National Enquirer via Gawker, so usual concerns about accuracy:
IN a devastating act of ultimate revenge, a dying Elizabeth Edwards recorded a bombshell secret videotape for prosecutors – nailing her cheating husband John as he will stand trial on charges that could land him behind bars for 30 years.
That’s the stunning secret behind the federal indictment brought against the disgraced former presidential candidate on June 3 -– following a two-year grand jury investigation into whether he illegally used campaign funds to cover up his affair with his then-pregnant mistress Rielle Hunter.
“Elizabeth wanted to exact revenge against John for destroying their 33-year marriage and family by cheating with Rielle,” source close to the scandal told ENQUIRER.
“It was Elizabeth’s idea to secretly record a video and tell what knew of the affair and John’s horrific betrayal.”
That will leave a mark.
Say what you will about Edwards, but at least he was having a right proper affair with an actual female and trying to be discreet about things. He met a groupie on his campaign trail, she threw it at him, and he was willing to play ball. Weiner, on the other hand was all “I’ll just send random chicks on the internet pictures of my cock for the lulz. ROFLCOPTER! What could go wrong?” Fucking idiot. That’s a great use of twitter, you clown. Doesn’t everyone know twitter is for heaving insults at establishment media types and hoping they block you?
Some of our political leaders have all the maturity of a teenage sexter.
BGinCHI
If marriage was illegal, would any of this stuff happen?
David in NY
Well, anyway, the tape doesn’t get into evidence, Confrontation Clause and all. And don’t give me that dying declaration stuff, that’s no dying declaration, and how reliable do you figure it is anyway?
TooManyJens
I am in awe. I’m also waiting for this to become a ripped-from-the-headlines Law and Order storyline, but mostly the awe.
slag
You’ve been in a trollicious mood today, Mr. Cole. So, I’m guessing you’re feeling better. Or worse.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
When you got all those meds in your system, including chemo, people don’t act as they would under regular circumstances.
Drive By Wisdom
Liberals who do not believe in the sanctity of anything are outraged when caught in their own hypocrisy.
It is like a broken record here, all the time.
BTD
@slag:
Heh. Exactly. National Enquirer has the goods on the secret Elizabeth Edwards tape.
Probably not. I think the prosecutors might have given John Edwards the heads up on that one in the plea bargaining.
As for Edwards doing it better than Weiner, I dunno, Weiner is not the one who might go to jail.
YMMV.
kindness
While I might be able to understand Elizabeth’s anger and wish to revenge John a little, I don’t understand how she didn’t take their children into account as to how it would affect the family. Yes, John was a schmuck…but do you want your kids Dad to be in jail? I don’t know about that part. I just couldn’t do it myself.
jheartney
If all she has to say is “He was a lying scumbag who cheated on me!” then it isn’t going to help the prosecution much, as that part is both well known and not illegal.
Pamoya
Hmmmm…. I don’t think this can be right because there is no way federal prosecutors are getting this tape into evidence at trial. There are major confrontation clause and evidence rule problems.
Any legal evidence expert want to try to explain how this could work?
BGinCHI
@Drive By Wisdom: What do conservatives believe in the sanctity of?
TooManyJens
@BGinCHI: Of being better than the rest of us, of course.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
If ya gonna have an affair, it has to be with someone who has something to lose if it surfaces.
Both people have to have some skin in the game.
If not, if the other person has nothing to lose, you’re vulnerable to being exposed by the jilted lover.
MikeBoyScout
No doubt this Elizabeth Edwards tape will be as dramatic and as important
… and as real … as the Michelle Obama “Whitey” Tape
chopper
@BGinCHI:
the invisible hand.
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
John, I’m not sure you’re in a good position to be judgemental here. You just bragged to the whole internet about tapping your cat’s butt:
A love tap — I think we all know what that means. On the butt. A cat’s butt.
[Pause. Shakes head slowly, in universal gesture of disappointment.]
In your defense, on the other hand, at least you didn’t post pictures of tapping your cat’s butt on the internet for all the world to see.
.
Culture of Truth
That’s how I started. I got in a twitter fight with Jake Tapper my first week.
BTD
@Pamoya:
A dying declaration that John Edwards shot somebody?
Elizabeth admitting that she masterminded the payoff scheme?
It’s a zany story that makes no sense at all.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@BGinCHI:
tax cuts
El Tiburon
Possibly besides breathing and consuming food and flight from danger, the desire to get jiggy with it is perhaps the strongest instinct we have as living creatures.
