# Is John Edwards' Career Over? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 22, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980 "2010-01-22T10:40:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/1 "2010-01-22T10:40:25Z")
I just caught a piece on him, he has finally admitted (after lying about it), that he fathered an illegitimate child with a girlfriend. My question: does this sort of activity cause a problem for him, as a lawyer and politician? Can you be disbarred for such an action? I know politicians (as a class) are probably among the least ethical people around-do the people of S. Carolina still trust this guy? Can you still get elected to public office, with this kind of inconvenience on your record? šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Camus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@Camus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/2 "2010-01-22T11:32:19Z")
Heā€™s from North Carolina, but his public official career was over long before this latest confession. When he admitted the affair, his continued lackluster denials about having a lovechild werenā€™t carrying much water. He wasnā€™t a particularly strong contender in the 2008 democratic primary race. Given the past adoration of Elizabeth Edwards for her struggle with cancer and her status as an aggrieved wife, heā€™s even less viable as a candidate for anything than he was in 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/3 "2010-01-22T11:50:55Z")
The book ā€˜game changeā€™ portrays his wife as a very mean, angry person. I think thatā€™ll also bite him by proxy because he and his wife come across as 2 of the most phony people in public life. I think he might have opportunities to promote anti-poverty efforts. But Iā€™d wager his life in politics is over. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/4 "2010-01-22T13:46:49Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > ā€¦ > I think he might have opportunities to promote anti-poverty efforts. ā€¦ [John Profumo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Profumo) managed to rehabilitate himself. > [@](#): > > Brigadier John Dennis Profumo, 5th Baron Profumo CBE (30 January 1915 ā€“ 9 March 2006), informally known as Jack Profumo, was a British politician. His title, which he did not use, was Sardinian. Although Profumo held an increasingly responsible series of political posts in the 1950s, he is best known today for his involvement in a 1963 scandal involving a prostitute. The scandal, now known as the Profumo Affair, led to Profumoā€™s resignation and withdrawal from politics, and it may have helped to topple the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan. > > After his resignation, Profumo began to work as a volunteer cleaning toilets at Toynbee Hall, a charity based in the East End of London, and continued to work there for the rest of his life. Eventually, Profumo volunteered as the charityā€™s chief fundraiser. These charitable activities helped to restore the fallen politicianā€™s reputation; he was awarded a CBE in 1975, and in 1995 was invited to Margaret Thatcherā€™s 70th birthday dinner. He was a member of Boodleā€™s club in St Jamesā€™s, London from 1969 until his death. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/5 "2010-01-22T13:50:00Z")
**Is John Edwardsā€™ Career Over?** Duh! ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/6 "2010-01-22T14:02:08Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I just caught a piece on him, he has finally admitted (after lying about it), that he fathered an illegitimate child with a girlfriend. My question: does this sort of activity cause a problem for him, as a lawyer and politician? Can you be disbarred for such an action? I know politicians (as a class) are probably among the least ethical people around-do the people of S. Carolina still trust this guy? > Can you still get elected to public office, with this kind of inconvenience on your record? šŸ˜ƒ Iā€™m pretty sure his career was over two years ago when he lost the bid for the Democratic nomination and then all the affair stuff came out. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/7 "2010-01-22T14:09:59Z")
Just one more nail in the coffin. Thereā€™s also the federal investigation into whether he used campaign funds as hush money for the girlfriend and aid(s). But heā€™ll still have some kind of ā€œcareerā€, just not one in politics. If he and Clinton end up in Haiti together, all I can say is: HIDE YOUR WOMEN! ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/8 "2010-01-22T14:13:28Z")
I canā€™t imagine how this would get him disbarred. I see him working as a high-priced lobbyist from here on out. Not the life many would envision for a former VP nominee, but Iā€™d take it. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/9 "2010-01-22T14:21:10Z")
> [@stuthehistoryguy](#): > > I canā€™t imagine how this would get him disbarred. If heā€™s indicted and convicted for using campaign money as hush-money for hsi girlfriend, he will be disbarred. ---
**Author:** ![A.Selene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ec8ea/32.png) [@A.Selene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Selene)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/10 "2010-01-22T15:14:55Z")
One can only hope. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/11 "2010-01-22T15:23:47Z")
