‘he could’ John Edwards is one of the many politicians who thought of themselves first before his family. I have no sympathy for him or to these women who are part and parcel of the breakup of families. As with the woman from South America who dallied with Sanford, the last thing these women think of is how they are hurting families. It is about what they want, what they need. And if we are going to excoriate Edwards and Sanford, then the women they shared in those decisions should be excoriated as well. Adultery takes two people.

    I think of Elizabeth Edwards going for the grueling sessions of chemotherapy to fight her incurable cancer, while trying to be the bulwark for her children, both physically and emotionally, to see them through life and the hard life of being a political family. I think of how hard she worked for her husband to realize his political ambitions. And I think of Edwards’ two sweet parents who were so proud of their son who rose from a lowly life to one of great prosperity and high office, only to see all this happen.

    They are the victims of serious emotional lifelong wounds, as are the other thousands of wives/husbands/children who were on the short end of an adulterous spouse.

    I am not trying to ‘lecture’ anyone – but I do see the need for society at large to stop this detrimental swing to minimize the tremendous damage this type of behavior does to politicians – because it ultimately speaks about their character. We used to call it adultery-because that’s what it is. Now it is ‘an affair.’

    Temptation is normal. It is normal to be attracted to others, but stepping over that to adulterous behavior is another story, a decision.

    Not a partisan issue…truly. But thanks for your support and for reading this far.

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