As the old joke goes: you know who is tired of banging Christie Brinkley? Her husband.
I recall a study where a male chimp was coupled with a female chimp. After a time the male chimp tired of having sex with her. A new female was introduced and the male was back in the game.
How strong the urge must have been in Weiner (or Schwarzenegger or Clinton or JUST ABOUT EVERY MALE IN THE WORLD) to engage in behavior that he must know has the possibility to destroy his career, marriage and his life.
I am not excusing Weiner or the male as a species. But goddamn, almost each and every one of us has something inside of us that we would prefer never come out. It’s just many of us are much better at repressing it.
Also, just read The Killer Inside Me, so, you know, whatever.
Shinobi
Hell hath no fury like a woman with cancer whose husband is a cheating bastard.
Southern Beale
Um just OH MY FUCKING GOD ….
Warren Terra
Did she actually record the tape for prosecutors? Because it’s a trope of bad crime stories that a spouse can’t be forced to testify against a spouse, and if when she was recorded it wasn’t for prosecutors I could imagine its use in court amounting to subpoena’ing a spouse’s testimony.
Also, wasn’t there a supreme court case last year saying that deathbed testimony – testimony that by its nature isn’t subject to cross-examination – is not admissable?
In any case, this is just prurient nonsense for the rubes. I’ve never had any use for Edwards, and I’m all in favor of the book being thrown at him (though there are other malefactors apparently getting away scot free whose crimes matter more to me …) – but who cares what his deceased wife knew about his affair? His affair was disgusting, its general outline is fairly well known, and – most importantly – he’s not on trial for being a cad. Rather, he’s on trial for misusing funds in various ways. Unless Elizabeth Edwards combined being a major public speaker, cancer sufferer, trained lawyer, spouse, and mother with a sideline in accountancy her “testimony” may make headlines but won’t make a substantive impact.
Villago Delenda Est
I doubt that Weiner (who has proven himself to be a wiener) has the slightest clue about the meaning of, or use of, ROFLCOPTER.
As for the “What could go wrong?” part, well, I think that this has been answered, but frankly I have little confidence that the lesson will make the slightest difference to some other pol out there. Idiots thinking with their little head, again.
On edit: Interesting that WordPress considers Weiner to be a misspelled word, but not wiener.
pragmatism
yesterday on the commute i saw a large SUV with stickers on the back window of flip flops representing the family. two large pairs of flip flops for mom and dad and three small pairs for the kids i presume. the first big pair of flops (for dad) had a red circle with a slash through it. i thought that was kind of bold but that scorned lady has nothing on elizabeth if she indeed made the video.
Cacti
@Drive By Wisdom:
Que?
David in NY
@Drive By Wi@Drive By Wisdom: sdom:
Drive by Nonsense.
Conservatives who believe that they can just go around insulting people without cause are caught in their own incoherence.
Look, if you have a cogent point, make it. Otherwise go back to the sandbox.
Xenos
For the trivia fans, does anyone here remember ‘Bright Lights, Big City’, the McInerney novel written entirely in the second person? Rielle Hunter was the crazy girlfriend McInerney had based the character’s crazy girlfriend on.
The eighties never left us.
Ken
At least Edwards carried on “old school”, non of this high-tech nonsense.
cthulhu
Frankly it seems to me that Elizabeth Edwards was far too classy to do something like this. And, as noted above, the affair was not illegal. Paying people to keep quiet about it is not illegal. Using campaign funds to pay people to keep quiet about it – ding ding ding. So unless the tape is Powerpoint of accounting practices, this seems like a lot of smoke.
But people sure love themselves some scorned spouse revenge stories, don’t they?
Studly Pantload, a full-service troll
Shorter Cole: Dance, my minions! Dance!!
singfoom
@Drive By Wisdom: Whose hypocrisy are you talking about exactly? And what outrage?
Haz u eenglish?
Jules
@Culture of Truth: That’s how I started. I got in a twitter fight with Jake Tapper my first week.
What is it with Tapper? You would think he had better things to do. He got in a snit about something I tweeted about 2 months ago.
Villago Delenda Est
@Southern Beale:
Mr. Rottenberg apparently thinks that “wants to get laid” and “wants to be raped” are exactly the same thing.
