Fifty-six prosecutors investigated this case against Edwards and this is the best they’ve got; Andrew Young as their star witness? What a waste of time and money, and hasn’t he been punished enough? Political enemies never forget, and Edwards’s biggest political problem was that he wasn’t accepted by the Democratic establishment, because he wasn’t going to toe that line. He was going to take the fight directly to drug and insurance companies, and he wasn’t going to compromise time and again like Obama has.
In my mind, Edward’s biggest crime was not divorcing his wife when he realized they weren’t happy, but it was SHE who insisted he run for senate, and then she insisted he run for president and later VP with John Kerry, and she again insisted he run for president, so HER political ambitions won out. When she first became ill, he wanted to drop out and she wouldn't let him, and she wore the pants in that family. As far as I know, she hadn’t had the relapse when he later fell in love with Rielle, if he did fall in love, and why wouldn’t he have? His wife was unkind to him, dismissive and humiliating in front of others, so how long is a guy supposed to take that, not to mention she let herself go? I’m tired of people pretending that being diagnosed with cancer trumps treating your husband badly for years, and gaining 75 pounds. If you treat someone like crap but you’ve tied your ambition to theirs, and you call the shots because you’re a ball buster, don’t be surprised if your husband go off the rails and falls in love with someone who is pretty and tells him how smart and wonderful and sexy he is. How you treat someone matters, and we’re all human, even politicians running for office. If being a decent and loving person and treating your spouse well isn’t enough in itself, consider that someday you may become ill and might need that person in a way you hadn’t planned.
I’m sorry Edwards isn’t bringing cases of the type he used to, that resulted in faulty products taken off the market and harmful business practices amended or eliminaed. I feel like the only person (and Edwards’s supporter and contributor last election) in America who doesn’t see what he did as that big a deal; falling in love and having a baby out of wedlock. He didn’t launder money. He didn’t sell an office; he didn’t smoke crack and then drive the campaign bus. After reading his book, “Four Trials” (and working in the legal field with plaintiffs’ lawyers), I saw him as a brilliant attorney who, although personally flawed, fought repeatedly for the little guy and got paid well because he did a very good job at it and won often. Since when do we punish success in this country? Answer: only when it’s a Democrat who does well for himself.
As a candidate, he was smart, passionate, well-informed, earnest, fit and healthy, and no doubt had many, many, probably hundreds, of temptations by women in city after city. Being in the same room with him in Seattle and listening to his passionate campaign speech, it was hard not to feel attracted to Edwards. If he had only one affair, it was probably because he was a battered husband (my view) and was too beaten down to consider that he deserved to be happy and in love. That’s how I read that situation, and let’s get real: Most marriages that fail do so with the contributions of both partners.
The witness for the prosecution, whom the prosecution warns the jury will not like --Andrew Young -- is a self-interested rat who will probably get what he deserves. What a piece of work he is.
I hope that when this is over John and Rielle and their daughter can be a family together, for their sake, and for the sake of John’s kids, and everyone involved, which does NOT include the rest of the sanctimonious public whose business this is exactly none of. The last time I checked, being a narcissist isn’t a crime. It’s hell to be in a relationship with one, but it’s not a crime. Having had experience, I wouldn't recommend it, but it's not a crime.
