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Former Sen. and vice presidential candidate John Edwards admitted today that he had an extramarital affair, CNN reports. The affair occurred while he was still running for president in 2008, as early as 2006, while his wife’s cancer was in remission. The lucky lady is 44-year-old Reille Hunter, who met Edwards while filming a documentary for his campaign.
Everyone is invited to wonder what else she might have filmed.
The admission came during an interview on ABC's "Nightline," conducted by Bob Woodruff, and it will air Friday as planned. Like former President Clinton, Edwards is a slick-tongued Southern gentleman and ex-lawyer, with a million-dollar smile and a reputation for charming throngs of supporters. Now the former Presidential hopeful adds one more similarity to the long list.
The National Enquirer broke this story in October...The National Enquirer broke this story in October, which is not so amazing when you think about it. After all, it is said that even a broken clock is right twice a day. Being totally juiced by finally getting something right, the rag is going as far as reporting a love child, born in February of this year, named Frances Quinn Hunter.
Edwards says that the affair ended more than nine months before the baby’s birth and explicitly denies that he is the child’s father. When The Enquirer first broke the story in 2007, Edwards also denied the entire affair. Put differently, he lied while campaigning. [Edwards] may even escape this admission with a modicum of dignity.There is no doubt that the former senator indulged in a pastime as base as it is common. If anything is unique about this story, it is that he admitted it of his own volition, while he was not in the spotlight and not really receiving any flak from the allegations. Yes, he had recently endorsed Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and might have even relished the idea of joining an Obama cabinet – Attorney General would have suited the ex-trial lawyer well. But by admitting his weakness before it could bring anyone else down, in my mind, Edwards did the right thing. He may even escape this admission with a modicum of dignity.
Charming men with political power are a hard beast to tame. The same thing that makes this a story in the first place made the affair likely to begin with. I am not excusing Edwards' actions, but I feel like I understand them. He was one character trait away from being a downright good guy – but integrity is all too often the final missing piece of the politician’s puzzle.
[CNN, Fox News, ABC News, The National Enquirer]
Jeff Dubbin is a contributing editor for TheSequitur.com.
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