Xenos
@Warren Terra: Bar exam evidence issue: deathbed testimony can be an allowable exception (or is it an exemption) from the Hearsay Rule. What is described here is not something that fits within the exceptions or exemptions to the hearsay rule, unless some unusual circumstances that Edwards already knows all about are applying here.
different church-lady
Oh, I dunno… whenever I think of either of them the first words that pop into my head are “Fucking idiot.”
Villago Delenda Est
@Jules:
Tapper’s skin is incredibly thin. Wafa-thin. He really hates it when some peasant points out what a monumental jackass he is.
different church-lady
@Southern Beale: I hate you for making me click on that.
Xenos
@cthulhu:
Unfortunately for the prosecution, Rielle Hunter was already a legitimate campaign consultant for Edwards – that is how he met her. Picking apart the legitimate and the illegitimate payments could be a tough thing to get a jury to do.
BGinCHI
Good answers all.
The correct answer though is that conservatives hold “being sanctimonious” over almost all other things. This way they never have to question anything, learn anything, or progress in any way.
pragmatism
@Xenos: dying declaration must relate to the cause or circumstances of what the declarant believes to be her impending death. doesn’t seem to fit unless the cheating gave her cancer.
shortstop
@JGabriel: Yet. Friday night is coming.
Cacti
@cthulhu:
And, as was noted upthread, even if it does exist, it would likely be ruled inadmissable hearsay.
gelfling545
I wouldn’t say it’s impossible but I do believe it’s highly unlikely.
Martin
@David in NY: Doesn’t need to be in evidence if it walks the investigators through the paper trail. It’ll be as reliable as the resultant evidence supports.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@Villago Delenda Est:
If you want to really make him angry, make fun of his hair piece.
Bald is beautiful, Jake.
dr. bloor
Next Week: Elizabeth Edwards’s torrid afterlife affair with Bat Boy.
I’ll wait for some confirmation on this one.
goblue72
@chopper: the invisible hanjob. Fixed.
Violet
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Didn’t Jake Tapper come here to argue something? Or am I thinking of some other Villager?
TooManyJens
@pragmatism:
Now that would be a fine Enquirer headline.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
New embarrassing/scandalous Weiner photos leak (NSFW): http://tinyurl.com/2g9mqh
Alex S.
@Studly Pantload, a full-service troll:
Hehe, and in the same spirit…
Well, Elizabeth, a videotape, huh? Tits or GTFO.
Linda Featheringill
If we assume that the tape does exist and that Elizabeth actually made it, could we consider the possibility that the tape included details that gave the prosecutors clues about where to look for real evidence?
Hal
Right. Before Rielle came along they had the happiest marriage in existence, and as usual, it’s all the other woman’s fault, using her mind control to make super duper happy John Edwards cheat.
AxelFoley
@JGabriel:
Interspecies buttsecks? Cole admitted that?
I’m gonna have to reconsider my blogging here. I can pretty much accept anything, but I might have to draw the line at that shit.
shortstop
Even the name “Jake Tapper” makes me laugh. It’s so like something the inept jackass we know as Jake Tapper would think is an awesome name for a hard-hitting, investigative political journalist. I assume his real name is something like Kyle P. Rosby.
pragmatism
@TooManyJens: mcmegs and chunky bobo would rejoice if cheating caused cancer. klo prolly as well.
shortstop
@AxelFoley: You sanctimonious, preaching prig.
@pragmatism: KLo includes it in her nightly prayers, I’m sure.
Brachiator
@BGinCHI:
Absolutely. People who practice polyamory have all kinds of silly ass “rules” for primary and secondary relationships. People still get hurt.
Sexual desire ain’t subject to rules and regulations. Don’t matter if you are a Puritan or a libertine.
You mean like that supposed sex tape that Edwards is supposedly trying to suppress? And the aid and former friend that he tried to have take some of the heat off of the affair?
In the end, as I recall, some reporter from the Enquirer was running after Edwards, chasing him down as he was meeting with his baby mamma.
It is very hard for anyone to be discreet with this stuff. Especially if you are a politician. Somebody is going to be looking to take you down.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@Violet: yeah, he did, in the following link. https://balloon-juice.com/2010/03/25/careerist-sociopaths/
Jade Jordan
Elizabeth is my hero. I wouldn’t want that lying dog John Edwards raising my dog let alone my children. If he marries his side whore or the next one, I definitely do not want one of those thirsty whores raising my child. Catie and her husband will be much better guardians.
