There's plenty of John Edwards crap here today, but yet maybe not enough. I am completely unconcerned with the "newsworthiness" of this sad episode, even though I suspect that the "news" about it has not all unfolded yet.
I am amazed that Elizabeth posted here today, but not for the reason most here have already wriiten. I also understand the anger and the rationalizations that are sprinkled throughout diaries and comments here today. This is an ugly, sad, confusing mess. But the press, and the Edwards family has some 'splainin' to do to us. Both of them put our Presidential election at risk by calculating not what was morally right, nor what was ethical, but what would, in the press's case, be the best time to get maximum play out of the story; and in the Edwards' case, how likely they were to escape being found out.
Because, all of them knew the same truth.....
Affairs like this will get reported, and politicians running for President will not escape scrutiny by the traditional media for moral failings, no matter what they pretend. Both John Edwards and the traditional media took a gamble, and both lost. The press got shown up by the National Enquirer, and Edwards got shown up as a self-important fraud. It takes a lot of balls to run for president when you have a fresh, devastating secret that would ruin your campaign if discovered. It takes a lot of hubris to convince yourselves that your ideas are more important than your character or the voters.
I sat and watched Hardball today with a sinking feeling. In case you haven't noticed, the press doesn't give a damn about the politicians it reports upon, and it cares even less about the American people. Andrea Mitchell spent a half-hour explaining why the Edwards affair was important news, and at the same time stressed that "everybody" has known about the affair for a year or more. The lack of introspection in the press was breathtakingly obvious today.
Ms. Mitchell, you can not have it both ways. You can't get brownie points for sitting on the story because it came from the awful National Enquirer, and then say that it's too important not to cover! At what point were you or your compatriots going to dig for the truth and dump it on the public? After Edwards was named Attorney General? Or worse, during the convention as he accepted the nomination for President?
The fact is, when you decided the story was important, thats when you had the obligation to investigate it. Instead you filed away the rumors AND the facts that were out there, and waited for Edwards to become important enough again to make the story really big. You got burned by the tabloids. Ha! Serves you right.
John Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards made an even worse decision. They failed their party and their supporters by risking getting caught. Considering the climate in Washington, it was inevitable, and they should have known better than try to hide what they both knew. Elizabeth showed more than courage writing here to support her husband here today. She showed the same lack of introspection the press showed. This isn't about her or John. It's about our party and our country. They don't have the right to gamble with our money, work and time.
There is a right way to handle something like this. There is a fine gentleman in Iowa who ran for a high office recently. He had a skeleton in his distant past, and it was a campaign killer. The transgression in question took place 40 or more years ago, and involved very poor judgment, but the incident ended up without harm done, and was long forgotten. But, it popped up during the early part of his campaign and he promptly ended his candidacy, and was candid with his supporters about why.
He was a stand up guy. If he had dropped out and not divulged the reason, the story likely would have gone nowhere, and he would have looked a little better, maybe. But, his career choices and his good works overshadow anything he did in his youth. In fact, he had forgotten about it. Some of us admire him now for his guts to do what he did, which was an merely act of principle taken to the extreme. Although I disagree with Barry Goldwater's famous line, “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue,” I admire the intellectual challenge of such thought, and I admire Goldwater for having principles. I admire my fellow Iowan in the same way.
Sadly, neither John and Elizabeth Edwards nor the press did this much quality thinking.
Here's what I expect from the press. Make a decision on what to report based on the core principles you and your employer hold. Find out what you can and report what you find. Report facts and make analyses of them, but don't mix punditry with reportage. Serve the greater good.
Here's what I expect from candidates and politicians. Remember that government is public service, and that ego is not the same as confidence. Political skill is not the same as honesty. There is only one truth, and that is what you do and say, not how you rationalize your failures. Serve the greater good.
Serve the greater good, chumps!