This Week: Edwards' Campaign Aides Had A "Nuclear Option" Over Allegations Of Affair
Up until December of 2007, most on Edwards' staff didn't believe rumors about the affair.
But by late December, early January of last year, several people in his inner circle began to think the rumors were true.
Several of them had gotten together and devised a "doomsday" strategy of sorts.
Basically, if it looked like Edwards was going to win the Democratic Party nomination, they were going to sabotage his campaign, several former Edwards' staffers have told me.
They said they were Democrats first, and if it looked like Edwards was going to become the nominee, they were going to bring down the campaign.
Dang. While I remain uninterested in the extramarital goings-on of anyone, it was ridiculously shortsighted and stupid for Edwards to not think there would be repercussions from his thinking with Little John. I guess we should be grateful to not have reached the point of hitting the nuclear option--that could have very likely hurt the Democrats for several election cycles.
Meanwhile, may I express some exasperation at the investigation of the money paid to Rielle Hunter by the Edwards campaign for videotaping as something critical to our democracy and yet we've known that the Bush administration lost NINE BILLION dollars in Iraq and there has been not one investigation? It's not an either/or proposition, but c'mon, there has to be some economies of scale working here when a $100K paycheck takes precedence over $9 billion.
Bush lost $9 billion in Iraq.
Then he lost another $100 billion in scam rebuilding projects.
Then he turned the ball over to Paulson the Plunderer who gave $350 billion away to the Banksters.
Then came Little Timmie and Big Ben, brother can you spare a trillion, or let's make it ten.
But never mind all of that let's talk about little john and his wayward weenie.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Right on, Alice X!
Little john's real problem was not his loose zipper but his loose lip.
He kept on and on about the fighting the power of the corporations and poverty in America.
The Oligarchs could not get behind that, what if he really meant it!
The two party guys always say things in the primaries that they can't really mean, but the Fat Cats couldn't take a chance.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
...and it didn't have anything to do with little John.
I would have voted for him in the Michigan primary, but I don't think it would have done much good had we actually had a primary that counted. But you know what happened there.
And had the oligarchs known about Roberts' affair, I think they would have leaked the info before he had given up on the primary campaign.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
His campaign coffers were empty because the fat cats wouldn't get behind him.
The Oligarchs have a million ways to subvert democracy.
You don't actually think we have a functional democracy do you?
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Elections are open to a greater percentage of us now than ever before. No one forces Americans to vote based on sound bites and flashy advertising. I'd think that you of all people, socialist that you are, would know this. No one forces you, Alice, to vote for a Democrat or a Republican unless you feel you should, right? That you and I live amongst millions of goobers who choose not to do the work involved to be able to discern who would best represent them is the unfortunate reality of the situation.
[on editing] And even if Edwards had as much cash in the coffers as Obama and Clinton combined, he really came across as a sad sack on the stump. Again, he would have had my vote, but I could literally see him losing potential votes by his demeanor whenever I saw him speak.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
"I'd think that you of all people, socialist that you are, would know this."
And you, Andy K. I take it that you are NOT a socialist. Yet Edwards would have had your vote, if only his demeanor had pleased you.
Something doesn't ring true about your post, even on editing. Try again.
Andy K is ok with me.
My point to begin with is that instead of talking about our real problems, which are the crushing control of the Oligarchs and the widening chasm of income inequality, the corporate media has the puppeteers talking about someone's pecker.
They always do that.
As Parenti puts it, it is not that they can tell you what to think, they can tell you what to think is important.
I don't even turn the clowns on. My TV has not been on in seven years.
Edwards was talking about pushing back against corporate power.
He was talking about poverty. Does anyone on this panel mention any of that?
Would Edwards actually have done anything? Did he mean what he was saying?
He would never have had a chance.
You will never get real change with the Republicrats in power until the thing really implodes.
Even having the system melt down as much as it has was not enough.
They threw up a guy that LOOKS like change. It is not that it doesn't mean anything, it just doesn't mean what most thought and still think it means.
It is the same CIA, the same MIC, the same Banksters, the same ol' same ol'.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
I'm not sure about Edwards.
I knew Kucinich was my man when MSNBC presidential debaate moderator Tim Russert tried to eliminate him by asking him about seeing a UFO.
If you haven't turned on your TV in seven years, I guess you were lucky enough to miss the presidential debates rigged by the corporate media. The debates are useful only in revealing who the Fat Cats don't like.