The tape probably told them where the bodies were buried and where the evidence was hidden. John I hope the sex was worth it because you just became a prison wife of some muscle bound hunk. The tape doesn’t have to get in to sink the Silkie Pony. John, revenge is best served cold or via a videotape after death.
Elizabeth you are everything we thought you were. Your idiot husband started to believe he was the brains of the operation.
Pamoya
@Martin:
But why would she make a videotape as opposed to calling the prosecutors up, or having them come interview her, or writing a letter?
When the implausibility of lawyer Elizabeth Edwards making an inadmissible gotcha tape for prosecutors is combined with the fact that the source here is the Enquirer, I have to think this is all a bunch of BS.
Suffern ACE
@pragmatism: I could imagine that a lot of people would get colonoscopies the first week after that medical study was released just to be on the safe side.
Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory
@Southern Beale: Jesus fucking Christ. I’d love to get the misogynist who wrote that bit of culture-warrior, hippie-bashing tripe alone in a room with three angry lesbian sexual abuse victims armed with wirecutters and a soldering iron.
I’d be videotaping.
quaker in a basement
Wait. Edwards, trial lawyer who once channeled a dead child in a closing argument, might get strung up by a video tape from beyond the grave?
Pure poetry.
Tsulagi
No shit.
If true, I give her props. A few have said I’d take a grudge all the way to my grave. She took that a step further.
Larkspur
Oh, please. First, what Brachiator said at #60. Second, what’s the point of such an insipid comparison?
Villago Delenda Est
@shortstop:
You mean sorta like how Leslie Blitzer changed his first “On Air” name to Wolf?
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Weiner’s support sure has petered out.
A week ago Cole wondered why Weiner was giving such bizarre answers and people rushed in and pummeled Cole for daring to raise a question.
Now Cole calls Weinie a “fucking idiot” and you can hear a pin drop from the lack of reaction.
Steve
Just because the tape would not be admissible evidence in court (assuming this story is even true), that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be very useful to investigators.
Anyway, maybe Edwards was much cooler and smarter and whatever about the way he cheated on his wife, but I’ll say this for Weiner’s strategy: no one ever got knocked up via Twitter. John Edwards may have known how to keep a jury rapt, but he wasn’t so good at keeping Little Johnny wrapped.
Violet
@Jade Jordan:
If the tape actually exists, that’s probably what it’s good for, telling the prosecutors where to look. The tape doesn’t have to admitted into evidence if it’s already done its job.
Martin
@Pamoya:
Well, we don’t know how ill she was when she made the decision. She’d been dealing with the cancer for some time when the news reached the public. The authenticity of letters can be attacked, statements made in an interview can be attacked. Videotape is persistent and hard to fake.
And maybe she didn’t want to drop all of this out there not knowing her prognosis. Why do people say and offer things in their will that they wouldn’t do while they’re alive? There are no personal consequences from statements made beyond the grave. Call it cowardly or selfish or whatever, but this is far from unusual.
TooManyJens
@Hal: How do you translate “she wanted to get revenge against John” into “it’s all the other woman’s fault”?
David in NY
@Jade Jordan:
Why are alleged feminist liberals so fond of prison rape?
OK, I take back the feminist, because it seems mostly like male (maybe feminist, maybe not) liberals wish their political enemies to be the victims of violent crime.
But please. I won’t wish rape on you if you don’t wish it on others.
harlana
I don’t understand why everyone seems to think this video is worthless. She may have told prosecutors where to look for key pieces of evidence to help build their case. She knew a lot about Edwards’ campaign.
TooManyJens
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
I see what you did there.
shortstop
@TooManyJens: I wondered the same thing.
pragmatism
@harlana: they’ll have to independently source the information, however, to avoid the fruit of the poisonous hearsay tree.
David in NY
@Mike Kay (True Grit): You know, don’t you, that facts make a difference. Go ahead and imply hypocrisy here, but it looked like a set up (though I was concerned early myself). People are right to change their minds, when more facts emerge. And you don’t have to be a smartass.
moe99
after last week, I’m waiting for better evidence first.
cthulhu
@Pamoya:
Maybe that is the issue. She tapped a disposition with the prosecutors before her death. And the Enquirer turned this rather mundane event into something dramatic and part of their larger story arc.
Nutella
@Hal:
Hal, learn to read.
