John Edwards Admits to Affair

[Miroslav]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

^this is why marriage is utter bullshit. it's all about luck. not love.

seriously, if marriage didn't exist today, you know that nobody would invent it because "i want to get into a contract with another man/woman and then get the government and the church involved as well". thanks for the laugh tho.

Most people in love do eventually want serious commitment from their partner. And they want that commitment to be there through sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, etc. - not just when they are 21 and look hot. And it takes on an even stronger meaning if kids are going to be in the picture. Yes, luck plays a role and things don't always work out...but for most people, love is not just an infatuation, but also a learned, practiced, and committed behavior.

You can call this commitment "marriage" or whatever else you want. But it is part of human nature and people will always seek it out one way or another.

Also, to digress even further... re: Morality -

You may be free to screw other women while your committed partner is bedridden with cancer, and you can define it as whatever personal "morality" you wish - but just accept that you are not free from the consequences of doing so. You will end up having to reconcile your own "morality" back to society as a whole for a simple reason: you live as a part of society, and most of society does not solely define morality on the basis of their own personal preferences, but also on the basis of common social norms. And so your ex-partner and others around you will rightfully shun you for your behavior...because most of us still believe in the Golden Rule.

Moral relativism: sounds cool on paper, works poorly in practice - unless you either conform your "morality" to key common social norms, or decide to become a hermit.

[88Mariner]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

not 'about' the contract, but perhaps something 'in' the contract he didn't get.

[day_for_night]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

doesn't matter if its bs or not, the guy signed up for it. he's a grown adult...was there something about the contract he didn't get?

[88Mariner]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

^this is why marriage is utter bullshit. it's all about luck. not love.

seriously, if marriage didn't exist today, you know that nobody would invent it because "i want to get into a contract with another man/woman and then get the government and the church involved as well". thanks for the laugh tho.

[day_for_night]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

ah. so you believe our morals are derivative of religion, which is to say, that of long dead old fucks with power and money. brill. i. ant.

toasty: he may be a dick, but immoral?

me? I would go sleeping around. but still, my own morality is my own decision based on my own beliefs and principles.

as far as i can tell, it isn't against the law.

it may not be against the law, but if you say the vows then you don't get to have an affair. its that simple...

people seem to forget very quickly what they agree to on their wedding day.

[toasty]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

ah. so you believe our morals are derivative of religion, which is to say, that of long dead old fucks with power and money. brill. i. ant.

toasty: he may be a dick, but immoral?

me? I would go sleeping around. but still, my own morality is my own decision based on my own beliefs and principles.

as far as i can tell, it isn't against the law.

I don't view morality as being derivative of religion or legality, I view it as stemming from my own personal sense of right and wrong -- there are plenty of things that would be prohibited by the law and/or Bible that I view as 100% OK. With that in mind, one person's immoral is another person's honky-dory. For me, I don't know if I attribute it to my moral code or whatever, but for a whole host of different reasons, I would not have done that.

To each their own, though, I suppose.

And BTW, I've been out of town and haven't read through the whole thread yet so someone may have already mentioned this, but WTF was he thinking from a political standpoint? That dude could have been the Democratic nominee for president, and if this had come out, the Dems would be completely and utterly fucked.

[DIDI]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

They could tell him to go get his whore to stand up there with him. Then they could pack up, take the kids, and head for greener pastures. Later send divorce papers.

But don't feel all that sorry for them; there is a reason why they don't do that. These are generally extremely powerful women who know the political and financial value of their marriage, even if it is a sham. And so they make a pragmatic business deal. Why else do you think that Hillary stood by Bill after he got caught?

While I agree with you about Hilary Do you really think those are good alternatives?? At least some of them would actually love their husbands.
I know, I'm a sentimental fool

[Miroslav]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

They really don't have any good alternatives

They could tell him to go get his whore to stand up there with him. Then they could pack up, take the kids, and head for greener pastures. Later send divorce papers.

But don't feel all that sorry for them; there is a reason why they don't do that. These are generally extremely powerful women who know the political and financial value of their marriage, even if it is a sham. And so they make a pragmatic business deal. Why else do you think that Hillary stood by Bill after he got caught?

[DIDI]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

I only kinda do. They are grown women. No one really forced them to stand there next to their moron husbands like a deer in the headlights; they chose to do so.

They really don't have any good alternatives Even if they are not there it would still be pretty humiliating. It the confessing bit I hate more than the wives actually being there. Deer in the headlights is right!!

[Miroslav]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

Everytime I see a politician "confessing" with his loyal wife standing by him, I feel ill for the poor wife. It is so humiliating.

I only kinda do. They are grown women. No one really forced them to stand there next to their moron husbands like a deer in the headlights; they chose to do so.

[DIDI]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

Interestingly I think he did the right thing lying. Everytime I see a politician "confessing" with his loyal wife standing by him, I feel ill for the poor wife. It is so humiliating. It should be something between the husband and wife, not the world! When I saw the title of this thread I was actually dismayed that Edwards would do the confession thing to his wife. Reading that whole article it looks to me as though they both handled themselves the way they thought best. The only part of the article that annoyed me was the reference to God!

Btw She was in remission when he had the affair.

Huge lols at the guys in here that are going to be totally faithfull for their whole lives

[superdave]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

^^^ I suppose they do care. But they're all missing the boat, too

Maybe, but just proves to me that everyone has a different vantage point how they see things.

[Miroslav]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

^^^ I suppose they do care. But they're all missing the boat, too

[superdave]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

I disagree that no one cared about what Edwards or Clinton did only that they lied to cover it up. Plenty of people are upset about adultery especially women. After Spitzer got caught, lots of women I knew were mad at Spitzer for cheating.

I would expect Edwards or any other politician to lie or better just not bring it up. Bad things happen and handling things discreetly or privately is best. With Clinton, the Republicans really made it more political and impeached him. Even during the impeachment hearings, the Republicans wouldn't remove Clinton from office. They knew that his affair wasn't sufficient to remove him from office.

I never thought Edwards was one of the good ones nor do I think Obama or McCain are either. They are politicians and they can't change their stripes. Most if not all are power hungry egomaniacs.

[Miroslav]

Re: John Edwards Admits to Affair

I can't say I'm shocked. I don't regard him as particularly "bad", but I never saw any real reason to trust him more than the next slick politician out there. First of all, he was a terrific trial lawyer, which suggests to me that he is expertly adept at spinning things whichever way is most appropriate for the situation. Second of all, he's a politician. Enough said.

Plus, all of you guys are missing the boat. Morals or not, the affair itself is not the real issue. It's normal, everyday crap that is regularly conducted by thousands of sleazeball men and women. What actually matters is that he essentially looked America in the face and blatantly lied through his teeth. With respect to this issue, he actively presented himself to us as something he was not. Then, once it was simply no longer in his favor to continue the charade, he's suddenly the most contrite person ever ("I'm so sorry... (that I got caught)...").

It was the exact same thing with Clinton. No one gave a shit what he actually did with Monica, it was the fact that he looked us all in the face and lied about it - under oath, too! And while it may not be illegal in all cases, Americans clearly have a right to nail their politicians' reputational asses to the wall when something like this happens, because no one likes to deal with someone who has proven him/herself to be nothing but a blatant, self-interested liar.

And all this simply underscores how much you can trust a slick, world-class trial lawyer and career politician

Thought he was one of the good ones.

For heaven's sake, dude, there are no "good ones"...