John Edwards' "Two Americas"

Boy, this theme is ripe for picking. Uber hypocrite John Edwards has now admitted he is a lying philanderer. I doubt I'll be the first one to say this, and others will likely say it more artfully, but: I guess there really are two Americas for John Edwards. The one in which you parade your cancer-stricken wife around the country to gin up sympathy which you hope you can translate into votes. The other is where you sneak off to the left coast to fool around with another woman, leaving your cancer-stricken wife, who's served her photo op purpose for you, back home.

Edwards Admits Sexual Affair; Lied as Presidential Candidate

In an ABC NEWS NIGHTLINE Interview, Edwards Reveals He Cheated, But Didn't Father Child

By RHONDA SCHWARTZ, BRIAN ROSS, and CHRIS FRANCESCANI

August 8, 2008 —

John Edwards admitted to ABC News in an interview with Bob Woodruff Friday that he repeatedly lied about an extramarital affair with a 42-year old campaign employee, but strenuously denied being involved in paying the woman hush money or fathering her newborn child. The former Democratic U.S. senator from North Carolina said he would be willing to take a paternity test and divulge the results publicly.

"Two years ago I made a very serious mistake, a mistake that I am responsible for and no one else. In 2006, I told Elizabeth about the mistake, asked her for her forgiveness, asked God for his forgiveness. And we have kept this within our family since that time."

Edwards, 55, said he told his entire family about the affair after it ended in 2006, and that his wife Elizabeth, who has incurable breast cancer, was "furious" but that their marriage would survive. The couple have three children, Cate, 25, Emma, 9, and Jack, 7. When he confessed his affair to his wife, "she was mad," Edwards said.

"She was angry," he said. "I think 'furious' would be a good way to describe it. She didn't understand. We both went through a process of trying to figure out how it happened, why it happened." Late Friday evening, Elizabeth Edwards posted a message on her blog, saying that she and her children will stand by Edwards.

"Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some  most recently  caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences," she wrote on http://elizabethedwards.dailykos.com/. "None of these has been easy. But we have stood with one another through them all. Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him."

She too, denied in the blog post that Hunter's child was fathered by her husband.

Edwards told ABC News that he met secretly with former lover Rielle Hunter as recently as last month in a California hotel room at her request because "she was having some trouble, she just wanted to talk."

"I wanted her not to tell the public what had happened," he said at another point. "Very simple. That's the reason I went."

Of course Edwards' belatedly coming clean now is just more evidence of his phoniness and hypocrisy. It's honorable to come forward and confess if you haven't been caught. It's not quite the same when the confession comes after you've been caught in a hotel room with your mistress by a tabloid newspaper. Moreover, I can't believe that anyone in the world would be dumb enough to fall for the line that, even though your illicit affair was over, you met your mistress at a hotel in the middle of the night "just to talk".