Are Bill and Hillary Clinton the Energizer Rabbit of Politics, but the perverse version? Instead of "going and going and going" like the famed Rabbit, these two just keeping giving and giving and giving. And what is that? A legacy of lies and excuses and setting a framework that makes it perfectly fine for a politician to be able to use various different tools, especially language, to obfuscate serious errors.
Of course I refer to John Edwards' confession of his affair today. ABC News has got to be in hog heaven landing this exclusive. Now maybe they have hopes of at least showing up on the television ratings since they are going up against the Beijing Olympics' Opening Ceremonies tonight.
What can you say about Edwards? Mountains of descriptives come to mind but most are obvious - starting with hypocrite and moving on down. What is just so, so repulsive about this is how he has trotted his DYING wife, Elizabeth, out on countless occasions to talk about the strength of their relationship. When she was faced with a death sentence when her cancer came out of remission, by all accounts, she urged that he continue his campaign. And yet, he decides that having an affair was the way to go. His repulsive behavior is not exclusive, unfortunately, to the Democrats - plenty of pols on both sides of the party lines have behaved in a like manner. But you do have to look at his quotes in the news today to see that he tore a big ol' page out of the Clinton play book.
Edwards describes the affair as a "serious error in judgement." Really? As I see it, a serious error in judgement is more like running a yellow light in front of a police officer. Having an affair while your wife, who has stood by you through the death of one of your children, is riddled with cancer, goes way, WAY beyond a bad judgement call. And then he calls it a "liason." What a pansy....be a man and own up to what you did. This is pure Clinton speak....why am I hearing "It depends on what your definition of 'is' is?" all over again. Here's the thing, you can put makeup on a pig to pretty it up, but it's still a pig. Even NPR, NPR of all things liberal, is calling Edwards' political career dead in the water.
So let's see what's next for Edwards...perhaps an hour at the redemptive couch of Oprah? A weeping interview with Barbara Walters? Hopefully, he'll just go away. But since he's torn a page from the Clinton playbook, Edwards will most certainly soon appear on the lecture circuit, pulling down six figures speaking to audiences about his experiences. Fantastic...diefying yet another philandering liar. Gotta love the legacy of the Clintons...I don't think so.
Mike- Thanks for another opinion of the sleezy clinton era...you made my day!
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