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Oh, I have no doubt that Hillary had issues with her team but some of the things coming out now are showing that there was more than that going on. In the end though she earned more respect and votes despite it. Shows what kind of a politician she is.

Not being a relationship guru like T.M., I am not going to even guess why HRC stands by Bad Boy Bill. Far too many ingredients in that particular mix to even start. I am certainly not going to assume that the marriage is some nefarious bit of political convenience for both parties. Bill’s early upbringing in Little Rock left its mark, that much is certain. Childhood abandonment, one’s sense of worth, political and social ambition are in the mix. The need for confirmation, that is a big part too. Oh and ego, lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of ego. Hard to say where personal ego ends and political ego begins.

It is no secret that Bill has a zipper malfunction issue. He is forever dropping his pants at the most inopportune times. HRC puts up with it because she puts up with it. It is personal and its political. These are flesh and blood people, not political cardboard cut-outs.

As politicians both Clintons are ruthless and paranoid. HRC lacks Bill’s common touch. Bill lacks HRC steely resolve. Many times, both are too clever by a half. Still Bill is doing a good job as Ex-pres, and HRC is doing a good job as SoS. As they both are serving the common good, so far, let’s cut them a little slack.

Utter cynicism whispers in my ear that J.E. is attempting to rebuild his image. He is using Haiti and the Haitians as a prop, as the beginning of a rebuilding strategy.

Take it for what that’s worth, take it from a person who saw J.E. as a hero and now sees him as less than zero.

What is pathetic is it took him this long to admit to it. Color me cynical but the only reason he did so now is because no other options were open to him. There is probably a legal settlement with the mother for child support that any slightly motivated intern can dig out of the local county court.

Maybe the story arc will finally end with divorce proceedings between the Edwards, maybe not. The relationship, from what can be discerned from the tabloids, is seriously ruptured and seriously dysfunctional. Still John and Liz may stay together for all sorts of foolish reasons. Plenty of marriages stay together long after the relationship is deader than Marley’s ghost.

This was a tale of epic hubris, by both parties. Others may empathize or sympathize with Elizabeth as it their right. The woman leaves me utterly cold. Nothing excuses the grave danger she placed the Democratic Party and the Nation by trying to foist her horn-dog husband on an unsuspecting public. Nothing excuses that, not the loss of her son, not the cancer, not being a woman wronged, not a one. She was her husband’s willing accomplice. Could you imagine what the fix the Nation would be in if John Edwards was in the Oval Office and this affair had exploded? It would have been Monica Lewinsky on steroids.

Those who knew or should have knew about this affair should never again be placed in any position of trust. They had an obligation to inform the public about John’s reckless behavior. They had an obligation to reveal the lies of John and Liz. That they did not, that they dawdled, and delayed, and let the farce continue revealed serious character flaws in those individuals. It revealed a lack of morality, of common sense, and of prudence that was extremely dangerous. They allowed millions of people to be deceived; to waist the time, effort, money and hope on a man who was nothing more than a preening, callow, randy fraud. The message that should have been delivered was “One America, meet one empty suit.”

The last stage of mourning is supposed to be acceptance. It would be best for all of us to just accept that no good can come out of either John or Elizabeth Edwards. It is best to accept that neither of them either is worthy or needs our sympathy. Elizabeth does have a disease, that much is true. Still she has more than enough money to get the very best cutting edge treatment. There are forty million U.S. citizen who have a much better claim to our sympathies as they have no medical coverage what so ever. Yes cancer is awful, but it is so much worse when you are jerked around by a heartless system that grinds you down worse than the disease.

Shed a tear for Elizabeth Edwards if you must,but remember she made her bed and now she must lie in it. She, of all people, knew what her husband was capable of and she still supported his political ambitions. Think about that for a few minutes, it makes her a much less likable person doesn’t it? She might be better than her husband but that really is a very, very low bar one has to jump. It is a bar so close to the ground that not even a small bug can get under it.

By the time Edwards came out for Barack Obama, it was all done except for the shouting. HRC’s last best hope (and it was a very slender reed) was The North Carolina Primary. She needed to win it in a walk, she scraped by on the thinnest of margins. Edwards did provide a buzz kill after the WVa primary and may have pushed a few Supers over the edge. Mostly he ended HRC good news cycle coming out of WVa.

His tag-teaming with Barack in NH actually backfired as the voters saw right through that and gave HRC a second life. After NH Edwards evaporated, his NV showing was hideous and his showing in the Dixie Primaries prior to CA disproved Mudcat Saunders chief argument for Edwards. It turned out that white male Southern voters actually preferred HRC over the Breck Boy.

Ga6thDem Hillary’s loss can be summed up in two words: Mark Penn. Better yet it can be summed up: Her team. The people who ran her campaign were criminally incompetent. They were an albatross around her neck. Taylor is right ( as she usually is about these things) she was miles better than the people who ran her campaign.

When there is another photo about, very similar, and shot at the same LA Beverly Hilton hotel, where Edwards allegedly met his mistress, except with Edwards wearing a light blue T-shirt and holding a baby with an actual baby face?
http://sensico.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/58768.jpg

Enquiring minds want to know.

Edit

http://twitter.com/taylormarsh/status/8034885432

You can frame this as it’s all about John Edwards, but it reads like you always had the goods on that harpy Elizabeth.

Imhotep- I was gonna go there, but every thread on this blog ends up with some reference to HRC (many times by you) but I agree with your assessment. The focus should be on John Edwards

http://www.taylormarsh.com/2010/01/09/a-side-of-dish-from-election-2008/

It makes you ask whether even Elizabeth and Hillary, as powerful and educated as two females can be, still feel self-defined by the famous, handsome, charismatic man they each married, unable to let go of the image of the man they first met, as well as the young woman they were, because their own identity and sexuality are so intertwined and fixed with his that their sense of self disappears without him. Sounds crazy, I know. Neither of these two strong women give an impression of being so emotionally dependent, but it’s clear they won’t let go. It’s tragically pathetic that marriage and love are wrapped so tightly in such packages of betrayal and co-dependency, which both wives accept and enable, even as they’re the only ones holding their marriage together. For what reason? Love?

We would do well to recall the words of Edward Abbey, an anarchist, before we ever swoon over the too-sweet prose of some political talking head.
Edward Abbey: “No man is wise enough to be another man’s master. Each man’s as good as the next — if not a damn sight better.”

That means that we are as good as they are, if not better, they being politicians and other talking heads. We can’t be expected to judge a politician’s morals, usually, but we can and should focus on the facts of actual job performance as opposed to paying too much attention to appearance and flowery speech. It’s tough to do in this visual age, which is why I threw out my teevee long ago.

Regarding “gimmicks, slogans, & heady marketing” — Thoreau nailed it, as usual: “Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous.”

Then I read this..

You know, it seems to me that the real villian in this story is John Edwards period.

Ya’ll sound like a bunch of self-hating feminists

lol