Edwards admits to affair, denies fathering child

S.C. Joe

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What the fuck is with some guys :confused: Now we know why he was turning down the VP spot...




WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday admitted to an extramarital affair while his wife was battling cancer. He denied fathering the woman's daughter.

Edwards told ABC News that he lied repeatedly about the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter but said that he didn't love her. He said he has not taken a paternity test but knows he isn't the father because of the timing of the affair and the birth.

A former Edwards campaign staffer claims he is the father, not Edwards.

Hunter's daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, was born on Feb. 27, 2008, and no father's name is given on the birth certificate filed in California.

The National Enquirer first reported on the affair in October 2007, and Edwards denied it.

"The story is false," he told reporters. "It's completely untrue, ridiculous."

The Enquirer carried another story last month, stating that its reporters had accosted Edwards in a Los Angeles hotel where he had met with Hunter after her child's birth. Edwards called it "tabloid trash," but he generally avoided reporters' inquiries, as did his former top aides.

In the interview, scheduled to air on ABC News' "Nightline," Edwards said the tabloid was correct when it reported on his meeting with Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hotel last month.

Most mainstream news organizations refrained from reporting the story, but newspapers in Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., recounted the Enquirer's allegations in prominent articles on Thursday.

Edwards acknowledged the affair on Friday afternoon, traditionally a slow-news period even when the Olympic Games' opening ceremonies are not preoccupying millions of Americans.

Edwards was a top contender for the Democratic nomination for president, pursuing his party's nod even after announcing that his wife, Elizabeth, had a deadly form of cancer.

He placed second in the Iowa caucuses last January but dropped out of the race a few weeks later. He has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential choice for Barack Obama. The former North Carolina senator was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004.

David Bonior, Edwards' campaign manager for his 2008 presidential bid, said Friday he was disappointed and angry after hearing about Edwards' confession.

"Thousands of friends of the senators and his supporters have put their faith and confidence in him and he's let him down," said Bonior, a former congressman from Michigan. "They've been betrayed by his action."

Asked whether the affair would damage Edwards' future aspirations in public service, Bonior replied: "You can't lie in politics and expect to have people's confidence."

In 2006, Edwards' political action committee paid $100,000 in a four-month span to a newly formed firm run by Hunter, who directed the production of just four Web videos, one a mere 2 1/2 minutes long.

The payments from Edwards' One America Committee to Midline Groove Productions LLC started on July 5, 2006, five days after Hunter incorporated the firm in Delaware.

Midline provided "Website/Internet services," according to reports that Edwards' PAC filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Midline's work product consists of four YouTube videos showing Edwards in informal settings as he prepares to make speeches in Storm Lake, Iowa, and Pittsburgh, as he prepares for an appearance on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and travels in Uganda in 2006.

Edwards' PAC followed the six-figure payment with two smaller payments totaling $14,461, the last on April 1, 2007.

At the time Hunter was compiling the videos in 2006, Edwards was preparing a run for president.

Episode One of the four videos captures a conversation between Edwards and an unseen woman as the two chat aboard a plane about an upcoming speech in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Cutting between clips of the speech and the conversation with the woman, Edwards touches on his standard political themes, declaring that government must do a better job of addressing the great issues of the day, from poverty and education to jobs and the war in Iraq.

"I want to see our party lead on the great moral issues - yes, me a Democrat using that word - the great moral issues that face our country," Edwards tells the crowd. "If we want to live in a moral, honest just America and if we want to live in a moral and just world, we can't wait for somebody else to do it. We have to do it."

The sound track for the six-minute video is the song "True Reflections" which begins with these words: "When you look into a mirror, do you like what's looking at you? Now that you've seen your true reflections, what on earth are you gonna do?"

The video entitled "Plane Truths," opens with Edwards relaxing in his seat on the plane, telling the unseen woman that "I actually walked the country to see who I am, who I really am, but I don't know what the result of that will be.

Edwards adds: "But for me personally, I'd rather be successful or unsuccessful based on who I really am, not based on some plastic Ken doll that you put up in front of audiences, that's not me, you know?"

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Asterix

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I'll be the first to admit I was wrong about completely dismissing the Enquirer story when it came out. My first reaction was to throw it in the same category as the other junk they print. Edwards career is effectively toast.
 

danmand

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Vote for him, he is one of us.
 

onthebottom

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At least he had the balls to admit it. If he hadn't put his wife, who's suffering from cancer, through a POTUS run I don't think this would be politically deadly, but he did and I think it is.

OTB
 

The Crunge

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onthebottom said:
At least he had the balls to admit it. If he hadn't put his wife, who's suffering from cancer, through a POTUS run I don't think this would be politically deadly, but he did and I think it is.

