Remarks from the Fray:
One participant said: "I vote for no coverage of politicians' sex lives. I don't care who is doing what—if it isn't illegal, don't report it. That's my new standard and I urge the mainstream media to adopt it. "
To which I heartily concur--but. The corollary is that candidates must not run on their wonderful family values (at least the part that is implicitly sexual fidelity).
If they run on something, the media must look into stories on that something--no exceptions. Since I dearly don't want to know about sexual history, past and present, of public figures, for consistency I must not judge favorably those whose saintly mien lets me think them better than most.
--Archae86
(To reply, click here.)
I disagree absolutely that because it's 'just' an affair, it's no big deal.
Someone who has repeatedly announced himself as fit Presidential material AND run on 'family values' as the moral arbiter for the rest of the country deserves to have his dirty laundry aired for public consumption, particularly as he seems hell bent on continuing to lie about it. I don't care who JE gets his recreation with--that's his wife's concern. I do however have a vested interest as a voter when a Man who Would Be President reveals himself to be a cheat AND a compulsive liar. […]
Also in the relative situations of the two wronged wives, Elizabeth Edwards comes out the far more pitiable figure. The woman is dying, for gosh sakes, and was willing to spend her last time on Earth getting her straying hubby into the White House. Foreknowledge on her part, if she had it, does not constitute a 'coverup'--this poor woman is entitled to save face any way she can at this point. A dying woman lacks the energy for divorce court, I'm sure. I hope she gets well, but if she does not, than the very last years of their lives together will have been marred by his deceit.
Public opinion hardly matters beside what John Edwards should have on his conscience. […] If he manned up and said, 'Yes--I cheated. I am the father of the baby and I hate myself; may my wife forgive me" I'd think better of him than with all these lies and obfuscations. 'Volunteering' to take a paternity test he knows will never happen is such brave and selfless move, eh? Caught dead to rights and he's still spinning. What a tool.
--hikari
(To reply, click here.)
(8/16)
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Remarks from the Fray:
One participant said: "I vote for no coverage of politicians' sex lives. I don't care who is doing what—if it isn't illegal, don't report it. That's my new standard and I urge the mainstream media to adopt it. "
To which I heartily concur--but. The corollary is that candidates must not run on their wonderful family values (at least the part that is implicitly sexual fidelity).
If they run on something, the media must look into stories on that something--no exceptions. Since I dearly don't want to know about sexual history, past and present, of public figures, for consistency I must not judge favorably those whose saintly mien lets me think them better than most.
--Archae86
(To reply, click here.)
I disagree absolutely that because it's 'just' an affair, it's no big deal.
Someone who has repeatedly announced himself as fit Presidential material AND run on 'family values' as the moral arbiter for the rest of the country deserves to have his dirty laundry aired for public consumption, particularly as he seems hell bent on continuing to lie about it. I don't care who JE gets his recreation with--that's his wife's concern. I do however have a vested interest as a voter when a Man who Would Be President reveals himself to be a cheat AND a compulsive liar. […]
Also in the relative situations of the two wronged wives, Elizabeth Edwards comes out the far more pitiable figure. The woman is dying, for gosh sakes, and was willing to spend her last time on Earth getting her straying hubby into the White House. Foreknowledge on her part, if she had it, does not constitute a 'coverup'--this poor woman is entitled to save face any way she can at this point. A dying woman lacks the energy for divorce court, I'm sure. I hope she gets well, but if she does not, than the very last years of their lives together will have been marred by his deceit.
Public opinion hardly matters beside what John Edwards should have on his conscience. […] If he manned up and said, 'Yes--I cheated. I am the father of the baby and I hate myself; may my wife forgive me" I'd think better of him than with all these lies and obfuscations. 'Volunteering' to take a paternity test he knows will never happen is such brave and selfless move, eh? Caught dead to rights and he's still spinning. What a tool.
--hikari
(To reply, click here.)
(8/16)