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Monday, May 04, 2009

Hell hath no fury....
Posted by Jill | 6:34 AM
...like a supporter who was completely bamboozled.

Oh, Lynn tried to tell me. She told me he was a phony, but I wouldn't listen. After six years of George W. Bush I didn't want the DLC lean-as-far-right-as-you-can posturing of Hillary Clinton or the toe-in-the-water caution of Barack Obama. I wanted a full-throated progressive populist, and in John Edwards I got one. Sure, there was that aw-shucks grin and the honeyed voice that always makes me think "PHONY!", and there was always that thought in the back of my mind. But he said all the right things, and I needed to believe, and there he was with his FIRST wife who not only looked every year of her age but had recurrent breast cancer to boot, and HE STAYED WITH HER, which---

And then of course we found out what was really going on.

"You can't tell what a person is like by seeing them on TV." I know this. I've told other people that, usually in the context of Oprah Winfrey, who people think they adore, but who knows, she may be a complete harridan in real life. But what about when a person like Elizabeth Edwards STANDS UP ON THE STAIR LANDING IN YOUR OWN HOUSE and says, in person, emphatically, to your face that these are the things John stands for and he's just what we need WHEN SHE KNOWS WHAT'S ACTUALLY GOING ON? It's one thing to be bamboozled by a TV image. But when you host a fundraiser for the man and his wife is in attendance and gives you no hint of what's actually going on, whatever Spidey-sense that's tingling is going to shut up really quickly.

This is what I've never understood about Elizabeth Edwards in this whole mess. I understand not wanting to leave, to forgive for a mistake. I especially understand when there are young children and a dire illness involved. But how she could go out there on the campaign trail and lie through her teeth for him and be so convincing doing it?

And now it seems it was worse than we knew:
The two-time Democratic presidential candidate acknowledged Sunday that investigators are assessing how he spent his campaign funds -- a subject that could carry his extramarital affair from the tabloids to the courtroom. Edwards' political action committee paid more than $100,000 for video production to the firm of the woman with whom Edwards had an affair.

The former North Carolina senator said in a carefully worded statement that he is cooperating.

''I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly,'' Edwards said in the statement. ''However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter.''

While Edwards focused his comment on campaign funds, he also had a range of other fundraising organizations -- including two nonprofits and a poverty center at his alma mater -- that have come under scrutiny.

Chief among them was the PAC that paid Rielle Hunter's company for several months in 2006 for Web videos that documented Edwards' travels and advocacy in the months leading up to his 2008 presidential campaign. The committee also paid her firm an additional $14,086.50 on April 1, 2007.

Edwards acknowledged the affair with Hunter last year, months after dropping his presidential bid.

At the time of the 2007 payment, the PAC only had $7,932.95 in cash on hand, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. That day, according to the records, Edwards' presidential campaign paid the PAC $14,034.61 for what is listed as a ''furniture purchase.''

Willfully converting money from a political action committee for personal use is a federal crime.


I hope it was a REALLY GOOD fuck, Johnny -- and that it was worth it.

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3 Comments:
Blogger skywind said...
I threw out my Edwards bumper sticker and car magnet yesterday. I'm not even saving them for what they'll be worth on eBay in 25 years. "Disappointed" doesn't BEGIN to cover it.
5/4/09, 7:06 AM  
Blogger Bob said...
After Bill Clinton, I thought high profile male politicians might have learned something about keeping their zippers up - how difficult can be it be to have some restraint when they want to be president or governor & being caught ends the dream? But it's better to know their true characters. Unlike Repugs, Democrats can't sell the "I found God" excuse to the party base.
5/4/09, 3:58 PM  
Blogger driftglass said...
Broke a lot of hearts.
Nicely said, Jill
5/7/09, 2:05 AM  
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