MOMocrats™

DOJ Gives Go-Ahead For Charges Against John Edwards

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I've never been a big John Edwards supporter, but this news from the DOJ highlights the flaws in our campaign finance system more than it does the flaws in John Edwards' character. 

Via MSNBC:

NBC News has learned, from sources close to the investigation, that the Justice Department has given the green light for criminal charges to be filed against former U.S. senator John Edwards for alleged campaign finance law violations arising from the cover-up of an extra-marital affair.

One source with knowledge of the case says that while prosecutors are moving toward an indictment, it is still possible that a plea agreement could be reached.

However, NBC News has been told that prosecutors are insisting that Edwards plead to a felony, which friends doubt he will do.

Here's the problem with this, as I see it. Yes, Edwards was wrong to have an affair and (allegedly) spend campaign funds to cover it up by putting Rielle Hunter on the payroll and hide her from journalists. That is certainly wrong, no question.

But what about the donors? This is the major flaw in our campaign finance system. Wealthy donors remain completely protected, even when they are giving funds with full knowledge that they will be used in ways that are against campaign finance laws.

Federal authorities have been investigating whether Edwards illegally spent 2008 campaign money to hide his relationship with videographer Rielle Hunter, and whether some $1 million, provided by wealthy donors to keep her hidden, amounts to illegal contributions.

In Edwards' case, it would embarrass those donors directly connected with the Rielle Hunter coverup. But what about secret donors to other campaign committees who are able to fly under the radar while financing efforts to undermine Medicare, or defeat candidates by inventing lies and scandal about them, or to use their leverage to smear good and decent people like Elizabeth Warren? Those donors go uninvestigated and unscathed.

The Edwards news will play as a big media scandal for as long as the news cycle permits. John Edwards will likely cut a deal of some sort and move on with his life. Life will go on, and big donors will continue to pull the strings of campaigns on both sides of the aisle in ways that impact our lives in far bigger ways than the coverup of an affair ever will. 

The evil isn't Edwards' affair or the coverup. The evil is the gushing river of money flowing through our political landscape, flooding and destroying along the way.

Game Change -- Sexism at its Worst

So let me get this straight -- with the exception of Michelle Obama, all the women who were center stage in the 2008 presidential election (whether they were candidates or not) are bitchy, stupid, whining shrews?

If this is where we are in 2010 when it comes to permissible portrayals of women, I may have to live to be 237 before we're treated with even a modicum of respect.

I am SO weary of men journalists (and some women) thinking they can get away with sexist slams of women in the name of political commentary. The authors of Game Change, the long on gossip, short on real reporting book, apparently want us to believe that all the things we hated about the 2008 presidential campaign can be blamed on the women who were involved.

Yes, ladies -- apparently everything you didn't like in 2008 was all our fault!

Seriously?

Now Elizabeth Edwards is to Blame?

As an early adopter of the John Edwards presidential campaign, I'm still smarting over the news of his affair.  Not because I think his personal life, or personal mistakes, are any of my GD business, but because of how this could have truly messed things up for the Democrats if he had become the nominee.

Because of how this distracts from reducing poverty in America, Edwards' pet issue.

Because of what he's said in the past about character and commitment to family and their importance for politicians.

It never occurred to me to hold Elizabeth Edwards responsible for what might have happened to an Edwards candidacy this late in the game.  But apparently, Sally Quinn had a lot of extra time on her hands, because in her Washington Post column, "On Faith," she blames Elizabeth Edwards for encouraging her husband to run for president even though she knew about the liaison.  And then smacked a really ugly and loaded label on Elizabeth -- "enabler."

Top ten reasons I'm done with this John Edwards affair (and why you should be too)

Wow. Activist and former presidential hopeful John Edwards had an affair. Two years ago he had an intimate relationship with a person with a made-up name who is so interesting she dated Jay McInerney and became a featured character in one of his books. (Alison Poole in Story of My Life, for the record, and not a particularly flattering depiction, but then, some of us know how exes can be. Fellow writer Bret Easton Ellis was also struck by Druck/Hunter/Poole, and included her in one of his books, too.)

That's right; I called her an interesting person. Not a slut. Not a ho bag. Not a home wrecker. I find that language sexist, offensive, and frankly? If I did it, I'd have to think of myself as a Mean Girl.

That's also right; I called him an activist and politician. Not a jerk. Not a cheating liar. Not anything worse. I find that unconstructive, and frankly? I don't give a damn.

That's right. I said I don't give a damn what sex Edwards had. Nor do I care with whom or where or when or how. It's none of my business.

Most adults have had sex. Some of it was poor choice, a mistake. It doesn't define us, or it shouldn't. If you've never made a sexual error, I bet you've made some sort of error. I have, plenty. It makes me reluctant to cast stones, and it makes me realize we can't define ourselves or our abilities solely by the mistakes we have made.

