John Edwards

Jelly, I agree with most of what you're saying. I certainly would never take a lie detector test. There are ways to cheat lie detector tests, so even if you're shown to be telling the truth the examiner can say that you so much of a sociopath that you've either tricked the test with breathing or lying comes so easily to you that it wouldn't register on the meter. I would never take a lie detector test for the sheer humiliation of being asked. Of course, I wouldn't lie or be caught in a scandal that would necessitate that. You ask why no one spoke out-- because too many people are afraid to scream "the emperor has no clothes", this goes for republicans and democrats....

I don't think that JE is a hypocrat for speaking out about Clinton lying to a grand jury about sex he had as president with an intern because it happened prior and because there were much slimier and illegal Clinton elements. Shokk, I do not think he will get back politically necessarily, but I do think that he CAN get back to some type of public service job if he changes and does what he needs to do, even if that means deciding to divorce and move on. Americans are forgiving, although the age of 24/7 media makes it more difficult since we're bombarded with that. If Edwards used campaign dollars for the coverup or affair, then he is finished. If it's just sex and lying about the sex, maybe.

I thought the PEOPLE article was tamer than the author led us to believe. I thought much worse things were going to be said. I'm not surprised her friends seem angrier than she is at this point, because people are sometimes better able to be in touch with their anger in defense of someone other than themselves. i wish EE had been the one to speak out and I take back that I lost respect for her for doing so since the article wasn't a hatchet job.

Shokk, I agree with you about Bill's shenanigans in part preventing Obama from being the nominee. When people viewed his statements as marginalizing Obama as a black candidate, whether or not that was his intent, by responding so defensively and angrily, he further alienated many blacks. If he response was a tempered apology w/o negativity toward the obama campaign (if he responded more rationally) he could have mended some hurt feelings. He obviously holds a grudge and his comments got worse as the campaign went on.  I think in part he is still resentful of monicagate. In the beginning I was equally appalled by the sex and the lie-- the visual of him getting a blow job while talking to a foreign leader was too much for me. As I've aged and mellowed I care less about the sex but still care about the lie. A lie about sex is still a lie. I agree that the bigwigs are tired of the Clintons and Hillary's campaign didn't help with that. I still think that there is a medical component to Bill's anger, since people with as many bypasses as he had often become more angry-- either that or he was always that way and is now not as good at hiding it. I heard the dating rumors too. Not sure if they're true, wouldn't be surprised if they were.

I'm trying not to get hung up on the slime of the situation. I think it's weird that people who are speaking out about Reille publically, like the sister who's been estranged for 10 years and the Pigeon chick (how can anyone named Pigeon be taken seriously just on the point of her name. If you're going to name a kid after a bird, is Pigeon the best her parents could come up with--) gives me the willies. 

It wasn't JUST her name for me.  He was her whole demeanor.  I was trying to figure out why anyone would take her seriously.  She acted like a ditz!

Shirley

 I think the article is off base.

I agree he wasn';t in the neighborhood of 99% but I don't think that Elizabeth's statement about John being a strong advocate for women flies in the face of his cheating. I don't see how cheating has anything to do with advocacy for women. His affair is more about the relationship with Elizabeth and the dynamics between the two of them than an expression of his beliefs about women. We don't know what was going on in their marriage, what dynamics were present that allowed the affair to take place, and the amount of healing that's been done since the disclosure of the affair.

I also don't think John was saying adulation made him do it. What he said was that having so much positive external validation changed how we thought about himself. That's not an uncommon phenomenon. Obama often jokingly says that his wife keeps him in line if he gets too big for his bridges. Ego is part of the persona of people who run for president and JE didn't have someone to give him that reality check. That doesn't means JE is a victim of adulation, but it's an insight into some of the dynamics of his life that allowed him to believe cheating was ok.

Again, we don't know what kind of work the two have done in their marriage since the affair and since her dx with mets. Elizabeth can believe with all her heart that JE would be the best president ever. She probably does since they've been together 30+ years they probably do share a vision for the country and the world.

For me the biggest issue is the lies to the American public and the naivete/arrogance of not having a better answer but a lie when the questions about the affair arose. Even if the Edwards thought that the affair would be kept hidden, they still should have had an honest answer for if the affair became public.

I wonder how much publicity Pigeon wanted.  If that's what she wanted she absolutely got "pigeon crap."  Who would take this woman seriously?   She had no facts.  I'd hate to think she was a friend of mine.  At least EE gave her "permission" for the People's article.  I just hope that child will know who her real father his.  Her mother will HAVE to one day have that paternity test.  She won't want her dd reading about this in the history books!

Shirley

Jelly, lol--they could afford surely afford the rag.

I think JE can compel a dna test if he really wanted to, particularly since Rielle didn't list a father on the birth certificate. That's done all the time in family court. He's a lawyer, he knows that. He might have even done so, although not sure whether he would do it publically, particularly if he knows he is or suspects he is the father.