In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99 percent honest is no longer enough…
-Former Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards (August 8, 2008), from a statement admitting to an affair.
Another one bites the dust.
I grieve for Elizabeth (his wife with terminal cancer) and their children—and for Edwards as well because most folks won’t care to reach out to him since he is the one who cheated.
Personally, I am not a Democrat. However, during the last few years I have considered being anything but committed to any party in particular to be quite honest. So, I am not writing to bash John Edwards.
I’m guessing the main accusation in question back when the story broke wasn’t whether Edwards was here—there—or the father of a child with a woman who wasn’t his wife. It was about whether he had an affair or not—not whether or not the sex was with a woman he loved or with a call girl he just met. The news as far as I know was never spread all over the front page (and I don’t feel much like spending the next forty-five minutes to find out)—it’s a good possibility if it was, that I just never tuned into the news or read my usual sources on the days it may have dominated the air waves.
The point I want to make is simple—since when is being 99 percent honest the equivalent of doing all you can to absolutely cover up and deny an affair over a technicality or even a series of them? I do realize that Edwards is a well trained and shrewd lawyer—that must contribute something as to how he’d come up with such a lame excuse.
The line of thinking Edwards demonstrates does beg the question—What kind of truth do we get from those in political leadership today after all?
And if I can throw in two more cents—I think 99 percent of us would consider his actions 100 percent dis-honest.
unpackaged me 