MAY 23 “CHARACTER; LACK OF IT”
John Edwards found an enthusiastic following for his 2008 presidential bid, espousing a populist call for economic justice and the restoration of “America’s moral leadership.” To loyalists, it was more than political angle; Edwards campaigned at great personal sacrifice, traveling the country while his wife battled cancer. But scoops by a supermarket tabloid contrasted his high-mind rhetoric with base private behavior, the National Enquirer reported Edwards was having an affair with Rielle Hunter, (while his wife was struggling with cancer). Rielle Hunter was a former campaign worker, who was then pregnant. Sources told us Edwards was the father of the baby. Confronted with the report, Edwards lied, emphatically. He called the story “lies” and “tabloid trash.” He then engineered a cover-up, convincing an aide to publicly claim paternity of the baby. Six months later, the~Enquirer~caught Edwards in a Los Angeles-area hotel visiting Hunter and the baby. Up to that point, political insiders said Edwards was a shoe-in for a key position, likely attorney general, in the new administration. America has judged him on his transgressions, banishing him from any significant role in politics and serving notice to other politicians that character counts.
Comments
Post a Comment