# RIP Elizabeth Edwards **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 7, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341 "2010-12-07T22:35:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/21 "2010-12-08T05:01:46Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > RIP. And poor kids. > > I heard the end of a news article on the local NPR in which a caller asked if the hormone treatments she underwent to be able to have her two youngest children (at 48 and 50 respectively) contributed to the cancer or any of the related health problems in the last few years. The newscaster basically said “No idea”, but does anybody know if there’s been research about this? The answer seems to be [no](http://www.slate.com/id/2163785/) on any connection between infertility treatments and breast cancer. I respected her privacy but I disliked her failure to admit to two rather obvious donor egg pregnancies. Then again considering that a significant percentage of the population views infertility treatments with vast contempt I can’t really blame her. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/22 "2010-12-08T06:18:46Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Edwards has to be one of the most optimistic and self confident men in the world to have tried and run for president juggling a secret illegitimate baby while his wife battled cancer and reporters dogging his every move. Well, those aren’t the only adjectives that fit this behavior. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/23 "2010-12-08T07:11:46Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > What makes her such a saint? I don’t have any public persona of her beyond a scorned wife of a public figure, who got cancer. Any accomplishments of her own to earn the accolades? From here it seems like a pretty common story. She was a public figure in her own rite, especially after John’s infidelity became public. Before that she was a common sight around the liberal blogosphere, and a lot of people saw her as someone who could have had a political career of her own if she hadn’t chosen to back her husband’s instead. Her approach to the whole mess was a new one. Before her, high-profile scorned political wives either quietly disappeared or put on a brave face and stood by their men. Elizabeth left the bastard and wasn’t afraid to talk about it. If Jenny Sanford’s reaction is any indication, Elizabeth created a new paradigm for the screwed-over political wife, and not a moment too soon, IMO. I don’t think anyone called her a saint. I certainly won’t. In fact, many of the same sources that later cast John Edwards in a harsh light didn’t have the kindest things to say about her, either. But from all appearances she was a smart, strong, and classy lady whose story was cut way too short. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/24 "2010-12-08T07:26:23Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Her approach to the whole mess was a new one. Before her, high-profile scorned political wives either quietly disappeared or put on a brave face and stood by their men. Elizabeth left the bastard and wasn’t afraid to talk about it. If Jenny Sanford’s reaction is any indication, Elizabeth created a new paradigm for the screwed-over political wife, and not a moment too soon, IMO. This. It was great to not see the smiling wife with the watery eyes next to the husband at the press conference for a change. Evidently a law in North Carolina [requires a couple to live apart for one year](http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/27/elizabeth-edwards-and-john-edwards-are-legally-separated-divorc/)before they can divorce, and the Edwards’s separated in January 2010, so they were still married. I wonder if that law began as a way to stop people from putting their assets in a spouse’s name and then divorcing to keep property from creditors. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/25 "2010-12-08T14:12:59Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I think it’s common with famous people that the family issues a “they are very sick” statement just before they die. I live near Chapel Hill and the local paper said they heard rumors she was very ill on Sunday so the family statement on Monday was probably put out to beat the media to the punch. She probably stopped treatment a while ago. It’s a sad story and I’m sorry for her family. By most accounts she was a good person who believed in what she was doing. If she fell short of that during the 2008 campaign, as some people say, I would counter that she was going through hell at that point. I’m not sure how anybody would handle cancer, spousal infidelity and a presidential campaign at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/26 "2010-12-08T15:59:07Z")
I always thought Elizabeth would have made a better president than John (even before the scandal erupted). Sad to hear of her passing. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/27 "2010-12-08T16:10:44Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > What makes her such a saint? I don’t have any public persona of her beyond a scorned wife of a public figure, who got cancer. Any accomplishments of her own to earn the accolades? From here it seems like a pretty common story. No one has even come close to saying that she was a saint. She wasn’t, by any measure. Rather she was a normal woman who faced extraordinary circumstances with dignity and grace. Even though I don’t agree with a lot of her political viewpoints, I still admire her for always taking the high road when it seemed that everyone around her was wallowing in the mud. FWIW, I admire Laura Bush for having the same qualities. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/28 "2010-12-08T17:15:33Z")
Another question about her health situation. Did she delay treatment to campaign for her husband? ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/29 "2010-12-08T17:22:36Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > She was a public figure in her own rite, especially after John’s infidelity became public. Before that she was a common sight around the liberal blogosphere, and a lot of people saw her as someone who could have had a political career of her own if she hadn’t chosen to back her husband’s instead. None of that is unusual. It is pretty much the same as the wife of the SC governor, other than the direction of the politics. And all relationships are about compromise, what makes this special? > [@](#): > > I don’t think anyone called her a saint. I certainly won’t. In fact, many of the same sources that later cast John Edwards in a harsh light didn’t have the kindest things to say about her, either. But from all appearances she was a smart, strong, and classy lady whose story was cut way too short. So her public persona is what you base her classiness on? Sure, no one should die as young as she did, but really, I don’t know what she did that she will be remembered for. A marriage of trial lawyers, one goes into politics, eventually they get divorced. So what? Her marriage should somehow be immune to the same pressures as everyone else’s? People get divorced under near-identical circumstances all the time. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/30 "2010-12-08T17:25:29Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > No one has even come close to saying that she was a saint. She wasn’t, by any measure. Rather she was a normal woman who faced extraordinary circumstances with dignity and grace. What was extraordinary about it? People’s marriages fall apart due to infidelity, often in a public way, very frequently. Why care about this one as opposed to others? ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/31 "2010-12-08T17:31:36Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > I don’t think anyone called her a saint. I certainly won’t. In fact, many of the same sources that later cast John Edwards in a harsh light didn’t have the kindest things to say about her, either. I am not going to spend my time speaking ill of the dead, but this is an extreme understatement. There are many who were in a position to know who claim that Elizabeth Edwards was a deeply unpleasant person to be around, and had been for many years before she became ill. Maybe her grief over losing a young son had something to do with her arrogance and her demanding, entitled attitude, but for whatever reason, she apparently didn’t have a lot of symapthy from anyone who ever worked with or for her… ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/32 "2010-12-08T17:34:10Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > What makes her such a saint? I don’t have any public persona of her beyond a scorned wife of a public figure, who got cancer. Any accomplishments of her own to earn the accolades? From here it seems like a pretty common story. I’m not sure she was a saint. In **Game Change** , a behind-the-scenes book of the 2008 election, Elizabeth comes across as a harpy who was wronged by a husband who couldn’t keep it in his pants. Basically, their public personas seemed to be a complete 180 from their real life personas. Elizabeth wasn’t a saint, she was a constantly angry person even before the affair. While John wasn’t a total sleazeball. He was an adulterer who was an otherwise good person. That was actually one of the most interesting parts of the book because it didn’t jibe with the public story at all. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/33 "2010-12-08T18:13:27Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > What was extraordinary about it? I know many women whose husbands cheated on them. I don’t know any who stood a decent chance of being First Lady of the United States. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/34 "2010-12-08T18:26:50Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > I know many women whose husbands cheated on them. I don’t know any who stood a decent chance of being First Lady of the United States. Wow! So what makes this woman special is her proximity to events that happened around her rather than her own accomplishments? Do you hold every wife of everyone who ever ran in a presidential primary whose husband cheated on her in such high regard? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/35 "2010-12-08T18:33:45Z")
I don’t think she was a saint either, I think she’s just someone who was handed a lot of crap and dealt with it as best she could. Not\_Alice, there’s a word for what you’re doing here and it’s generally frowned upon in memorial threads. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/36 "2010-12-08T18:41:36Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I don’t think she was a saint either, I think she’s just someone who was handed a lot of crap and dealt with it as best she could. > > Not\_Alice, there’s a word for what you’re doing here and it’s generally frowned upon in memorial threads. What? You are doing the same thing too, asking about her treatment plan. And it is not like the OP didn’t take a swing at her husband while memorializing her. That opens the door in my book to explore the relationship between him and her. OP could have said “She was admirable” without contrasting it to her husband, that is more of a memorial statement. I don’t know much about her life, that is why I thought there might be something specific to point to. I agree it is disturbing that in a memorial thread, the best reason for the memorial seems to be “she was a wronged woman who behaved a little differently than most women do in those circumstances”. I sincerely hope there is more and I am eager to learn it. Note that unlike the OP I am not discussing her husband at all, I am only trying to find out why she was admirable. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/37 "2010-12-08T18:54:43Z")
I was curious is she delayed treatment for her husband’s campaign because of a news report that mentioned she kept her cancer a secret during the 2004 campaign. I don’t remember the sequence of events and thought someone here might know if that was the case. I did not imply that her cancer and death was her own fault for delaying treatment, I simply asked a question about her life (which no one answered anyway). I don’t really think that’s the same thing you’re doing, however I will withdraw the question because if you find it inappropriate for a memorial thread then it must be inappropriate and I will ask or look elsewhere for the information. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/38 "2010-12-08T18:59:29Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > So what makes this woman special is her proximity to events that happened around her rather than her own accomplishments? Yes. She lived in a media fishbowl because she happened to be an ambitious politician’s wife. It was the way she handled a series of tragic events that set her apart. I hold a similar admiration for Ryan White, though he wasn’t particularly “accomplished” upon his death, either. Not one person in this thread proclaimed her to be a saint or some ridiculously important person worthy of a state funeral. You don’t believe she’s noteworthy. Point taken. Now can you please take your misplaced hostility somewhere else? ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/39 "2010-12-08T19:03:17Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I was curious is she delayed treatment for her husband’s campaign because of a news report that mentioned she kept her cancer a secret during the 2004 campaign. I don’t remember the sequence of events and thought someone here might know if that was the case. I did not imply that her cancer and death was her own fault for delaying treatment, I simply asked a question about her life (which no one answered anyway). > > I don’t really think that’s the same thing you’re doing, however I will withdraw the question because if you find it inappropriate for a memorial thread then it must be inappropriate and I will ask or look elsewhere for the information. I didn’t give a thought that you were anything other than curious until you cast aspersions on my curiosity about some other aspect of her life. I don;t find either your curiosity or mine inappropriate. What is weird is that my question about what makes her notable makes people uncomfortable. I mean, if the answer is “she stood by her man, until she didn’t anymore, then she got sick at a young age”, then I suppose that is it. Seems like weak sauce to me, but people get memorialized for far less I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/40 "2010-12-08T19:10:33Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Not one person in this thread proclaimed her to be a saint or some ridiculously important person worthy of a state funeral. You don’t believe she’s noteworthy. Point taken. Now can you please take your misplaced hostility somewhere else? I am not hostile. OK “saint” is a little bit of hyperbole, but it comes not just form the OP, but form media reports I saw as well. But then again, I never said she was not noteworthy did I? so you are not above a little bit of putting words in peoples mouths yourself are you? It seems you are the one who is hostile. If anything, I asked what makes her noteworthy - spouses of famous and rich and powerful people all live in a fishbowl, and many of them have marriages that fall apart in a very public way. Heck, we have a whole gossip/celebrity industry to document it! That is why I don’t see anything in this woman or her life we don’t see all the time, and so I honestly don’t get what it is about her that strikes such a chord among people compared to the others. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341.md?page=3)