OTB
You never know. Gary Hart faded away, and Edwards probably will too, but there are plenty of others who weathered the storm (#42 comes to mind).
 

onthebottom

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The Crunge said:
You never know. Gary Hart faded away, and Edwards probably will too, but there are plenty of others who weathered the storm (#42 comes to mind).
He could, but his play was moral authority, class war in his case, I think this makes that harder. Again, had his wife not been sick this would be a 48 hour story.....

On the plus side, could make a wicked good South Park episode....

OTB
 

Don

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S.C. Joe said:
What the fuck is with some guys :confused: Now we know why he was turning down the VP spot...
The better question is which of these people are NOT screwing around. With money, fame and power come temptation.
 

S.C. Joe

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But he knew the election was coming up. Why the risk....I'm 12 years younger and unmarried and I think more before I drop my pants.

He very well might have got the V.P spot and this time he might have won, now he can just hope to get a cabinet spot if Obama can get in.

Plus hes giving the D's a black eye once again :mad:
 

Don

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Remember Bill had all those accusations come up during his run for President (Flowers, Jones) and in office he had Monica. And he did ok.

Edwards isn't some moral crusader like Gary Hart. But I admit this will hurt him somewhat...
 

Asterix

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Don said:
Why? Slick Willy is doing just fine after all his extra curricular activities...
Because, as OTB pointed out, he painted himself as Mr. True Blue standing by his wife in her battle with cancer. Not to mention dragging her into a presidential run. I have no doubt he is sincere in his concern for her, but he lied about an affair he had with another woman when all this was going on. As I said, his political career is toast.
 

Don

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bbking said:
The Press and others should have the common sense to leave this alone and not embarrass a dying woman. At this stage this is a family matter not news.
Are you kidding? You are asking the media/press to have common sense? You are asking them to avoid a big scandal? Good luck.
 

danmand

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Asterix said:
Because, as OTB pointed out, he painted himself as Mr. True Blue standing by his wife in her battle with cancer. Not to mention dragging her into a presidential run. I have no doubt he is sincere in his concern for her, but he lied about an affair he had with another woman when all this was going on. As I said, his political career is toast.

Only in Amerika.....
 

Aardvark154

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bbking said:
Still not a story ... he's not a factor in this election, the past is past. The Press and others should have the common sense to leave this alone and not embarrass a dying woman. At this stage this is a family matter not news.
I'm going to disagree with you on this one BBK. It's news because Senator Edwards made it news.

This isn't Joe private citizen, this was a man running for President of the United States on the basis of "trust me, I'm not like the others" and "my wife Elizabeth and I have been together for ever, and we know. . ." Further he was paying his mistress out of campaign funds (a probable violation of Federal law) and the two of them had an illegitimate child together (I know he denies it, if he's so sure why is he ducking and weaving like fury on the issue of a paternity test).

I find it quite interesting that the press was all over Governor Spitzer while they have been doing their level best to ignore Senator Edwards until it became impossible to ignore. Yet it certainly appears that Senator Edwards conduct was by far and away worse than anything done by Governor Spitzer (leaving aside his hypocracy)!

Further, like it or not, the U.S.A. is not France and married men with terminally ill wives, having mistresses and illegitimate children running for the highest elective office in the land just doesn’t fly with the great unwashed masses.
 

S.C. Joe

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Hes not senator Edwards...hes EX-senator Edwards....if he held public office right now in the senate, the press would have been all over this long ago. Hes just a guy who ran for president...and ran pretty good too.
 

danmand

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Aardvark154 said:
Further, like it or not, the U.S.A. is not France and married men with terminally ill wives, having mistresses and illegitimate children running for the highest elective office in the land just doesn’t fly with the great unwashed masses.
It's the land of the free hypochrites.
 

BottomsUp

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S.C. Joe said:
Hes not senator Edwards...hes EX-senator Edwards....if he held public office right now in the senate, the press would have been all over this long ago. Hes just a guy who ran for president...and ran pretty good too.
This doesn't have to do with what he was, but what he could be. i.e. VP, Attorney General, etc. It certainly is a newsworthy issue based on these possibilities of his future positions. He has effectively disqualified himself for any of these top spots by his reckless and careless behaviour. He'll be back chasing ambulances sooner than later.
 

S.C. Joe

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Maybe Edwards is sure its not his child BUT could there be other gals he screwed around with that he doesn't want his DNA easily checked?
 

S.C. Joe

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EDIT...oh its her that doesn't want the test...hmmm, maybe shes not so sure who the father is...
 
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