What you said “Right. Before Rielle came along they had the happiest marriage in existence, and as usual, it’s all the other woman’s fault, using her mind control to make super duper happy John Edwards cheat.”
is completely different for what you quoted that said “Elizabeth wanted to exact revenge against John“.
jheartney
@harlana:
That seems like the sort of thing you’d do in an email or a letter. Video would make sense if you wanted to give personal testimony, though as others have pointed out above, then you get Confrontation Clause issues.
eemom
Jeezus H.Q. Christ. Must everything be analyzed into a bloody pulp?
Couldn’t we just sort of enjoy the “deathbed fuck you”, as Gawker put it?
harlana
@pragmatism: They would already have the documentation to support their case, whatever that may be, but she may have pointed them in the direction of financial records and other incriminating documents they were not aware of. She may have pointed out something they may have missed.
As for the question of why would she videotape this as opposed to talking to prosecutors, perhaps she just didn’t feel like talking to anybody about it. Under the circumstances, that is understandable.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Well, he established on Monday that, without a doubt, he is a fucking idiot.
So there’s little need to rehash that.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@David in NY: I didn’t think his support would crater because no sex was involved. I’m surprised.
Steve
@pragmatism: Huh? No they wouldn’t. Investigators rely on tips all the time. The tip doesn’t have to be independently admissible as evidence.
Linda Featheringill
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Friend of yours?
Suffern ACE
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
That’s not very pragmatic advice. But good luck finding someone with something to lose when you’re looking to have an affair. Most people have to settle for people who are nearby and willing to have sex with them.
jimmiraybob
Hard to tell who threw what first. The tiny penis brain could have planned and executed the whole thing. The larger cranial brain has very few options to resist that aren’t usually easily overridden.
Luthe
@TooManyJens: If cheating caused cancer, the NIH’s budget would be bigger than the Pentagon’s.
Southern Beale
Apparently the press ran with the Weiner story longer than the news of Osama bin Laden’s death.
Penis-size joke not intentional.
Southern Beale
Well that’s a romance-killer.
Pamoya
@Martin:
If she was well enough to make a videotape for prosecutors, she was well enough that the prosecutors could have dropped by and asked her questions. If I were one of the prosecutors, I know for sure that I would prefer an interview where I could ask questions to an inadmissible videotape.
The whole story seems incredibly bogus.
Pamoya
@cthulhu:
That seems more plausible, for sure.
Linda Featheringill
@Luthe:
I did run across a very reasoned argument long ago and far way that being a goody-two-shoes could cause cancer.
In this case, maybe not cheating could cause cancer. :-)
shortstop
@Suffern ACE: That made me laugh, but Mike Kay has managed to get this one right, at least as far as the rich and powerful are concerned. If Bill Clinton had confined his affairs to the many women in Washington who stood to lose their own great careers, marriages to influential/wealthy men, or both if word got out, he’d never have been impeached.
I do get that people don’t generally sit around mapping these things out. It’s about the particular attraction of that moment; it’s very often about wanting young women (who may be less likely to have built lives they want to fiercely protect); and for certain people like Bill Clinton (and perhaps also Anthony Weiner, because really, no one is that plain old stupid), it’s also about the intoxicating combo of sex and risk. But if anyone has actual choices of people with whom to have an affair, it’s these guys.
cthulhu
@shortstop: Well, remember that Monica had to be pushed quite a bit to come forward. And because of it, we have to suffer the lazy-ass stylings of Jonah Goldberg. If only Bill could have warned Monica about that at the time.
Suffern ACE
@cthulhu: That is my recollection, too. Like lots of people would, she told someone. Not many people, though. Unfortunately, she told Linda Tripp.
Kind of like telling your roommate you’ve sex chatted with A. Weiner, then the roommate e-mailing that story to the newspaper.
harlana
@Pamoya: Again, the tape itself may contain valuable tips for prosecutors, may point to key documents, etc. It doesn’t have to be admissible, but it is still of value to prosecutors in possibly obtaining additional information leading to bona fide documents and evidencesupporting their case.
Villago Delenda Est
@cthulhu:
Enabling that sack of vapid shit’s career is something for which I can never forgive Bill Clinton.
Ever.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Cenk Uygur really has some issues.
He’s crazed that people aren’t rallying to defend his buddy Weiner.
It’s funny because Cenk says Democrats should stick together and defend each other, no matter what, yet Cenk is usually the first one to stab a Dem in the back.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.
Jane Hamsher was just on MSNBC saying she doesn’t like Weiner because of his “grandstanding”.
hhahhahahahahahhah
What’s next, Amy Winehouse chiding Keith Richards on drug abuse?
