# John Edwards, are you fucking kidding me? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 8, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344 "2008-08-08T22:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/101 "2008-08-09T21:44:53Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] …That said, I’m confused by the baby daddy thing. I think Andrew Young and John Edwards should go on Maury and get this thing straightened out. I mean, the situation is tailor-made for that show. You’ve got the gold-digging ho, the pretty boy who’s already been caught lying, and the black guy who wants everyone to know he hit “that” too, sloppy seconds or not. I say put the baby’s picture up on the big screen side-by-side with the father’s pictures and let the audience decide. The DNA results can just be the icing on the top. [/QUOTE] This is a most excellent idea. I wonder if Maury’s people are already making phone calls. If nothing else, this should be acted out in puppet theater. ---
**Author:** ![accidentalyuppie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@accidentalyuppie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/accidentalyuppie)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/102 "2008-08-10T13:42:04Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] Part of what really bugs me about Edwards’ recent idiocy is that if the affair was over long ago, he didn’t love her, the kid wasn’t his - what the fuck is he doing sneaking into a hotel to visit her? Something still doesn’t add up. [/QUOTE] My guess is that He had the affair and confessed Then he went back and did it again …this time he knocked her up He never confessed to the relapse He confidently agrees to a paternity test because he knew SHE wouldn’t agree ---
**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:** [August 10, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/103 "2008-08-10T15:21:08Z")
It’s fun to make stuff up. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/104 "2008-08-10T16:15:28Z")
It is high time this thread was ended, because criticism of Edwards only detracts from his overriding mission to help those in need. Edwards made that clear in his statement: - If you want to beat me up – feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare\* and will now work with everything I have\*\* to help my family and others who need my help."\* So you meanies better shut up now. You’re taking food and health care away from underprivileged Americans. \*not unless the Enquirer has more than it’s been showing so far. \*\*is Edwards selling off the mansion and estate, or was that a metaphor? ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/105 "2008-08-10T18:48:27Z")
The fact that the mistress in question is refusing to take the paternity test makes me think it likely that the child’s father is Edwards. Also, if it really was the other dude (the campaign aide) why did she refuse to list a father on the birth certificate? Doesn’t make sense. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/106 "2008-08-10T20:19:12Z")
[QUOTE=Blalron] The fact that the mistress in question is refusing to take the paternity test makes me think it likely that the child’s father is Edwards. Also, if it really was the other dude (the campaign aide) why did she refuse to list a father on the birth certificate? Doesn’t make sense. [/QUOTE] Who’s to say she without an agenda here herself? That baby’s father could be anyone (well, anyone male). ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/107 "2008-08-10T20:30:10Z")
[QUOTE=Blalron] The fact that the mistress in question is refusing to take the paternity test makes me think it likely that the child’s father is Edwards. Also, if it really was the other dude (the campaign aide) why did she refuse to list a father on the birth certificate? Doesn’t make sense. [/QUOTE] Well, the campaign aide is married with 3 children. So it’s not obvious that he would want to be listed. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/108 "2008-08-10T20:36:26Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Who’s to say she without an agenda here herself? That baby’s father could be anyone (well, anyone male). [/QUOTE] Clay Aiken just fathered a baby… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/109 "2008-08-10T20:42:00Z")
[QUOTE=wring] Clay Aiken just fathered a baby… [/QUOTE] Maybe two! ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/110 "2008-08-10T20:56:43Z")
[QUOTE=Blalron] The fact that the mistress in question is refusing to take the paternity test makes me think it likely that the child’s father is Edwards. Also, if it really was the other dude (the campaign aide) why did she refuse to list a father on the birth certificate? Doesn’t make sense. [/QUOTE] What is in it for her to submit to such a test? If it were me I would not submit to such a test just to clear things up for people following the story in the news. I might have it done if I wanted child support from the father or I did not know who the father was and wanted to find out who it was. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/111 "2008-08-10T21:02:50Z")
