The Political Quote of the Day comes from New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd:
The president manqué [Democrat John Edwards] gives Rielle Hunter, formerly Lisa Druck, more than $114,000 to shoot vain little videos for his Web site (even though she’s a neophyte), one of which is scored with the song “True Reflections” about the Narcissus pool, which goes: “When you look into a mirror, do you like what’s looking at you? Now that you’ve seen your true reflections, what on earth are you gonna do?”
He has an affair with Hunter, while he’s honing his speech on the imperative to “live in a moral, honest, just America.” A married former aide says he’s the father when she gets pregnant, even though she’s telling people Edwards is the dad. And one of his campaign donors pays off Hunter to get her resettled with the baby out of North Carolina.
But the Breck Girl wants a gold star for the fact that he sent his marriage into remission when his wife was in remission. That’s special.
In his statement, he bleats: “You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare.” Isn’t stripping bare how he got into this mess?
Indeed, and it ain’t over. This post is written from Afton, Wyoming where TV shows broadcast and cable newscasts covering the latest twist at the top of the hour — that Edwards’ ex-mistress says she will not take a paternity test for her daughter.
I’ve always said I would never EVER use the tiresome journalistic cliche that popped up the past twenty ears that something “doesn’t pass the smell test.” But here we go: This doesn’t pass the smell test. This story is very much alive — and ongoing.
Dowd also makes this intriguing observation:
For some reason, super-strivers have a need to sell what is secretly weakest about themselves, as if they yearn for unmasking. Edwards’s decency and concern for the weak in society — except for his own wife. Bill Clinton’s intellect and love of community — except for his stupidity and destructiveness about Monica. Bush the Younger’s jocular, I’m-in-charge self-confidence — except for turning over his presidency, as no president ever has, to his Veep. Eliot Spitzer’s crusade for truth, justice and the American way — except at home.
Edwards is likely finished on the national stage or perhaps for any future elective office for a variety of reasons. This scandal is the final blow. For one thing, his track record is not good. He didn’t spend much time in the Senate. He ran as Veep with Sen. John Kerry in 2004 amid great hype but his performance on the stump — and in his closely-watched debate against Vice Presidential winner Dick Cheney — was considered by many to be surprisingly tepid. The Kerry-Edwards ticket lost when many thought it should win. He reinvented himself as a more savvy, populist candidate for 2008, ran in the primaries and then petered out.
And there’s another reason why he’s likely through. This latest scandal adds to a growing narrative: Edward’s sincerity has been questioned before…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.