Could this be the reason John Edwards dropped out?

[Cleita]

Now first I'm not psychic but sometimes I do get nagging intuitions about things. So I went to bed last night mulling about things not making sense in Edwards sudden drop out. First people had been at a rally the night before when he gave a fired up speech and no hint that he was going to drop out the following day. Then there was that private conference he held with Hillary Clinton.

So I woke up this morning remembering that there were rumors of an alleged affair. I remember reading something about it at the website "The Skeleton Closet" a website that puts up all the pecadilloes of our candidates, however, even they say the rumor is unsubtantiated. There is an article about it in "The National Enquirer".

http://www.nationalenquirer.com/john_edwards_cheating_scandal/celebrity/64271

So I'm wondering about this conference between Clinton and Edwards. Could Hillary have had a nice motherly chat with him, telling him that he really didn't want to put the ailing Elizabeth through this because she knows how awful it is? Then he extracted a promise from her to champion the causes of the poor if he dropped out?

The reason I'm putting this here is that I don't want to put it in GD primaries yet as I know Elizabeth is a DUer and it could be very hurtful to her. Yet, I wonder if I can get people to see this, who would have voted for Edwards to get them to vote for him anyway on super Tuesday. I know the winner will be either Obama or Clinton, but doesn't John deserve our support?

You know I feel that those types of things should be personal within a marriage and I'm sure Elizabeth knows about this rumor and the truthfulness of it. It's really between her and John and we the public should not be electing Presidents because as a friend of mine once crudely put it, "A standing prick has no conscience."

If John was indiscreet in the past, I can attest to the groupie factor around handsome and powerful men as I once dated a professional athlete and I had to become athletic in warding off these shameless bimbos. (I did break up with the guy because of it.) I don't approve of what he did, if he did it, but I don't think it should make a difference in our voting for him as he is the best presidential candidate IMHO and giving him the delegates to barter with at the convention is important for all of us who champion the underclasses.

I really would like to put this in GD primaries if I thought it would do any good in changing people's minds and voting for their candidate of choice instead of the one foisted upon them. I'm asking for all of your opinions on this before I do since this forum doesn't get posted on the main page and few people will see it. Also, does anyone have any intuitions about this and if I'm on the right track?

[Why Syzygy]

1. A friend told me

that it had something to do with matching funds. I don't know those rules, and have done some searching, but nothing conclusive. Did he need 15% of the vote to qualify for funds? He is the only one of the three that are using matching funds. O & H opted out. I did read at DU that he has plenty of funds. So, I don't know. My friend seemed adamant, and I didn't have an alternate theory for her.

[Cleita]

2. If this is true, why did he drop out before super Tuesday before

he knew whether he had 15% or not? Also, didn't he get 15% in the states that have already done their primaries and caucuses. I think he did, but my memory is so bad these days and I didn't want to go back and look it up before I replied to you.

[Why Syzygy]

9. IIRC it was 14% in SC

Like I said, I don't know the qualifiers. BBL to check this thread.

[Cleita]

12. But that's only one state. Yes, it's his home state but his

campaign had factored in that he would lose a lot of the black vote to Obama, so I don't think this would have stopped him.

[saracat]

17. That isn't true.He gets the funds regardless. Your friend is confusing the fact that he "suspended

instead of dropping out in order to pay employess out of those funds. But I also believe he only suspended for other resons as well.I think he wants to continue to get delegates, even if he does nothing. It will give him more clout.

[LiberalEsto]

3. I suspect H and O both made offers

of major roles in their presumptive administrations, and he's weighing his options. For what it's worth.

[Cleita]

4. I wonder though. Did they? Why won't he endorse either of them?

It makes no sense to me. The very strong feeling I get is he's dropping out for pressures and other circumstances he couldn't control. I don't think he's doing it willingly. He is in a precarious position personally, especially with Elizabeth's illness complicating matters.

[Sanity Claws]

7. Maybe he got promises from both of them

If both Obama and Clinton made a promise to him of a position within the administration, he couldn't endorse one without endangering the promise from the other.

[Cleita]

13. Yes, and it's really maddening not to know what's happening

behind the scenes, or maybe there is the possibility he didn't get offered anything, hence his refusal to endorse.

[pink-o]

21. That is my thought exactly.

Whichever one gets the nom, having Edwards in your cabinet would be a major "get".

I don't know if he was offered VP (or if he'd accept it.) Personally I would make him my atty general so fast those stupid repigs wouldn't have time to blink.

Someone else suggested him for supreme court judge. I say only if we can force Scalia to retire!

[I Have A Dream]

5. Personally, I would not put this in GD:P. It may not be true...

and once it's in people's minds, it can't fully be taken back. It's sort of like the person who is charged with rape or pedophilia and found to be innocent. There are always people who will still have their guard up around that person forever after.

We can't help it when the idea is put into people's heads by other ways, but I feel that we are karmically responsible for such things when we cause that to happen.

Oh, and, Cleita, I know without question that your motive behind posting it would be entirely honorable. (It would not be for the sake of gossip.) We just can't control what happens once the energy's out there, and since the energy started with us, we're partly responsible for whatever happens in reference to it.

:hug:

[Cleita]

6. Thanks for that. It's the reason I didn't to put it there to begin with

yet I have this nagging urge to maybe get this out in the open so it can either be debunked or Edwards can address it face on and move on like Bill Clinton did, which brings me to Hillary. Would she stoop so low to hold this over Edwards head as a political tactic? So many things do not make sense in this.

