An interesting article at the New York Times about the reaction of ‘normal’ Americans to John Edwards’ decision to “continue his bid” for the Democratic nomination for president.
Some of the reactions:
– “If it were me, and my husband was running for president, I’d tell him do it. And if it was him who was sick, I think my husband would say the same thing to me — if this is your dream, go for it and we’ll take my illness each day as it goes.”
– “This, for me, encapsulates how women are regarded. If she was to say, I want to stay home and I need my husband’s support, she would be guilty of fracturing of the political union — for women there’s always a choice to be made.”
What’s wrong with these people. “She would be guilty of…etc.” who said that? Who’s saying that?
– “Childish… an act of total denial.”
Yeah, it’s better to surrender and wait for death to come and take you away. That’s the mature thing to do, isn’t it? Maturity, of course, has nothing to do with it. If he would have withdrawn it would have been perfectly understandable, but his current decision is understandable as well.
– “Courageous.”
– “The cancer is calling on them to do something different than what they’re doing. For her to carry on and keep on in the face of it — I don’t find an act of courage at all.”
– “Nobody’s business but theirs.”
– “The two of them know what they both need. It’s not easy on anybody, but it’s no time to sit and watch the grass grow. You have to keep your life going, because whether it gets to the terminal stage or not, you don’t know until it’s there.”
– “Don’t let this stop our lives, let’s go on just like we were and make believe this isn’t happening. Of course that’s the selfless thing for her to do, but if I go in to pull the lever and I know that person has a situation in his family that may divert his attention, I may not vote for him. That may sound rough, but it’s the president of the United States, and he should be able to spend his time being president.”
– “It was a very emotional feeling to watch this. You could see the connection these two have to each other, John and Elizabeth. For me it went to my core.”
– “My gut feeling is he’s staying in the race for her. Maybe personally, he would prefer to drop out but doesn’t want to upset her, make her feel that she’s the one that caused it.”
Read more reactions at the New York Times. As I said – I do not consider this to be anyone’s business, except for them. This is their decision and it should be their decision only.
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