When Tim Russert's attempt to make Kucinch look like a nut failed, his bosses at the liberal part of the liberal media, aka MSNBC, banned Kuchinich from the final debate.
When Kucinich got a court order to stop MSNBC, the network went to a higher court just in time to protect Americans from hearing another word from the man who was against nuclear power plants. MSNBC's owner, General Electric is also in the nuclear power business.
It would be great if nobody got their opinions from TV, but as long as they do, the oligarchy will not allow democracy in the USA.
Do some research on Michigan's 2008 primary. IIRC, only Clinton, Gravel and, maybe, Kucinich were on the ballot along with "Uncommitted".
My state tried to jump up ahead of the pack without the backing of the Democratic Party, and the party threatened to count none of the votes, and it also threatened sanctions against anyone who campaigned in the state. After all of the threats, we were informed that no write-in votes would be counted, so rather than voting for Edwards only to have my vote tossed out, I voted "uncommitted" and kept my fingers crossed.
Sorry I didn't make myself more clear on that earlier. Since I was aiming it at Alice- another denizen of the Great Lakes State- I figure she'd know what I was on about.
And I think Edwards brought little energy to the campaign. I thought he was bummed out about his wife's cancer (though now it seems there might have been something else on his mind as well), but I don't think that meant the majority of primary voters knew about it. Ironically, Elizabeth came across as about 100% more positive than did John. A smile- or, conversely, a frown- can do a lot on the campaign trail.
BTW, Kucinich was my second choice for quite a while- until he made that stupid remark that he'd consider Ron Paul as his running mate.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
I misinterpreted your humor as a slam against Alice, who I thought was making some great points.
Edwards turned out to be lousy husband to his better half and he didn't have Obama's charisma. On the brighter side, he proved Ann Coulter wrong about him being gay.
"I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word '******,' so I - so kind of an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards." --Ann Coulter at the Conservative Political Action Conference
They have connections in high places.
If you are a candidate for office, don't use a phone or the Internet, unless you know you have the Fat Cats' favor. They'll find a way to discredit you even if you are pure as snow.
Don't expect Obama to make any changes in surveillance practices. He knows at whose pleasure he holds office. The oiligarchy.
O-I-L-i-g-a-r-c-h-y
A major component.
John Pilger, The War on Democracy here
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
At Google Video you can watch The War on Democracy without interruption. I wish everybody would.
It's heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time.
This is what the transfer of wealth and jobs was done... I believe this bail out BS was a plan to transfer our wealth and power to this arrogant Global Empire.. By this transfer of jobs , the purging of health benefit & retirement , then given this Global Empire all our money plus money on a credit card in American's name...
By doing this ,We can no longer fight against this Industrial military complex and have become a third world country without a democracy..
We have to kiss a.. in "HOPE" of receiving a job.. The workers now have to do the work of 2 or 3 workers that have been purged for more profit for the CEO's and Global Dynasty..
There is no difference from Bush's administration and Obama except the BS they throw at Americans..
Where in the h... is the Change that is coming..
Where is the open and transparent government and the citizen's having a say in WHAT happens that effects us...
Obama is still at war ,, he is still giving our tax money to Banks and Corporations while they continue to outsource their jobs and manufacturing plants.
Where is all this share of this economy disaster which we have no d... part of... Obama as well as Bush and the republicans is transferring our wealth and power to the Global Empire that does not give a s... our us..
Obama as far as I am concern is a joke.. He is just what Hillary stated in her campaign... A person with a speech..
Where are the jobs Obama promised ,,, the jobs are still flying out the door..
Where is the cleaning up of our country's criminal activities.
Obama is still bombing citizens in foreign countries same a Bush..
Obama is keep the illegal spying in place..
Obama will not let Bush and his criminal thugs be investigated and prosecuted for the war crimes , lies to start an illegal war with Iraq, the no bid war contract given to Cheney & Bush's friends that have stole billion from our taxes.
Halliburton and Blackwater has been given an open pass to any and all their crimes and thief of our tax money..
Global corporations are still illegally keeping their money off shore in order not to pay taxes on and they are still shipping our jobs overseas and some are using our tax money to do it...
As far as Obama goes he is a republican and so are most of the democrats... Never in my live time have I seem sure a bunch of arrogant a.. holes that do not give a d... about the Americans citizens and continue to transfer our wealth and power to the Global Corporations which they say are too big to collapse.. So why is Obama and the democrats still stealing our tax money and given it to then..
