Ex-Edwards Mistress at Court Amid Campaign Probe

[kpete]

Source: ABC


Ex-Edwards Mistress at Court Amid Campaign Probe

By ALYSIA PATTERSON Associated Press Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. August 6, 2009 (AP)

The former mistress of John Edwards arrived at a federal courthouse in Raleigh where a grand jury was meeting Thursday — an appearance that comes as federal investigators examine the two-time presidential candidate's finances.

Rielle Hunter walked into the building through a back entrance and holding a young child.

Edwards adamantly denied during his confessional interview with ABC News last summer that he had fathered a child with Hunter, and he welcomed a paternity test. His wife, Elizabeth, has said while promoting her book that she doesn't know if her husband is the father.

Former Edwards aide Andrew Young, who made a similar appearance while the grand jury was sitting last month, has claimed to be the child's father.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=8265533

[Teaser]

1. Edwards is a fucking CLOWN.

and the sooner he disappears from the public eye, the happier I'll be.

After he refunds all his donors money, of course.

[Captain Hilts]

2. If she's his "mistress," what do we call him in relation to her?

Yeah, it's sexist.

[clixtox]

3. Philanderer? N/T

[Captain Hilts]

5. Not gender specific. nt

[EFerrari]

24. Actually, I think it is.

phi·lan·der audio (f-lndr) KEY

intr.v.
phi·lan·dered , phi·lan·der·ing , phi·lan·ders

1. To carry on a sexual affair, especially an extramarital affair, with a woman one cannot or does not intend to marry. Used of a man.
2. To engage in many love affairs, especially with a frivolous or casual attitude. Used of a man.

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/philander

[Blue_Tires]

4. sugar daddy?

[dugaresa]

8. pig?

[melm00se]

42. man slut *nt*

[karynnj]

15. There are words, but they are more recent.

If it were the beautiful former Senator Joan Edwards, there is no old fashioned word which conveys the unequal status that mistress does. The silly "boy toy" does- though that sounds more derogatory to both than the more historically used mistress. Mistress does put Hunter at a lower level, while leaving Edwards at his previous level.

Other words, including sugar daddy and even gigolo, where the woman has wealth, have the suggestion that the male is the one with greater control in the relationship.

It really is sexist.

[Captain Hilts]

28. Calling him 'Joan' Edwards?

[karynnj]

29. I am not calling him names - lol

I did not want to use a real female politician, so I was trying to say if this were about a female politician, what words would be used. I thought that was clear from the wording starting with "If this were", but I should have stuck with just saying a "female politician".

[AlbertCat]

6. Only fucking clowns care who Edwards slept with.

This is real National Inquirer stuff.

Notice how it's not a big news story like say Sandford or Ingel.

That's not because of the "Librul Media"... it's because Edwards has not been screeching about "Family Values" his whole career and he's, as far as we know, not a member of some "Kooky Secret Christian Ego Cult for Men in Midlife Crisis".

The news is the hypocrisy, not the affair.

Edwards is no clown, and has great ideas. Non-trolls understand this.

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. It's not that big news because his political career is over

Perhaps he can start a lobbying firm with Larry Craig.

[AlbertCat]

16. Perhaps he can start a lobbying firm with Larry Craig.

Why would he? Craig's an idiot in the closet. Edwards is smart. He's also not in some Christian Cult.
If you think those two are equivalent, then you are a troll and either disingenuous or just stupid.

I don't know if his political career is over, but it's stalled.... unlike Sanford's or Ingel's...or Vitter's. The only reason Craig's is over is because of the arrest and the gay aspect. Repugs don't like gays y'know. Women can just put up with the humiliation of their serial adulterer husbands. But pity them if their man is GAY! That's ungodly, unlike adultery. Repugs hate women too.

[karynnj]

27. Could Edwards get elected in North Carolina for a state office now?

Many have said no - and they have not indicated that this could change in the future. So, could he run for mayor of Chapel Hill, if he still has a hoe there?

On a federal level, even without the affair, he really would not have been a serious candidate for President a third time, after winning a total of one primary in two races.

