Whatever Happened To John Edwards?

[Renew Deal]

<snip>
So, what is Edwards up to these days? According to The Washington Post's Michael Leahy back in 2012, months prior to Edwards' acquittal, his life was pretty normal, if plagued by a lot of stress — amid spending time with his children, and residing at the estate that he'd left behind when Elizabeth filed for divorce in 2010, he also suffered a heart scare that momentarily delayed his legal proceedings.

Nowadays, however, he's back at the job that once earned him millions, and helped set the stage for his leap into elected politics. According to USA Today back in April 2014, Edwards is practicing law again, having opened up a law firm called Edwards Kirby, named after himself and his partner, David Kirby. His daughter Cate is also an attorney with the firm. They specialize in personal injury cases, which was always part of the right-wing knock on Edwards as a politician — fairly or not, personal injury lawyers are often labelled as "ambulance-chasers."

Basically, if you're a sucker for a good political redemption story, you'll likely be disappointed in this instance. Simply put, there's been absolutely no public indication Edwards will ever mount another run for office, and it's not hard to see why. Simply put, the combination of factors that led up to his fall from grace — a relatively usual political sex affair, amplified by the sleazy betrayal of his dying wife, and the tabloid headlines it generated — has basically closed the book on John Edwards, politician.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/121572-whatever-happened-to-john-edwards-the-north-carolina-senators-fall-from-grace-was-quick-absolute

[Nye Bevan]

1. A consensual affair is one thing.

Cheating on and lying to your cancer-stricken wife, having your good friend lie about being the real father of your love child, and recklessly jeopardizing the Democratic ticket's chances to win the presidential election, is a different thing altogether.

[metroins]

2. This.

It was pretty egregious.

I don't care about John Edward's anymore.

[Zorro]

4. Me neither

Never trusted him. I think it was the haircut that first put me off.

[metroins]

5. He seemed "too clean"

I'm a white male, who isn't huge on "feminism" or "race relation" issues but Edward's to me felt like the epitome of "white male politician" which seemed shady to me.

I am ALWAYS skeptical of a "too clean" candidate.

When his scandals came out, I was surprised, but not.

I hope I don't offend anybody with this post, it is meant with decent connotation.

[milestogo]

3. But she was in remission at the time of the affair

and to John Edward's conscience that meant it wasn't really so bad.

[MADem]

6. He RAN to Haiti after the earthquake, and hid out there for a bit.

And he was dating the mother of his latest child (cute little kid, poor thing) as recently as just over a year ago.



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/rielle-hunter-john-edwards-dating-year-article-1.2525412

Stick a fork in him, though--there's no way he'll re-enter public life, I don't think. He'd have to get real old, saggy, wrinkled, balding, maybe fat, slow and rueful, so people will feel sorry for him, or something. So long as he looks "younger than his stated years" and has that aura of ambition about himself, he won't get any traction. He's got to be like a safe old, wise and regretful grampa before anyone gives him the time of day.

[Mass]

7. Who cares?

[PJMcK]

8. "...closed the book on John Edwards, politician."

Good. He's a bad man.

I never understood why Senator Kerry selected Senator Edwards as his running mate but then there's a lot about the Kerry Campaign that I'll never understand. The North Carolina Senator wasn't going to be that big an electoral benefit in the South and clearly the Kerry Campaign didn't do their due diligence regarding the Senator's personal life.

Let Mr. Edwards chase the ambulances.

[jmowreader]

10. It was easy at the time to see why Kerry chose Edwards

No one here seems to remember this, but before Edwards' sexual misconduct came out he was the Champion of the Common Man. If you had been wronged by a big corporation and you really wanted to stick it to them, John Edwards was the lawyer for you.

He also has a lot of positions people around here agree with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edwards

[NewJeffCT]

18. agreed

and he had a lot of support early on in 2007/2008 - he was a clear #3 after Clinton and Obama and had some superdelegate support as well. (Back in 2008, when people said the superdelegate fix was in for Clinton, they were saying that she had more supers than Obama and Edwards combined...)

I didn't like him from the 2004 primaries when a Democratic primary debate moderator brought up the Defense of Marriage Act and his response was something like "well, that happened before I was in Congress, so I don't really know enough to comment," or something like that. So, that struck me as an absolutely horrible answer and it stuck with me ever since about him.

[alarimer]

19. One of the first to talk opening about the "Two Americas"

Something still true today.

Still there was always something about him, like he was too good to be true, which turned out to be the case, sadly.

[karynnj]

14. Shrug in his book explained - compared to alternatives he polled

And focused grouped as helping the ticket most. This was likely because the media gave him incredibly positive treatment. In fact, before the choice their "story" was Kerry would chose him unless he feared being outshined.

His relationship with the mistress started after 2004. The reason they should have passed him over was that his record was rather weak. However if he would have campaigned as well as he did in the primary, it might have been worth it as their first job was to get elected.

However, Edwards would say he would do things the team wanted, then just not do them including defending and supporting Kerry. It was soon clear his goal was to do nothing other then things that he thought would put him in place for 2008.

Kerry personally had a gut feeling against him and he was right.

[tritsofme]

9. He would make a good used car salesman.

[karynnj]

16. He would have pre 2008.

Post 2008, not so much. His sales job, no matter the product, depended on being seen as honest.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. To call him a footnote would be an exaggeration, at this point.

I think he will be relegated to the status of a historical toe-note.

[jg10003]

13. He was the most progressive candidate in 2008

He had so much potential. It is very likely that he would have been Obama's pick for attorney general. It 's such a shame that he turned out to be such a huge schmuck.

[karynnj]

15. All words

His 2004 platform was nearly the most conservative of those running and it was to the left of his Senate record. Remember he voted for the evil bankruptcy bill and though very junior can not claim he did not understand. His wife was a lawyer who handled bankruptcies.

His 2008 platform was to the left of his 2004 platform taking a lot from the Kerry 2004 platform - apparently forgetting his comments against those ideas in 2004.

He ran from the left for one reason. Hillary Clinton was running from the left center of the country, ie the right and center of the Democratic party. His record where it overlapped with Clinton was to her right, but there was no room for anyone to run from the right.

Edwards was a talented trial lawyer, skilled at making the case that needed to be made. That skill, not diligent public service, was what pulled him to high level he attained. He could make people believe. That is also what he lost with regards to selling himself. That product is now seen for what it is. The shiny wrapping paper was removed.

In fact, in 2008, both Obama and Clinton had done work in their past that matched left goals they spoke of - as did Kerry. Edwards did not, so he used cases he had won and earned millions doing.

[Bluenorthwest]

17. First co-sponsor of the IWR and a man who railed against marriage equality on the basis of his

'Traditional Baptist Values' while having a wife and children and a pregnant mistress. 'My Deacon Daddy, Sanctity of marriage, one man and one woman this is just a part of me, I can't apologize for that!'

So of course I never supported him in spite of his posturing. I don't see people as being 'most progressive' when they are bigoted anti gay religionists.

[thesquanderer]

21. re: "He was the most progressive candidate in 2008"

Kucinich? or even Gravel? But yeah, he was the only one who gained any traction. I always thought he was slick/contrived, but because he was saying the right things, I would have voted for him if he hadn't dropped out by the time the primaries got around to my state. So I ended up voting for Obama, who still seemed a bit more progressive than Hillary.

[Cairycat]

20. I wonder what DUers would think of his daughter running

His progressive views, without his baggage.