Martin
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
So what you’re saying is that people who make bad decisions make bad decisions.
dogwood
I wouldn’t put much credence in this story of the tape, but the idea of Elizabeth Edwards as a “hero” or as “classy” is sure proof of the power of media to create a narrative that people will swallow. Elizabeth may have been faithful to her husband, but she was willing to perpetrate the fraud of their marriage in order to get to the White House. Andrew Young may have been one of the dumbest political groupies in history, but Elizabeth was more than willing to use him as a lackey. I remember watching a program on CSPAN a couple of months before the Iowa caucuses with the wives of the candidates. They were asked who they turned to when they got frustrated with the process. Ann Romney and Michelle Obama answered first. Romney said she had a group of good friends who would shore her up when she needed to vent. Obama said she would complain to her mother and a few close friends when she got frustrated. Elizabeth Edwards then chimed in that she didn’t understand that. You see John was her best friend and he was the one she turned to for everything. It was a cheap shot on Edwards’ part and totally classless. May she rest in peace; I’m sure she was terrific in many ways, but Elizabeth Edwards was as ambitious and duplicitous in her public life and persona as her husband.
shortstop
@cthulhu: She did have to be pushed, but she didn’t have to be pushed to gossip about it to Linda Tripp, someone she didn’t (IIRC) know that well and who, one thus supposes, was one of several to whom Lewinsky blabbed. Then Tripp ran to Lucianne Goldberg and the doughy pantload became our forever annoyance. Someone with a lot more to lose than Lewinsky would presumably have been more careful about sharing that information.
ETA: And I know she did lose a lot; it must have been beyond horrible to become a national joke and to have to bear every amateur comedian’s thong and cigar jokes, but I don’t think she realized at the time how much she had to lose. Someone in a different position might have.
Fred
So now you are staying informed by following the National Enquirer?
Was that before or after the obligatory “Space Aliens live among us” story?
Oy vey, first Greenwald and now this. Sigh……..
boss bitch
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
+1000 that is fucking hilarious.
I need to find out if Weiner personally offended her or someone in her clique. She’s a very vengeful person so I wouldn’t put it past her.
Suffern ACE
@shortstop: The issue wasn’t so much that she told, but that because of the Paula Jones case, Linda could tell someone so easily who could do something about it. At that point, we’d gone through Flowers, Wiley and jones but only Jones was involving the prosecutors. Flowers and Wiley if I remember right were flogging stories to the press and making wild additional claims, but by that point you either believed them because you believed that the clintons ran drugs and murdered their friends or you didn’t.
Regardless, in the case of Weiner, it didn’t matter if he was having sexytime chat with a high level staffer or these other women. None of this would have sprouted had he used e-mail instead of twitter to transfer his photo. None of the other six women stepped forward until it became newsworthy to do so.
Suffern ACE
@Suffern ACE: I guess what I was trying to say was – don’t initiate another affair after the first few are already out there and there are lawyers involved. If you must have an affair….
Epicurus
@Fred: I hate to say it, but the Enquirer has been on this guy for a long time and they have produced actual evidence of his cheatin’ ways. I do not approve of NE as a valid news outlet, but then I feel the same way about Fakes News. Don’t try to kill the messenger, he just might be telling the truth.
eemom
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
yep, she’s a master at that “pot/kettle” thang.
A while back she had a post up at Lake Batshit wherein she attacked someone for fomenting “group think,” and I told her that was like Ayn Rand attacking the free market. Ah, good times.
JPL
@Mike Kay (True Grit): Good for Jane, she managed now to get a seat at Fox’s table.
How low can you go…
Fred
@Epicurus: So I guess I really was abducted by aliens and anal probed because I have that V shaped scar on my forehead. Then they erased the memory I guess. Always thought there was something to those stories in the enquirer that rang true with me deep down. Thanks for clearing that up.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@eemom: it was high comedy. at another point she objected to people calling for weiner’s resignation saying a resignation subverts the sanctity of the democratic process. This coming from a bitter PUMA who never accepted the legitimacy of the 2008 primary process and who once held hands with Grover Norquist to call for Rahm’s resignation.
dollared
@dogwood: Yup. I might be a bit milder, but I love your point about the “narrative” ruling all, and I am clear about who she is: somebody who wanted to be the Fifth Most Powerful Woman in the world, and was ready to compromise everything for the privilege.