> [@A.Selene](#): > > One can only hope. Yeah. He and his wife have been two of the most disappointing people to ever take the public spotlight. The Dems should be incredibly grateful that he didnā€™t win the nomination or weā€™d be in serious trouble right now. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/12 "2010-01-22T15:31:38Z")
Stick a fork in his political career. Itā€™s done. He doesnā€™t need to lawyer for a living and in any case his specialty schtick of using his personality and sincerity to persuade juries his clients have been woefully wronged is damaged. Lawyer career is over. Author career coming, if he wants that. I am guessing heā€™ll wait on a book until Elizabeth dies. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/13 "2010-01-22T15:33:35Z")
I see someoneā€™s bumped a zombie thread from March 2008. Iā€™ll just shut this dow- Wait, this is _new_? Yes, his career is over. It was over before he admitted the girl was his. Everyone already knew that! Letā€™s review: he admitted in August 2008 that heā€™d had an affair, and that came only after pictures and details were splashed on every front page in the country. And all of that only happened after he bombed in the early 2008 Democratic primaries. His career was probably over before the affair was in the (non-Enquirer) news because heā€™d spent four years campaigning in Iowa, pretty much, and still finished in third place. And that was after deciding not to run for re-election to the Senate (2004) because he knew he wasnā€™t going to be win. So yeah, his political career is still over. No question Edwards was compeltely deluded about this, as he thought he could keep the affair secret during a presidential campaign AND thought he could be Obamaā€™s VP or Attorney General, but who is going to elect him to anything at this point? There is literally not a single thing he did in his political life that has not been exposed as a total fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/14 "2010-01-22T15:49:29Z")
His political career was over before the gossip about his sex life even began. He held no public office, and was not a candidate for anything, so he no longer had any active political career in the first place. Why itā€™s even news who he sleeps with is beyond me, since heā€™s a private citizen whose sex life is no more the publicā€™s business than the next door neighbors.ā€™ > [@](#): > > Can you be disbarred for such an action? Disbarred for cheating on your wife? Are you kidding me? Itā€™s a Bar association, not the Sanhedrin. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/15 "2010-01-22T18:10:54Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Why itā€™s even news who he sleeps with is beyond me, since heā€™s a private citizen whose sex life is no more the publicā€™s business than the next door neighbors.ā€™ My neighbor isnā€™t using tax money to hush up a mistress, that I know of. If he were, he would face criminal sanctions. The same is true of Edwards. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/16 "2010-01-22T18:20:29Z")
Prove Edwards used campaign money. Even if he did (and it hasnā€™t been proven), itā€™s still just about misuse of campaign funds, and who he sticks his dick in is still none of our business. Congratualtions on finding an angle that allows you to continue the gossip, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/17 "2010-01-22T18:37:11Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I just caught a piece on him, he has finally admitted (after lying about it), that he fathered an illegitimate child with a girlfriend. My question: does this sort of activity cause a problem for him, as a lawyer and politician? Can you be disbarred for such an action? I know politicians (as a class) are probably among the least ethical people around-do the people of S. Carolina still trust this guy? > Can you still get elected to public office, with this kind of inconvenience on your record? šŸ˜ƒ North Carolina. I donā€™t think he has had a chance at any statewide office, since he abandoned his senate seat after just one term to run for President in 2004. A lot of people I know resented him for that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/18 "2010-01-22T18:48:33Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Prove Edwards used campaign money. Last I knew, thatā€™s being investigated. Whether itā€™s true or not, or even if itā€™s nobodyā€™s business, itā€™s no oneā€™s fault but Edwards that this happened. But I do think the sooner we wrap that up and let everybody forget about him, the better. (Youā€™ll notice this ā€œrevelationā€ was mostly greeted with yawns. It came out Thursday and nobody on this board even mentioned it.) Iā€™m still amazed that anyone bought what he was selling. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/19 "2010-01-22T18:54:51Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Iā€™m still amazed that anyone bought what he was selling. There were quite a few of us on this MB, even some on the left, who noted that there was something just not right about him during the campaign. Something bordering on slimy, but I guess it was more than ā€œborderingā€. But yeah, he still drummed up a lot of support. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980/20 "2010-01-22T19:01:48Z")
I never had a shred of respect for the man. The less I hear of him, the better. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-john-edwards-career-over/525980.md?page=2)