[rhett o rick]

45. Freddie likes Larry Craig and doesn't like Edwards. Freddie isn't a lefty. nm

[rhett o rick]

44. Larry Craig is still in the Senate as is your friend David Vitter. nm

[rhett o rick]

46. This is for you.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6242670#6244644

[Oregone]

9. He needs to make a comeback!

I forgot where his dad use to work

[LeFleur1]

10. Edwards is a Hypocrite, a Liar, a Cheat

Oh, I seem to remember Edwards claiming great love and respect for his sick, cancer fighting wife while he was diddling some other woman...or many other women, for all we know. He was so into self gratification the he didn't even protect himself, his willing women, AND his wife from consequences of his actions. I hope Elizabeth was tested for any diseases he may have passed to her. He was an idiot.

[Justyce]

14. What are we, the Morals Police now? I thought this was politics.

No, he's not a saint. Do you think very many powerful politicians are? Does it matter? We aren't electing them to be our religious and moral leaders, we're electing them to run the economics of the country. Why is it our business what happens in their marriage or bedroom? I wouldn't care if we found out Bush had a mistress either, or Obama. Didn't care about Clinton's affair. It would probably be easier to list politicians who HAVEN'T had affairs. I care about whether or not they're doing the job we elected them to do.

[JDPriestly]

18. Justyce, you are right. The people who are so quick to judge

Edwards are in many cases the same people who get divorced and have the same problems. Note how many Republicans are having the same problem as Edwards had. I was really furious with him for running when he knew he had this problem. His sex life is none of my business, but most Americans think that the sex lives of politicians are their business so it is obvious that you won't be elected president if you are philandering or have philandered in the recent past.

Of course, we never heard a peep about any of George Bush's philandering. And let me tell you, if the rumors that he drank heavily as a young person and parties a lot are true, chances are he had an interesting past when it came to the ladies. Yet we never heard a peep from anyone.

And then there was Ensign -- in charge of the Republican campaign in 2008 but we never knew what so many in the Republican leadership knew. And those are just two men who managed to keep their private lives private.

Why do you suppose that Edwards who was relatively discreet about this affair was outed so readily? Could it be because he was the one candidate who seriously threatened the universe of self-proclaimed financial wizards and industrial rulers of the world who own the media? I'm inclined to think so. But then I am prone to indulging my imagination, and I love Byzantine schemes and conspiracy theories -- just for the creativity of it.

As for Edwards' insights and political smarts -- He's still my favorite. And I will bet you that his sexual escapades while juvenile are not nearly as unusual as you might suspect. I've just seen too much of life to really think that Rielles and Johns aren't pretty commonplace in shady motels all across the country.

[karynnj]

26. It isn't the affair - it is whether he used campaign funds

We should insist that our politicians not blatantly break the laws.

If he didn't, this will go away.

If he did, it is not clear it will go away and it will hurt his wife and the Democratic party.

[bitchkitty]

11. But, but, but....it involves a PENIS!!!

In America and England, your happy parts are everyone's business. How else could we have had long, endless threads about it? This place looked like the soap opera addicts had taken over, all drooling and pretending concern for "poor Elizabeth." I'll bet if she had seen some of these posts she would have been appalled.

[harmonicon]

12. great ideas?

If sticking your thumb in the wind to decide what the people want you to tell them is a great idea, he's full of 'em.

[Justyce]

13. Agree. I don't give a shit who he slept with anymore than

I care who my doctor sleeps with. That's between him & his wife. He was the candidate of the working class and poor, and that's what I care about.

[DumpDavisHogg]

17. I'm disappointed that Edwards isn't Attorney General

Attorney General would be a great position for him.

Since the media has ruined his chance of winning an elected office, he needs to be appointed to something.

[karynnj]

19. Why?

Edwards did not work to fight corruption in his 8 years in the Senate. There are plenty of Senators who at least did something.

Edwards did not show greater integrity than others.

Edwards did not have more experience in the Justice department or in running a prosecutors office.

Now, if NYC DA Morgenthau were ,say, 30 years younger, he would be someone worth speaking of. If you want a politician destroyed by a sex scandal, Eliott Spitzer would be a far more defensible choice.

The fact is that Edwards got a series of lucky breaks - being considered for VP in 2000 and being given the VP in 2004 - and he took the chances that luck, good looks and eloquence gave him and threw them away. He did not have a distinguished career in government or even a long history of activism. He was an excellent successful trial lawyer, who while he picked his cases carefully and helped some people, was not politically active at all in that period.

[undeterred]

20. I don't think he would be appointed to walk Bo.

John Edwards ruined his chance of winning an elected office, can't blame nobody else.

