On July 22, 2008, after several years as (I hope) a valued contributor, I was banned from Daily Kos for this diary, which cited the National Enquirer’s reporting on the extramarital affair of John Edwards and the resulting the birth of a daughter, who is now two years old.
This diary received a stunningly hostile reaction. My Tip Jar received 79 hide ratings (note that this was a voluntary Tip Jar—it was prior to the automatic Tip Jars of today), and comments in the diary included the following:
· Why don't you just go fuck yourself? Asshole.
· This crap doesn't belong here. And neither do you. Enjoy your shit-covered donut!
· Delete this crap.
· You quoted the National Enquirer. Apparently you left out the part where his lover is from Alpha Centauri.
· BREAKING! Joe Biden gives birth to space alien!
· According to the National Enquirer... I'll take five words that should never ever be the start of a DailyKos diary for $500, please.
· Delete. Now. You disgust me.
· Etc.
Since that time, Sen. Edwards has acknowledged that the story is true, and that he did have the affair and is the father of the child. This week, the New York Times reported that the Enquirer is under consideration for a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of this story.
As a consequence, I feel absolutely and 100% vindicated.
At the time, the Enquirer article I linked to consisted of a few one-sentence “paragraphs,” totaling about 200 words, and a suggestion that readers see the full article in the print edition of the paper. My mistake was that I quoted everything that was there, and the ostensible reason for my banning was copyright violation, even though 200-word quotes are an everyday occurrence here.
As a strong supporter of Sen. Edwards during his 2004 campaign, I was excited when Sen. Kerry chose him to be his running mate. He clearly had the talent to become an excellent President or Vice President. His decision to run again in 2008, however, was incredibly reckless. We truly dodged a bullet here. If Edwards had been the nominee when this story had been revealed it would have destroyed the Democratic Party and certainly resulted in the election of the McCain-Palin ticket.
I, for one, am glad that “Enquiring minds want to know!”