\
\One pi.. off Obama voter. I am sorry I voted for him.. I throw my vote in the toilet by doing that...
None
But they only have 59 Senate seats and those GOPers love some filibusterin'. Until they get Al Franken blah..blah..blah............
They really are trying though, its just gonna take time........
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
These people should have gone to Edwards and told him he had to get out. It was pointed out that by staying in that he effected the outcome of the race. Nobody will ever know but...
I've never been a huge fan of Edwards. However, I am sickened by all the hand wringing and finger pointing from the liberals who are shocked, SHOCKED, at how immoral he and his wife were to dare run for office while he was f*ing someone besides his wife. Who someone f*s (as long as it is consensual adult) should be private and has no bearing on how well they would serve as president. Off the top of my head Jefferson, JFK, and MLK would all be disqualified from public life if we had to hold up their sex life as a precondition. Its only the insane American sex obsessed culture that puts these idiotic preconditions on us.
In regard to this particular story though I take the whole thing with a grain of salt. Some anonymous source whispered some BS into Georgie boy's ear. Who cares? Its probably all a crock anyway.
Except that there's the ideal, albeit dream, world, and the real world.
And if this got out after he won the nomination, the right wing would have ripped into him, tagged him to the Democrats as just another "immoral politician" like Bill Clinton, and we would have lost the White House, and possibly the Congress.
This would have destroyed us, and anyone with at least one ear listening in on reality would have known that.
i have to say i was somewhat surprised this made the "roundtable". although often the discussion
isn't that deep but this took me by surprise when i heard it this morning.
What were they gonna do? Put out a Youtube video showing Johnnies pasty little ass humping away on - whats her name?
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
You mean with his John-son?
Is that a republican i see in the back there, with his nose in the air? What is this, a tribal get together?
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
While listening to all of the smart people in the video all I could think is, "What about McCain's affair?" I would have thought that Robert would have brought it up, but I guess he plays by the same rules that the others set.
the Newt-ster!!! He's positioning himself for something - and his closet is full of divorce decrees and affairs.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
reptile!
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Money is only dirty if a democrat pays it out. But not a rethug. Wall street is a fine example of the rethugs screwing us for years!
"Let's talk dirty to the animals"
You don't screw around on your cancer-ridden wife. Period.
I can't say as I blame them for wanting to nuke Edwards' campaign if it appeared he was going to get the nomination. Can you imagine what the repukes would have done with this bit of info? It would have guaranteed a McDumb/Failin' administration.
Larry Craig, David Drier, Daivd Vitter, Newt Gingrich and the rest of the holy rollers would have been outraged, and planned immediate impeachment hearings if he won the general election.
And John McCain and Sarah Palin would have hammered him on the campaign trail.
And the MSM would have covered only the Edwards affair on the nightly news.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
minus Robert, god these people are shit heads.
Hey , it is a news story folks . Incredible that Edwards had the audacity to run considering the circumstances , the guy had me fooled I must admit . His career is shot , he got and is getting what he deserves , I feel very sorry for Elizabeth .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
Was it truly audacity which made him stay in the race -- or was it arrogance? Willfulness? Or perhaps some combination of the above, topped off with a healthy dose of denial?
The savagely ironic part of this is that someone needs to have at least a touch of audacity, ambition, arrogance, and determination in order to have any hope of succeeding in the cutthroat world of American politics -- let alone to run for President. However, it's all too clear that only the very rare individual can prevent him/herself from overdoing it.
Never trust anyone who insists that patriotism requires you to blindfold yourself with the flag.
Now there's the real point--you more or less have to be a massive egotist to even consider a run at the presidency, and certainly to actually get anywhere near a serious shot at it. Humble people just don't stand up and say "Hey, 300 million people, trust me, I know how to run this place better than anybody else!"
History has borne this out--not like JFK or most of the other "great" leaders were exactly restrained when it came to their private lives. Certainly none of the powerful modern Republicans, either.
Now, none of this excuses Edwards of risking the future of the country on the wager this wouldn't come out. It may or may not be relevant who a politician is or isn't screwing around with on the side when it comes to their effectiveness, but the reality is in the modern political climate it would have shot him in the foot in a very, VERY important situation, and that would have hurt ALL of us.
That's called bad. BAD Edwards. And I liked him, too, but obviously insufficient long-term judgement, however decent his rhetoric was.