Wronged Victorian Housewife she was. Not.
dollared
14 comments for Poor Fenway, and 120 comments for Elizabeth Edward’s Revenge from the Grave. We know what kind of crowd we have here at BJ…..
Villago Delenda Est
@dollared:
Once you’ve said “poor Fenway” once, by one person, we’ve covered the bases there.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Trump calls Vouchercare a “total disaster” that will cost the republicans control of the House.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc8a7L0lS58
Gotta say, Trump’s office is a real shit-hole.
Carrie
@dollared:
Oh fuck, no. What’s the matter with Fenway?
Heading over there now, thanks for heads up.
GregB
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Dick rolled.
cthulhu
@shortstop:
Well, having been there, even when one has more to lose, in the heady romanticism of affair behavior, the participants tend to vastly underestimate just how horrible the negative outcomes can be. It is very easy to sell yourself your own justifications and believe that others, including your spouse/partner/etc. will see some sense to it all. Strangely, they rarely do :)
GregB
@boss bitch:
I thought she said: Glans standing.
Kathy in St. Louis
Had no idea that John Edwards had so many defenders. I just keep thinking how really unswell it would have been had he gotten the nomination. There would have been lurid headline and John McCain as our president. So, from being an Edwards supporter, I became sick at the sight of a guy who couldn’t even keep his eyes on the prize long enough to stand up and zip his pant for a while.
The only thing that makes me sad for Elizabeth Edwards is knowing that she knew about this and stood by the jerk who would have surely blown a Democratic victory and given us Gramps.
Jade Jordan
@dogwood
I am sure you will be a terrific Saint when you are on experimental Chemo facing death. Maybe just maybe she felt that leaving her small children residents of the white house would ensure that they had a great future, and would help compensate for the loss of their mother.
I can’t imagine what she was going through. IMHO she used her time well and presented awesome strength in the face of the cancer beast.
I hope you are able to live your high ideals in the face of your worst nightmare.
cthulhu
@Kathy in St. Louis: Well, that is really Edwards’ original sin isn’t it? Striving for the Presidency with this all going on. To the extent that Elizabeth knew the underlying truth and continued to facilitate John’s run, I have a problem with her too (I don’t know what evidence there is out there regarding what she may or may not have known). I was an Edward supporter to begin with too but clearly my support was misplaced and I am very glad it eventually went to a far better candidate.
dogwood
@Jade Jordan:
Oh good grief, get a grip. I said she was probably terrific in many ways, but she wasn’t innocent in all of this. And given the Edwards’ ability to provide the best for their children, I don’t think they needed to live in the White House to be ensured of a great future. You can’t seriously believe that.
dollared
@dollared: Are you kidding? I could probably find a blog or two that would devolve quickly into a lengthy debate about the treatment of Basset infections, and from there the technical limitations of telemedecine, and then onto the wisdom of naming dogs after sports venues (“Here, Comerica! Here boy! That’s a good Comerica….”)
AAA Bonds
OWNED
Djur
Citation, please. Jane Hamsher is not and never was a PUMA.
Gopher2b
I really hope they didn’t build the case around this video because it’s never going into evidence.
Gopher2b
PS. Dying declaration only applies if the speaker believes death is imminent (e.g. Last words). Hearsay, however isn’t the big problem, the Confrontation Clause. Defendants have the right to confront “witnesses” who “testify” avaunt them so the issue is whether the statement is testimonial. A recorded video handed over to the Feds for use in a criminal trial us clearly testimonial. Add in the prejudicial effect of a dead wife testifying about he husbands affair; it’s NEVER coming in. Plus, there is the marital privilege that may or may not apply.
Tim, Interrupted
If this is true about Elizabeth E., the person for whom it makes me feel most sad is her. What an awful frame of mind to be in as one approaches death.
Truly, I hope that as I near imminent death my mind and heart are in a more peaceful/forgiving place than one that would lead me to leave behind vindictive/divisive/vengeful tapes/documents/whatever.
My goal would be to enter a frame of mind that finds such things petty and small and meaningless.
I do not mean this as a judgement on her. I have not been where she is. My hope is that she, and when my time comes, myself, were/are in a much more positive spiritual/mental space than this alleged action would seem to indicate she was.
On edit: I know this is somewhat babblelicious, but I’m finding it difficult to put in words what I mean.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Tim, Interrupted:
When you die, at the very last moment, it’s the most beautiful, peaceful, joyous feeling imaginable. Up until that point, it pretty much sucks.
