Jess, there have always been politicians who have fathered out of wedlock children. Grover Cleveland more or less acknowledged fathering a child out of wedlock (who might not even have been his), and during his lifetime Jefferson was accused of fathering some of his own slaves-a charge that’s now generally believed. However, I agree the dragging out of this drama only makes John Edwards more of a public joke. Perhaps there have been delicate legal and financial negotiations that have held up his acknowledgment-but he can’t really be thinking he can rehabilitate himself politically. Humiliating a terminally ill wife is hard to spin. Hanna , the detail that struck me most in the Times story was the news that Rielle Hunter is moving to North Carolina! Is this with the Edwards’ family reluctant acquiescence or is she making this territorial move in order to demand recognition that her child has to be part of her father’s life?
Photograph of John Edwards by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.