[I Have A Dream]

8. I understand your concern.

However, having it be discussed in GD Primaries isn't going to make these things happen. The Edwards will do whatever they see fit to do regardless of what we do here at DU, since, as you know, they're certainly already aware of the accusation.

Undoubtedly, someone will ultimately bring this up in GD Primaries, if you decide to not post it. They will then be responsible for that energy's effects down the line.

I agree with you about taking Elizabeth's well-being into concern.

This is just my opinion, of course.

[GardeningGal]

10. I wouldn't put it in GDP either.

That place is a hate fest right now and I don't think any good could come from it. I vaguely remember this coming up before (the article is from October) and thought it was debunked but don't know what to search on to refresh my memory.

I am getting a sense that there was a threat of some kind but not of that nature. I don't really want to say what I'm getting because I have nothing to back it up other than my feeling.

This is without a doubt the most upside down primary season I have ever witnessed.

[Cleita]

11. Yes...yes...yes!

The sense that he's been strong armed about something, some kind of threat and I'm trying to figure out what it is that would make him leave a campaign so abruptly and yet not say he's dropping out and endorsing another candidate, but that he's suspending his campaign.

[Shine]

14. I have the same sense that he was pressured, in some way, to drop out

The DAY before he dropped out, I got an email from his campaign saying he was planning to speak in San Jose and I was planning to go. I was incredibly excited and charged up to hear him in person. Now I won't get to. :cry:

If you go back and listen to his speech announcing he was "suspending" his campaign, the first few sentences he stumbled on.....an extremely rare occurrence for him. I definitely got the sense he was having trouble spitting out the words b/c he was personally conflicted about doing it in the first place.

The absolute sudden-ness of it is what leaves us all so confused and mystified....after he'd pledged to "keep on fighting" til the end, going all the way to the convention, blah, blah, blah.....

Clearly, something happened behind closed doors we know nothing about.

We can speculate til the cows come home about potential infidelities, threats to his family, news about Elizabeth's health, lack of money, whatever it may have been, but I doubt we'll EVER get the full story. Sadly. :(

What's done is done. However, I believe the primaries are the chance we have to vote with our heart. So my vote will still go to John Edwards.

[Cleita]

15. Really Shine. There is something that is so wrong here. n/t

[saracat]

18. Absolutely . I have already voted.but something evil happened here. And I will not forget.

John was a victim of a politcal coup.

[saracat]

16. This was all over everywhere and had no legs.The woman involved

is pregnant and admitted the father was a married staffer of the Edwards campa and as far as I know she hired a lawyer and is going to sue. She was forced to reveal the paternity of the child and of course the Inquirer wrecked that marrige, but it wasn't John. John even publicly addressed this issue so Elizabeth certainly "knows' about this garbage. I know a frind of John's from NC who said the opposition was always trying to find some extramartital dirt on John and they never could because he doesn't cheat.

You are NOT on the right track her but you are on the right track as far as thinking he was "forced out". I think it was by the DNC and likely Howard Dean to , as John was forced to say, allow the Party to "make history". The PTB threatened him somehow.I doubt either Hillary or Obamha much influence over his decison.

[Cleita]

19. That's a relief. Thanks for posting this.

My hunch didn't cover what it could be. I had to go looking for something that I thought he could be swiftboated on should he become the candidate and this seemed to fit the bill. I'm so happy it's not true. There is something not kosher here and I will be very upset if this was back room politics instead of the will of the people. I will be especially disappointed in Howard Dean as up until now I have had a lot of respect for him. I wish John would just come out and make whatever occurred public so that we the people can voice our displeasure.

[Grateful for Hope]

20. Maybe he will ultimately

not likely, perhaps, but, one can hope.

[BlueIris]

22. I feel like Edwards cut some kind of deal with someone.

Probably Clinton. I hate to post it, but they have great synastry.

[Cleita]

23. I do hope he gets a place in the next Democratic administration.

He is too good and too principled to be lost. We need him.

[Quakerfriend]

24. Yes, I agree Cleita. I see him as being completely honest

in all that he does, and that would be so refreshing to have in the WH- at whatever level.

[Bluestar]

25. John Edwards for AG--Woo Hoo--We need him there

I don't know about astrology, but all of the John Edwards astrology profiles I have read do not indicate that he would be president.

This is not to offend anyone, because I think Edwards is a completely worthy candidate. Perhaps (just perhaps) his life plan and calling are to be involved in the new administration as AG and that's why this primary election has gone the way it has gone. After all, I can't think of a place that needs cleaning up more after all the criminal acts of Bush. John is one of the few Democrats who would have the guts to go after the Bush Administration. John is honest and fair and apparently one of the best trial lawyers of all time. That seems to be what is needed. After all, JFK put his most trusted lieutenant, RJK, in as AG--he thought it was that important then. Now it is even MORE important.

[Ilsa]

26. Please don't put the rumor stuff in GD-Primaries. nt

[Cleita]

27. Oh, I'm not. Saracat debunked it.

Apparently, the rumor was true but the affair was between two staffers of John Edwards, not Edwards himself. I still think something dire happened to make him drop out and I'm hoping that someone with more psychic intuition than me can find out. Then knowing what direction to go digging up information might reveal the truth.