As for these staffers, I'm kinda proud; while they were willing to follow their ideals behind someone who spoke for what they believed in, they were also willing to scuttle the ship if the risk to the nation as a whole became too great. As to why it's ok to have not just gotten him to bail out earlier, I'd say it's because they figured that the farther he got without winning, the more force would be behind his message for whoever DID get the nomination. That's legit in the way this ridiculous game is played, I think.
Is that a frisbee on Sam Donaldson's head?
lets not waste too much time or energy on it. There are bigger fish to fry.
Might it have anything to do with the imminent release of that new book by Elizabeth Edwards? It's not entirely impossible -- in fact, the cynic in me says that this is exactly why they've chosen to come forward with the story at this particular time. The timing is just too uncanny to be coincidental. After all, the act of revealing a scandalous tidbit about a public figure right before the launch of that person's latest album/movie/concert tour in order to get his/her name out seems to have become a fairly common marketing ploy these days -- and especially when the person in question has not been in the spotlight for a while. Rather disingenuous and manipulative of them, if this is why they've done it...but I wouldn't put it past them. They are in politics, after all -- which means that manipulation is part of their stock-in-trade.
Mind you, speaking as someone who initially wanted Edwards to be the Democratic Party's nominee, I'm glad that he didn't succeed -- and also, that his staffers were not required to exercise the "nuclear option". That being said, I think that they probably should have done so if absolutely necessary. Rightly or wrongly, Edwards was finished as a candidate and became a serious liability to the party in the instant that he decided to think with the wrong head -- had he been a more successful candidate, serious damage to the Party's interests would probably have been inevitable once the story broke regardless of whether the "doomsday option" was put into effect or not.
Never trust anyone who insists that patriotism requires you to blindfold yourself with the flag.
I don't know whether to feel relieved or disturbed by the fact that Edwards' aides had a nuclear strategy. On one hand, it seems sort of crazy to me that they'd stick it out if they knew he had this skeleton in his closet AND they didn't think he was going to win. But on the other the thing that really bothered me about the revelation about the Edwards affair was the idea that Edwards was willing to gamble with our electoral chances and ran knowing he had this in his very recent past. The morality of his marital indiscretions are not of my concern. That's for him to sort out with his family. But Edwards had a front row seat to the farce that is the Republican double standard about fidelity when he was in the Senate. He was in the first year of his Senate term when the country watched President Clinton get raked over the coals for his affair by Republicans who had mistresses on their own. We can pretend all we want to that John McCain's past romantic history makes a difference in the political arena, and thus Edwards' shouldn't matter but it's not true. For one, a lot of our counter examples happened decades ago when Edwards' affair was in his very recent history, and two sexual indiscretion is treated differently if the one engaged in it has a D after their name. It's not logical, it's not fair, but it's reality. Edwards could have been putting the country in an extremely dangerous position had he actually had a shot at the nomination. I've had a hard time forgiving him that.
I liked many of Edwards' policies a great deal. He pushed both Obama and Clinton to release health care plans, and he took on some of the central BS of the Bush admin and their war on terror. He admitted errors in his past positions. The affair was stupid politically, and a poor way to treat his wife, although that's ultimately their business. The Doomsday option was probably responsible to at least consider, given the realities about the American public, and the even more easily scandalized and puritanical press. I mainly regret that one of the few public figures talking a great deal about poverty really hurt his advocacy on that.
That with all that is going on in the world, that this piece of cr@p non-news story would be on a sunday morning political commentary.Well,it seems to me that the decision that I made months ago to not watch those idiot pudits was the proper one.This country deserves more from our media!
This clip is hard to watch. Cokie's assertions about Ms. Edwards, and Sam Donaldson launching into an attack on Scott McClellan -- both without anyone contradicting them. How did Donaldson go from Ms. Edwards to McClellan? It's beyond me. What is more smarmy? McClellan or Donaldson's logic?
Reich is correct. The Edwards story is one of tragedy. Jonathan Edwards was very selfish. He wasn't thinking of how the affair would affect his family. He wasn't thinking about how the affair would affect his career. He wasn't thinking about how the affair would affect the country. He was only thinking of himself. That's not the kind of person who should be in public office, but many times that is the kind of person we get.
I don't fault Mrs. Edwards for standing by her husband. Look at recent examples of the governors of NY and NJ. They stood there in the press conference. I don't understand the behavior, but we have plenty of examples of political wives doing this.
Clinton's staff proved you could do that without one.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
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