Last Updated on February 12, 2022
My friend Linda has a great post at Huffington about the whole John Edwards sex scandal and the curious way that we as a society seem to selectively tolerate certain things while absolutely condemning others.
I agree with her point that one of the things that should concern people the most about Edwards’ actions is what seems like an attempt to minimize it. She writes:
“John Edwards’ own words about his infidelity. ‘I did have an affair. But I did not love her.’ I did not love her. Well, as long as he didn’t get emotionally involved… that makes it all better! Doesn’t it?”
If he didn’t love her, why was he with her? Why wasn’t he home in that supersized “compound” of his? If the affair meant nothing, he could just as easily have gone out with the guys, scheduled a poker night, or taken the kids somewhere to give his wife, who has been fighting cancer and was apparently in remission at the time, a “day off.” If he was just looking for something to do, he didn’t really need to leave that massive house; it certainly sounds spacious enough to make dodging someone seem quite easy.
Contrary to what most diehard Republicans are likely saying these days, Edwards isn’t representative of what the average Democrat thinks about “family values.”  But he sure has given the enemy plenty of extra ammunition that they’ll use to further distract voters from the real issues that a president needs to address.
Way to go, John.
I think the interesting thing about these sex scandals in our leaders is that it crosses party lines. We keep seeing time and again that neither the democrats nor the republicans have any moral high ground. I don’t think independent parties are an exception either.