There might be something in it for the child – like knowing the medical history of both parents, which might turn out to be important some day. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/112 "2008-08-10T21:33:57Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] There might be something in it for the child – like knowing the medical history of both parents, which might turn out to be important some day. [/QUOTE] If so, it’s none of _our_ damn business one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/113 "2008-08-10T21:34:57Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] There might be something in it for the child – like knowing the medical history of both parents, which might turn out to be important some day. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure _she_ knows who the father is. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/114 "2008-08-10T21:52:12Z")
[QUOTE=Gala Matrix Fire] I’m pretty sure _she_ knows who the father is. [/QUOTE] Not necesarily. I’ve seen all too many episodes of Maury where 10 suspected fathers of one woman’s baby all test negative! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/115 "2008-08-10T22:20:40Z")
Again, Edwards has admitted an affair. The rest is none of our damn business. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/116 "2008-08-10T22:30:24Z")
What would be the legality of some smarty-pants reporter securing a DNA sample of the child and Senator Edwards and running a DNA check? I am thinking some hair from the barber’s floor or something. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/117 "2008-08-10T22:43:58Z")
[QUOTE=gazpacho] What is in it for her to submit to such a test? If it were me I would not submit to such a test just to clear things up for people following the story in the news. I might have it done if I wanted child support from the father or I did not know who the father was and wanted to find out who it was. [/QUOTE] If Edwards isn’t the father, and she can prove it, then maybe the press will stop hounding her. As it is, she’s leaving the door open. Whether it’s any of our damn business is besides the point. She’s become a public figure, and people like to gossip. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/118 "2008-08-11T00:02:33Z")
I am for Obama and for the Democratic party all the way, but I’ve always hated Edwards. He’s always seemed to be total fucking mendacious phony, and I’ve never quite gotten the whole brilliant policy aspect that people claim for him. He’s got the right ideas, sure, but so did Clinton and Obama; the question was who was best able to lead, and I certainly didn’t see him as so able. Here’s an example of what a truly phony, creepy liar he is. [Link from Time](http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1626498-2,00.html): > [@](#): > > Kerry talked with several potential picks, including Gephardt and Edwards. He was comfortable after his conversations with Gephardt, but even queasier about Edwards after they met. Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story with him that he’d never told anyone else—that after his son Wade had been killed, he climbed onto the slab at the funeral home, laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he’d do all he could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade’s ideals of service. Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me later, Edwards had recounted the same exact story to him, almost in the exact same words, a year or > two before—and with the same preface, that he’d never shared the memory with anyone else. Kerry said he found it chilling, and he decided he couldn’t pick Edwards unless he met with him again. I always hated how this rich guy seemed to feel he could “own” poverty as his issue, as if the poor just couldn’t get along without his help. BS. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/119 "2008-08-11T01:53:56Z")
[QUOTE=Aeschines] I always hated how this rich guy seemed to feel he could “own” poverty as his issue, as if the poor just couldn’t get along without his help. BS. [/QUOTE] Instances of successful lobbying and political mobilization at the national level by the poor are, AFAICT, few and far between. Usually it does, in fact, take someone with resources and access to the media to agitate on their behalf; otherwise they’re ignored. I’d be delighted to be shown how wrong I am. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344/120 "2008-08-11T17:45:24Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] Again, Edwards has admitted an affair. The rest is none of our damn business. [/QUOTE] Except that Edwards explicitly made it our business - based on his earlier comments about personal behavior being an important consideration in determining a person’s capacity to lead. He had this to say in 1999 about Bill Clinton’s dalliance with Monica Lewinsky: _“I think this President has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen.”_ By Edwards’ own standards, he has shown disrespect for his office and for the “moral dimensions” of leadership. His behavior (and we still don’t know if the whole story is out) is relevant to whether he should be supported in a bid for higher office or named to a top post in a future Democratic administration. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-are-you-fucking-kidding-me/459344.md?page=7)