Speaking of adults, sex and mistakes, I'll be honest and tell you if a man is running for office, I assume he's got skeletons in his closet, usually of the affair sort. For some men, it's the sort of woman who launches two great books. For others, it's cops in the bathroom in the Midwest. For others, it's a string of women after a traumatic POW experience.

Let's grab that word trauma for a second. One of the questions I've seen asked most is, "How could he do this? Why why why? I mean, after all his family went through, his wife with cancer, losing a child, how could he do this?"

I have no idea. But I have heard that a lot of trauma and stress (work, health, grief) can cause people to seek an escape hatch of some sort. In other words? Your question just might be your answer.

So I'm not going to vilify him. I'm also not going to vilify her. In fact? I'm all done with the Edwards affair and I hope you are too. I'm even finished with discussing how it trickles down and affects other candidates and overshadows issues.

I have control over that. I'm not going to let it, and I hope you do the same. To that end, I'm going to give you ten good reasons to be done with this.

Elizabeth Edwards responds to news of affair

Read her diary on Daily Kos.

John Edwards hops aboard the Bad Judgment Express

So John Edwards had an affair.

Another politician can't keep it in his pants. Quelle surprise.

What to say? I am disappointed. I wish it wasn't the candidate I supported for president. Can I get my money back? I mean, if your candidate turns out to be a total douche, you should be able to get your money back, right? Actually, more than that I want my time back. The time I took to carefully explain his position to friends, family, and strangers. The time--all that time--I put into writing about him and why I thought he was the best candidate for president.

Hello, have you seen this site? It's called MOMocrats and we started because we supported a guy for president...gee...what was his name again? Right now I am thanking the universe that we had the forethought from the moment we hit publish on our blog to also keep our eyes on the bigger prize.

I've written before how I feel about cheaters, so you can imagine what I think about John Edwards now. And how I feel for one my idols, his wife.

As I've said before about public figures who choose to make such stupid mistakes, where were his people? I mean, if Edwards doesn't have the self awareness to keep himself on the straight and narrow where, for god's sake, are his people?

Lean in close, John, because I'm about to school you.

There Should be a Better Rule Than 'Don't Get Caught'

JOHN EDWARDS!

Yes, John, I'm talking to you.

How could you be that stupid?

You know, as a general matter, whatever politicians do in their private lives is their business.  I don't want them poking into my personal matters or anyone else's, so I think that's only fair.  Have extramarital affairs or don't, but keep CNN and the networks at bay.

In our day of 24/7 news coverage and cable news that feeds on stories about sex or anything even coming close, you have to be a fool not to believe that if you fool around, you are going to get caught eventually.

I really didn't think you were a fool, John.

Whether it's our business or not, when you get caught (and people always get caught), it will pretty much be the end of your political career, unless you are an uber-politician like Bill Clinton.

John, how could you not know that? 

The only way I would be more ticked off right now, is if you HAD become the Democratic nominee and this news was coming out 2 1/2 weeks before the convention.  In any event, the GOP is still going to find a way to make hay with this.  I know they are working on the ad even as I am typing this post.

Perhaps an even bigger problem for you, John, is that those of us who were your most ardent supporters, were also equally enamored of your wife Elizabeth.  As a matter of fact, some of us thought she should be the one running for president.  So, it's sort of a betrayal two-fer -- we don't care about the affair other than how it impacts your important messages on poverty and health care, and how it impacts your amazing wife.

If you or other politicians are going to find ways to mess up your political careers, and disenfranchise those of us who supported you, can find some new way to do it?

At least surprise us next time.

Cross-posted from Joanne's place, PunditMom.

Breaking News: John Edwards admits he had extra-marital affair

Denies he is the father of Rielle Hunter's baby yet hasn't taken a paternity test.

More MOMocrats commentary soon.

A Lesson On What IS News, and What is NOT

“But it’s NOT NEWS…”

I remember it so clearly.

I was nearly screaming it at the top of my lungs.

I fought with my news director from 4am to 5am begging her to change our lead story to no avail.

She was leading with “Tabloid Talk Heats Up Over Alleged Clinton Affair” and I was cringing as I had to read the words.

I couldn’t believe our 24-hour news station was leading with a sex scandal alleged in a tabloid. I was disgusted. Baffled. Humiliated.

It took about 24-48 hours before it was all anyone was talking about and the name Monica Lewinsky leapt from the likes of the Washington Post and the New York Times.

It didn’t matter if I thought it was news. It didn’t matter if a mother in Orlando had been murdered that morning or if police had once again swept homeless off the streets of downtown…all that mattered was it was “sexy” and “sexy sells.”

Elizabeth Edwards on The Colbert Report

Elizabeth talks about healthcare and the free market system, poverty and that jet ski that hasn't arrived yet!

-Christine Modern English