"I Like It That He's Got a Fat Wife"

[purejuice]

So said the focus group bitches of presidential candidate John Edwards and the woman called Saint Elizabeth in this devastating account of Edwards' downfall. He has been voted the most disappointing headliner of 2009, drawing countless more votes than Tiger.

Power to the people.

I tried to read the Jay McInerney novel about Rielle Hunter but it was just way too stupid.

Again, the question is, Edwards -- like Woods or Clooney -- could have had any woman on the planet. He chose Lisa Druck, aka Rielle Hunter. 'Sup?

Comments

[dcart.livejournal.com]

Edwards was the biggest public disappointment of my life. I always had some doubts about him as a person. He's a little too slick. But I believed and still believe that his message was the only one that can make the Democratic Party a worthwhile vehicle. I believed the narrative that he and Elizabeth constructed and as generally unemotional as I am about politics, I can't seem to un-entangle the two here.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

his message being, populist? talk to me a little more about the dems' only worthwhile msg.

[dcart.livejournal.com]

I think there's more to it than just populism. Populism never brought William Jennings Bryan to the presidency. It is the message that makes up the core values of the Democratic Party during its only lengthy time in power. It's a belief that poverty matters and it's something we have to act on; that a failure to do so is both a practical and a moral failure of our society. It's the belief that work matters and that those who put in a day's work every day deserve to be able to make a living, even if that means we prioritize their needs over the needs of the investment class. It's the closest thing any serious party in this country has ever had to a message of social justice and social democracy. In spite of whatever reservations I may have had about Edwards at times, I believed that he really bought the message and would live or die on it as president if elected. I haven't believed that about any viable candidate in my lifetime. As little a shot as that message has in our system (which is lessening with every court case on campaign finance), I'm sad to see this particular messenger fall so far from his own narcissism. I'm just glad he didn't get the nomination. That would have been the end of it.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

yes, i agree on the importance and planks of the msg as well as your concern over campaign finance litigation. do you think je's background as the son of a mill worker, which was certainly the source and font of the poverty and work planks, was also the source of his dazzlement and downfall? the ny mag piece says there was a sea change at some point -- hard to fathom.
i like it that you found him inspiring, and i'm truly sorry for your loss. do you have another candidate you like?

[dcart.livejournal.com]

There's really nobody else I like. I refuse to go down the road of stupidity that suggests that a Ralph Nader or Dennis Kucinich is either viable or even doing more good than harm. Howard Dean was acceptable, but not great. I preferred Bill Bradley to Al Gore, but he wasn't a particularly good candidate. Gore would have been better than Clinton in 2000, but the idiots on my end of the spectrum heard him talk about god a lot and were all "OH NOES!!!" about him without bothered to read his policy positions. I'm probably in for another long drought of "acceptable" over "desirable" at the national level.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

ouf. don't give up. it's more important than anything.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

ps. what i find particularly concerning about the ny mag piece is the numbers, seniority and proximity of the staffers who quit him (and who are obviously the sources of the story), and who decided his candidacy needed to be aborted. this is serious business.

[dcart.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. It seems pretty clear to me that Edwards completely lost his shit. It's sadly familiar to me, too. I'm pretty sure that something similar was behind my dad's fall from grace in the Florida AFL-CIO twenty years ago.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

ooohhh, dude. this is so resonant. i hope you will write about this some day and continue to keep string on it. it is, as you suggest, more important than just one man's little life.