CNN senior political analyst David Gergen, who served as a White House adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, said Democrats could have been hurt if Edwards had clinched the Democratic nomination.
“He put the Democratic Party in real jeopardy,” he said. “If he had been the nominee of the party now, and this thing had blown up … it would have — it would have ruined the Democrats’ chances of taking back the White House.”
And then there is this “gem”:
Republican strategist Alex Castellanos said Friday that Edwards’ infidelity may affect both parties’ images. “The questions are going to be asked, does this hurt Republicans or Democrats, or the political impact. And the truth is that it’s going to hurt everybody, because right now, in an uncertain world, we’re looking to see who we can trust to lead the country, and this lessens, I think, faith in political leadership in general,” he said Friday.
And you know what? I think both these guys are correct in their assessments. After all, for the past decade we’ve seen that politicians can wipe their asses with the Constitution without fear of ever being held accountable, but let their crank escape from their trousers with anyone not their spouse and it’s all over.
Piss away tens of thousands of lives (ours and theirs) and billions of dollars, make a mockery of our laws and the ideals of our Founders, and we’re OK with it. But God help you if you shag someone to whom you ain’t married to. That causes us to lose faith in institutions and parties.
That, after all, jest ain’t right.
9 August 2008 at 11:09 pm
Perhaps if his wife wasn’t DYING OF CANCER it wouldn’t be so bad, huh?
There might very well be a special place in hell for some in the current administration but Edwards can keep them company.
Edwards has proven himself to be bald-faced LIAR and a bonafide POS and if you disagree then obviously it’s quite all right to cheat on your wife while she’s dying of cancer.
That, after all, jest ain’t right.
11 August 2008 at 11:57 am
The trouble is when you tell the public about instances like this, they know what you’re talking about. Doesn’t make it right or wrong, just easier to understand. The economy, the war in Irag, the war on terror – these things are too big for the average voter to completely comprehend so they rely on politicians and the media to translate for them. Adultery doesn’t need explanation. We all know what that means.
Unfortunately for “liberal” democrats, these forays into the unacceptable are more frequent (after all they are “liberals”) and, therefore, perfect fodder for the more conservative Republicans.
Call me “liberal” (and unlike rabid Republicans, I do not consider “liberal” to mean “radical” but more of a “free thinker”) but I’d like to vote for a politician based on political record rather than what appears in the gossip columns of our tabloids.
I’m sure our founding fathers were not exactly free from sin but they were pretty good politicians none the less.
11 August 2008 at 12:00 pm
Sorry. The smiley buttons must have appeared through a subtle use of parentheses. Ignore them and replace mentally with “close parentheses.”
Jim