[DumpDavisHogg]

30. I blame the media for the double standard

Edwards was ruined by the media's reaction, yet "Diaper Dave" Vitter is coasting to another term?

[undeterred]

33. I think the Democratic public is disgusted with John Edwards.

Maybe people who vote Republican are incapable of being offended.

[karynnj]

36. There is no double standard I have yet seen

Edwards was not kicked out of office when this broke, he was not in office. Had he been, he would not have been kicked out of office. He might, as Vitter may have then had greater difficulty getting re-elected.

[RamboLiberal]

22. This probe is not about his mistress

It's about how he spent his campaign funds. If the f'er was spending money donors like myself donated to his campaign on his mistress then he deserves to go down.

[karynnj]

25. If Edwards channeled his own money to pay her, then there is no problem

Otherwise, this is equal to the Ensign affair - and both should be tried if campaign money was used. I have no idea if this is a crime that they just pay fines for or if it is a criminal action.

The main issue in both cases is not hypocrisy but whether laws were broken.

But as to hypocrisy, the fact is that the Edwards, in their own way, did run as the we are the normal, regular people, happily married couple that Elizabeth had every right to think they were. I bet Elizabeth Edwards fans cringe when they remember her comments that she made "happier choices" in her life rather than HRC - even though in reality, she had made the same choice as HRC, to work when her older children were young - and later, in reality was making the same decision to forgive infidelity (the real unspoken issue in the statement).

[cali]

34. bullpucky. JE was sanctimonious about why he was against marriage equality

he said it was because of his marriage and how holy it was. Not that I give a flying rat turd about Johny phony Hedgefund's sexual life. It's his stinking hypocrisy that made me sick- war cheerleader, attacker of Howard Dean for Dean's too liberal views on healthcare, his shit votes for a lousy bankruptcy bill and for Yucca Mountain.

JE is a phony piece of lying shit.

[denem]

21. This is an investigation of Campaign Finance FRAUD

- you know, of the Criminal variety. Not a morals trial.

[RamboLiberal]

23. Thank you

I pointed this out as well in another post. If Edwards were a Repuke we'd be cheering this on.

[Orsino]

40. I'll cheer it on, too.

I want fraud allegations investigated, and Edwards--as much as I liked his stances compared to most other Dems--has never come up with a reasonable explanation for campaign payments to his mistress.

[totodeinhere]

31. I am saddened that his political career ended this way.

I was a big fan of his. His emphasis on the poor and downtrodden in this country forced other candidates to pay more attention to this issue as well. It's a tragedy that we will no longer have John Edwards as a part of our political process.

[spotbird]

32. Why Edwards?

There is so much fraud that is unchecked now, why are they going after a small fry? Why not the engineers of the greatest financial collapse in history.

Edwards is a snake, but I don't give a damn about his alleged fraud when the whole nation is going to hell.

[Jane Eyre]

35. Edwards couldn't be elected dogcatcher in NC now

I know people who gave lots of money to his campaign. Some of those folks really couldn't afford to give as much as they did. The people who are most pissed off at Edwards here in NC are the people who were his biggest supporters before.

It's easy to see why. We were all very proud to have such a rising political star from NC. Edwards not only pissed away his political career with this stupid affair, he pissed away his supporters' money when he paid Rielle Hunter an enormous salary to travel with him. Rielle Hunter's campaign salary was higher than that of many of Edwards' donors. His supporters gave him money so that he could win elections and make us proud, not to pay off his baby mama.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, we won't be fooled again.....

[JeanGrey]

37. Uh Oh. Edwards could be in serious hot water.

And to think we could have made him President. It makes my head hurt.

[Generator]

38. Of course she can't find a babysitter to go to court!

WTF?

[Just fix the economy]

39. why would she

Carrying the baby into the court house makes better images for
the press and is a great idea for when she writes her book
telling the whole world about their " real love".  
They should both, Hunter and Edwards be terribly ashamed. 
Obviously, she isn't.

[chatnoir]

41. I know, right

She's as disgusting as he is.

[robcon]

43. Edwards is scum.

He knew, or must have known, that his affair would have been uncovered. When the first Nat Enquirer story broke in 2007, he should have given up his run for the nomination.

It would have been heart-breaking for all of us, if he had led the field for the nom last year, and then the story broke - John McCain would be president now.

He's selfish, willing to take an enormous chance of disaster for this country, for the sake of a lay.