The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Everywhere, Angst

8.13.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 4 of 5)

Interesting impasse. For now. But why pay hush money to Ms. Hunter after the cigar has exploded in John Edwards' face?

I wouldn't go so far as to predict Edwards' career is over. Ted Kennedy survived aquaplaning his Oldsmobile off the Chappaquiddick Bridge -- even if Mary Jo Kopechne didn't. Barney Franks survived the male prostitute running a thriving business out of his own house. Franks' explanation? He was trying to rehabilitate the guy. Jefferson, he of the cold cash in the freezer is still casting his vote in the House. Gerry Studds got a standing ovation by fellow Dems. Looking back, it is a pure miracle the press didn't let Gary Hartpence skate free. A blonde and a boat named "Monkey Business" should have been right up their alley!

On the other hand, Republican Packwood planted a few slobbery kisses on some campaign worker and lost his senate seat.. John Tower stripped himself bare before a committee, promising never to drink "beverage alcohol" again and still did not get confirmed. Recall the Republican congressman, at the height of Clinton's impeachment who was revealed to have an out of wedlock child? Outed by Larry Flynt, he resigned immediately. It would be my guess that Newt Gingrich resigned because he was getting ready to dump a second wife in favor of a younger chick he met in his office. And he knew his magnetic charm would not see him through.

But as for Ms. Hunter's vow of silence and desire for privacy -- just wait till the money dries up. Wait until Andrew Young, who traded his soul for a part in the tawdry affair -- and, who has an invisible means of support -- wait until the rug is pulled out from under him. How will Hunter behave when Edwards shuns her, as he must, during his "healing". Why would Fred Baron continue to underwrite her lifestyle? He can't be that kind of philanthropist. Wait -- could Fred be the father? After all, she worked for the campaign.

Hunter envisioned being Lady of the House at some future (and not too distant) date. Pretty ghoulish, when you think about it. That scenario seems unlikely now, even for an airhead like Hunter, Keep in mind, though, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Ask Bill Clinton, after he took a few public shots at Monica.

My only question is, what is it with political wives that they are so willing to endure public humiliation. Actually the larger question is why are they so complicit in the cover-up of their slime ball/weasel husband's character?
-- Diane Smith

FLOATING DOWN MAINSTREAM
Re: Ron Schoenberg's letter (under "Enquiring Minds Want to Know") in Reader Mail's Lost Verizon:

Mr. Schoenberg laments that there is a media double standard in the coverage of the John Edwards affair, because the media is not "exposing" the fact that John McCain cheated on his first wife in much the same circumstances as Mr. Edwards (thankfully no relation!). What Mr. Schoenberg fails to recognize here is that a) the McCain story has been covered in the past, because even he seems to know about it; b) the McCain story has less than zero relevance to this election as it happened about 30 years ago, or thereabouts; c) John Edwards lied to his wife, the public, and the press about this relationship for at least 2 years; d) John Edwards was angling for a spot either on the Obama ticket or in an Obama administration; and e) the media actively buried this story, while floating a rumor about alleged infidelity by McCain that had NO sourcing as a news story.

Whether you like it or not, John Edwards's actions are newsworthy, as they took place in the recent past, and if the NE is correct, are probably still ongoing. Trying to equate John McCain's decades-old infidelity with that of John Edwards would make the press look just as desperate, and foolish, as you do in trying to pretend this is an issue.
-- Eric Edwards
Walnut Cove, North Carolina

Now begins another day, by no means the last, in which as many as ten million people, some intelligent, many more steeped in every good intention, talk about John Edwards and his DNA. As the election creeps on like a herd of turtles crossing a glacier, the farce of it endangers the national sanity.

The politician speaks; the tabloid feeds; the media repeat and speculate. The nation is driven to confront, ad nauseam, the fact that John Edwards lied, as various parties pretend it matters. But to this state of affairs add one more thing that has, in the agony of the moment, been largely unmentioned.

He is a personal injury lawyer, people, and a politician on the make; mendacity saturates such creatures; it is a given, and one can factor it into some situations without risk of being named a cynic. Why pretend otherwise?

More important, he is of no consequence, far too light and hairy to affect the outcome of the November ballot. Furthermore, I have it on good authority that Jesse Jackson is counseling the ex-senator as he searches for a way to rig the DNA analysis.

Yet within this bag of bad smells and slithery irrelevance there is one matter pleasant to contemplate. Among those still loyal to Mrs. Clinton there are those who cry out that Edwards -- without regard for the truth and the rules of fair play! -- used a lie to abort Mrs. Clinton's success in the Iowa caucuses, and therefore changed history.

But the accusation holds no fluid because the lie in question concerned recreational sex, and everybody lies about sex, or at least all sociopathic, demagogic, ego-fixated opportunists on the trail of the main chance do so. There's a precedent and everything. Laugh it off Hillary, and remember 1999.

Letter to the Editor

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