1 Boring Old Man

Wikipedia: Elizabeth Edwards

On November 3, 2004, the day Kerry conceded defeat in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer. She later revealed that she discovered a lump in her breast while on a campaign stop in Kenosha, Wisconsin a few weeks earlier, in the midst of the campaign. Edwards was treated and has remained an activist for women’s health and cancer patients…

Wikipedia: John Edwards

In October 2007 The National Enquirer began a series of reports alleging an adulterous affair between Edwards and former campaign worker Rielle Hunter. By July 2008, several news media outlets speculated that Edwards’ chances for the vice presidency may have been harmed by the allegations, which now included that he fathered a child with Hunter and had visited her and the baby girl at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. However, the story was not widely covered by the press for some time, until, after initially denying the allegations, an outright admission was made by Edwards himself.

In an August 8, 2008 statement, and an interview with Bob Woodruff of ABC News, Edwards admitted the affair with Hunter in 2006 but denied being the father of her child. He acknowledged that he had been dishonest in denying the entire Enquirer story, admitting that some of it was true, but said that the affair ended long before the time of the child’s conception. He further said he was willing to take a paternity test but Hunter responded that she would not be party to a DNA test "now or in the future." A campaign aide, Andrew Young, claims that he, not Edwards, is the child’s father. An NBC report suggested that Young may possibly be covering for Edwards.

In May 2009, newspapers reported that Edwards’ campaign was being investigated for conversion of campaign money to personal use related to the affair. Edwards said that the campaign was complying with the inquiry. The relevant US attorney refused to comment. In the same month, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News reported that he had been told by members of Edwards’ staff that they had planned a "doomsday strategy" to derail Edwards’ campaign if he got close to the nomination. However Joe Trippi, a senior advisor to the campaign, said the report was "complete bullshit".

When you look at that picture up there from their wedding, it’s hard to imagine that things would’ve played out like this. Frankly, it doesn’t make any sense, listening to either one of them. I suppose her cancer, or her outrage, might explain her books and her going public. And he doesn’t make any sense at all. If he’s that much of a mark, this was not his first affair. And if he has good sense, he would have headed for the hills at the first or second carnal thought. There was too much at stake. Neither one of them are acting reasonably.

Were I in search of something to explain all of this, I know where I would start –  I’d start with Wade. He is their 16 year old son who was killed in an auto accident in 1996. She writes about it. He talks about it [Edwards discusses impact of losing his son]. They started a Foundation from it. But do things like that ever really heal? I don’t think so. And I wonder if this strange drama that we’ve watched unfold on the public stage didn’t start when they met something in life that they couldn’t conceive, something none of us are really prepared to deal with. It recolors life, meaning, priorities, relationships – all the things that matter. I would suspect that were all known, they are both victims of the ill wind that blew their son’s Jeep off of the road 14 years ago.