So John Edwards had an affair. No doubt, it hurts the entire Edwards family. No doubt, it damages John Edwards’ image as a good guy. This is sad news for the Edwards family and I am sure it has hurt and embarrassed Elizabeth more than we will know. As a woman, my heart is with her. But I say let her decide how she will handle this situation both publicly and privately. She doesn’t need us to come to her rescue. She is a capable, strong woman with her own agency. This matter is between her and John.
The problem for the rest of us is how we should respond to this news. We can flame out with our outrage over his betrayal of our trust or we can close ranks around him. I say, let’s close ranks.
John Edwards is not the Democratic nominee for President. He never was. He is not on the Obama ticket. He never will be. As we rise up in outrage, we only give encouragement to those who would use this information to hurt our cause and our candidate. In our outrage we enable the Republicans and the corporate controlled Traditional Media to control the message of this election.
The Republicans and their media shills want to discuss John Edwards’ infidelity because they want to take attention away from the fact that their own nominee, John McCain, committed adultery with his current wife, Cindy, while his first wife was recovering from injuries received in an automobile accident. The fact that this occurred many years ago does not change or excuse the fact that John McCain is an adulterer. That is the message that should be loud and clear from every progressive who comments to the Traditional Media. John McCain is an adulterer. John McCain engaged in a sexual affair with Cindy while his first wife, who supported him while he was a POW, was recovering from serious injuries. This affair between John and Cindy reportedly so upset Ronald and Nancy Reagan that their relationship with John McCain never recovered.
The Republicans and their media shills want to discuss John Edwards’ infidelity because it gives them an excuse to divert attention away from the criminal conduct of the Bush/Cheney administration. However, no matter how one tries to spin this, John Edwards infidelity did not result in a war. It did not result in the deaths of thousands of brave Americans in the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan. It did not result in rendition, torture, and indefinite detention of suspects. John Edwards did not engage lawyers to shred the U.S. Constitution. John Edwards did not spy on U.S. Citizens. John Edwards does not have a terrorist "no fly" list that includes Nelson Mandela or Cat Stevens. John Edwards did not conspire with oil company CEO’s to run up the price of gasoline and manufacture an "oil crisis" to create a scenario to promote offshore drilling.
There are real issues in this campaign and they have nothing to do with John Edwards’ infidelity. We need to stick to these points. Every time a Republican media shill brings up this episode, progressives need to remind Americans of these simple truths:
- John McCain is an adulterer;
- George Bush lied to the American people in order to invade a country that had not provoked us;
- The policies of the Bush administration in leading us into this most foolish of wars, coupled with tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent of Americans and uncontrolled deficit spending as well as unregulated and predatory lending practices by the same financial institutions that bundled millions of dollars into the 2000 and 2004 Bush/Cheney campaigns, have created a perfect storm that threatens to destroy our economy;
- John McCain has vowed to continue the destructive policies of the Bush/Cheney administration for the foreseeable future.
- John McCain has no understanding of geopolitical reality other than endless war as evidenced by his frequent misstatements about geography, history, and culture in the Middle East and elsewhere.
- John McCain is fighting a nasty, negative, racist, and deceptive campaign run by lobbyists and Karl Rove apprentices.
The primary is over. We need to close ranks. We need to stop calling out our own. Let John Edwards deal with the consequences of his actions. Let Elizabeth handle the situation in whatever way she feels is right. Sure, we are disappointed and some feel betrayed. But we need to focus on the task at hand—electing Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. We do this by continuing our grassroots work for his campaign. We do this by calling out the Republican lies about our candidate. We do this by responding to Republican attacks against Edwards with the following response: "John McCain is an adulterer and he is the Republican nominee. John Edwards is not the nominee of the Democratic Party. If you can’t trust John Edwards because he is an adulterer, you can’t trust John McCain for the same reason."
I have had enough of the same old tired politics that crucifies a person for marital infidelity but excuses lies, corporate greed, cronyism, no-bid contracts, torture, rendition, suspension of habeas corpus and endless war as long as they are committed by a President who appears to have been faithful to his wife. I am tired of the same old politics that dismisses one candidate’s adultery while attempting to smear another candidate because a former candidate and party notable engaged in adultery. When we flame up and call out Edwards, we enable the same old politics to continue unabated. In my opinion, we need to respond to the attacks on John Edwards with Dick Cheney’s immortal question, "So?"