On John Edwards

I'm ticked off at John Edwards right now but not for the reason you'd expect. I think most of us are being rather self-righteous concerning the situation though.

As far as the affair goes, there are two possibilities. Neither really merits all this obsession. There's a possibility that John and Elizabeth have some sort of arrangement as a couple. This may be unlikely but not beyond the realm of possibility. If this is the case, then we're up in arms over a situation that only affects those involved and is none of our business.

The more likely case is that John is an asshole who cheated on his cancer-stricken wife and she knew nothing about it until afterwards. This makes him a bad husband, a weak man, and a pretty sad person. However, Elizabeth seemed to have known this happened two years ago and the couple stayed together. How is it helpful to anyone for a media-circus to be created and cause more pain and heartache to a woman suffering both from her partner's unfaithfulness and incurable cancer. This is another example of the media and public focusing on a soap-opera level story that really means nothing. Let's let this one die, and focus on stories that actually matter. She's suffered enough, and he hasn't hurt anyone but her.

What I am ticked about is that Edwards ran for president after all this happened. Not only did that greatly increase the odds that his family would get dragged through this mess, but had he won the nomination we would likely have lost an election that should have been a gimme in this political climate. Hubris among powerful men who cheat on their spouses is hardly new or remarkable though. With luck the short-attention-spanned public will soon get distracted by the Olympics and these two can get on with their own issues without us sticking our noses in it.