Jay
Mr. Cole, I’m most amused that you used “ROFLCopter” in a blog post.
Well done, sir.
Tim, Interrupted
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Fuckhead, I very much hope this is the case and have reason to believe it may be so, judging from experiences of loved ones passing, but how do YOU know this? Could it be that you are already dead?
aimai
@Jade Jordan:
Jesus christ that’s the most ridiculously over the top overidentification with a celebrity I’ve ever seen. Elizabeth Edwards died of cancer. Her husband cheated on her. It was very sad for her. If Edwards commited some financial improprieties he deserves to be tried, fined, and/or penalized for those improprieties. He really doesn’t deserve prison rape as payback for being a bad husband. And its actually sick of you to suggest that he does or that his former wife would wish that on him.
aimai
Just Some Fuckhead
@Tim, Interrupted: I died once.
Ruckus
That’s pretty good. I think a lot of them have the maturity of an eleven yr old. Some even younger.
Tim, Interrupted
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Details?
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Ruckus:
to be fair, at what age does a politician begin bullshitting everyone they meet that their character is above reproach, they are popular and smart, the sort of kid,other kids want their parents to meet as a representative of the kind of kids they hang out with?
that probably ends their exploration of the world with their own mind’s eye. they are managing perception from that point on.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Tim, Interrupted:
The usual drug & alcohol-fueled binge, nothing special.
Dollared
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal: That’s a great point. I went to law school with a couple of people we called “Senator” because the Inauthentic Force of Eddie Haskell was with them at an early age.
Of course, today those two are just rich jerks. Whodathunk the politician would turn out to be that flag-football-obsessed frat boy Tim Pawlenty?
Dollared
@aimai: Thanks for that. Somebody’s been reading too many romance novels.
Tehanu
@Drive By Wisdom:
Speak for yourself, schmuck. All people like you believe in is the sanctity of your own greed. Every liberal I know believes in the fucking FACT that we’re all in this together, which is why we support things like Social Security so selfish jerks like you don’t die in the gutter when your Galtian overlords use you up and kick you there.
David in NY
@Mike Kay (True Grit): Oh. OK. Wasn’t how I read you. Most folks supported him because they thought the allegations were faked. I’m not terribly upset, or feeling betrayed, myself because of early signs that all was not well (Schumer’s cautious remarks).
Mark S.
The ROFLCOPTERS aren’t laughing.
(Seriously, no one’s made that joke yet?)
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Realizing I’m waaaaay late to this thread, I’ve read the OP about three times now and still have no idea what distinction John is trying to draw. Anybody? I’m halfway thinking that this post was really written by Mark Halperin.
Admiral_Komack
“…And don’t give me that dying declaration stuff, that’s no dying declaration…”
(If true) Oh, yes it was…a dying declaration of how much Elizabeth Edwards hated John Edwards’ fucking guts.
WereBear
And it’s perfectly understandable, too.
While I’ve not suffered from terminal cancer while my husband played around, I do have some experience with the OMG my life as I knew it has been yanked out from under me and it is not a fun experience.
It is so traumatic that it’s no wonder people panic and go into denial and do everything possible to pretend it’s not so; and thus, the Edwards’ plan to continue with the nomination process.
She probably thought she could get him to give up the mistress. He certainly thought he could continue to get away with it.
If you are already running for President and you start an affair; you pretty much feel like a Master of the Universe. Reality will have to work hard to make dents in that illusion.
Greyjoy
Even if the tape is inadmissible as evidence, I’m sure the “Ha ha, GOTCHA, you fucker!” factor is going to be incredibly demoralizing to John. Not to mention that if there is a tape and the media gets ahold of it, the ensuing media crucifixion will be just as damaging as time spent in prison. At least Tiger Woods can still play golf. What can Edwards do, as a demoted senator, felon and disbarred lawyer (assuming he will be disbarred)?
Admiral_Komack
What can Edwards do, as a demoted senator, felon and disbarred lawyer (assuming he will be disbarred)?
Fuck Rielle Hunter.
Captain C
@Whiskey Screams from a Guy With No Short-Term Memory: Perhaps I shouldn’t be, but I’m amazed at how many men (and even a few women) seem to think that it’s open season on women who ‘dress to get laid.’ Even if a woman is looking to get laid (and there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that), she may not want to get laid by you. (Figurative ‘you,’ of course.) Either way, she should be treated with respect.