# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/41 "2010-12-08T19:20:55Z")
> [@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. I can’t believe I’m first to respond ! How about Hillary Clinton How about Jackie O Need I continue ? ---
**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, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/42 "2010-12-08T19:25:08Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > I can’t believe I’m first to respond ! > > How about Hillary Clinton > > How about Jackie O > > Need I continue ? I meant “know” in the personal sense. Of course, now that you bring them up, though, I also admire both women for how they handled the crises that they faced during their husband’s terms. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/43 "2010-12-08T19:26:51Z")
I know someone who went to school with her, and he admired her greatly. He always said she was the most blindingly brilliant person he’d ever met (and he wasn’t a slouch in the intellect department himself). Even if many marriages break up over infidelity, which requires more fortitude: your husband cheating on you and a few dozen people know, or your husband cheating on you and everyone in the United States knowing, writing, and talking about it? I have to admit some affection for her merely for her balls in talking about God during the campaign, and basically saying, if there is a god, he is a total bastard. ---
**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, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/44 "2010-12-08T19:27:31Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > I meant “know” in the personal sense. You knew Elizabeth Edwards personally? As for the list above, I would add Jane Wyman ---
**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, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/45 "2010-12-08T19:33:21Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > Even if many marriages break up over infidelity, which requires more fortitude: your husband cheating on you and a few dozen people know, or your husband cheating on you and everyone in the United States knowing, writing, and talking about it? I agree, but even that is very common. We have entire gossip industries, a large part of our media, devoted to those sorts of stories every day. In fact, she was LESS in the public eye than many many others in similar situations. I dunno, it seems like basically she is being held up as a model example when her life story as presented as worthy of note is not that different from, say, Kobe Bryant’s then 19 year old (IIRC) wife who is otherwise out of the limelight when he was accused of rape. The basic arc of her life story happens A LOT! Now, the getting sick and dying young part might not happen as much as the divorce part, and maybe that is part of the appeal, I don’t know. ---
**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, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/46 "2010-12-08T21:02:03Z")
I used the word admirable because it seemed to sum up her character, at least in the media. Orac writes this of her: > [@](#): > > [http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/12/a\_tale\_of\_two\_victims\_of\_breast\_cancer.php#more](http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/12/a_tale_of_two_victims_of_breast_cancer.php#more) > > Elizabeth Edwards had focused in recent years on advocating health care reform, often wondering aloud about the plight of those who faced the same of kind of physical struggles she did but without her personal wealth. > > She had also shared with the public the most intimate struggles of her bouts with cancer, writing and speaking about the pain of losing her hair, the efforts to assure her children about their mother’s future and the questions that lingered about how many days she had left to live. She shared my politics. I found her brave, thoughtful and honorable when writing about her disease. The rest of the blog entry details her treatment and is well worth reading. Orac is the nom d’internet of a breast cancer surgeon who does a wonderful job of deconstructing the anti-science arguments made by the loons. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/47 "2010-12-08T21:38:07Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > The basic arc of her life story happens A LOT! Now, the getting sick and dying young part might not happen as much as the divorce part, and maybe that is part of the appeal, I don’t know. It happens a lot, but when it happens to a public person, they get a lot of attention and their methods of handling it are examined. What we’re saying is not that she had to face anything particularly unusual — death, infidelity — these things do happen to a lot of people. But she rose to the occasion, mindful of her public status, and offered a way to handle things with grace and aplomb. She is only human after all; that she tried to live her life well is what many of us admire. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/48 "2010-12-08T21:41:56Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > You knew Elizabeth Edwards personally? > > As for the list above, I would add Jane Wyman I’m not sure Jane Wyman fits the bill here, for a number of reasons. The primary one is that the marriage in question ended before Reagan was elected to any kind of political office in government (although he had become president of the SAG by this time). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/49 "2010-12-08T22:40:43Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > I meant “know” in the personal sense. > > Of course, now that you bring them up, though, I also admire both women for how they handled the crises that they faced during their husband’s terms. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply “know” in the biblical sense. And yes, I admire both women as well, for all sorts of reasons especially Hillary Clinton. ---
**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, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/50 "2010-12-08T22:47:11Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > It happens a lot, but when it happens to a public person, they get a lot of attention and their methods of handling it are examined. What we’re saying is not that she had to face anything particularly unusual — death, infidelity — these things do happen to a lot of people. But she rose to the occasion, mindful of her public status, and offered a way to handle things with grace and aplomb. > > She is only human after all; that she tried to live her life well is what many of us admire. And this is why I wonder if what we are really seeing are fan reactions, that describe a perception of affiliation of some sort of the author, more than something about the woman herself. Similarly for recollections today about the 30th Anniversary of the Death of John Lennon. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/51 "2010-12-08T23:01:48Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Is it just me, or did she go from “treatment no longer effective” to “deceased” rather quickly? I understand, of course, that treatment may have continued until her condition was quite dire, I was just expecting it would be weeks, at least, before the end rather than a day. How do we know it was less than a day? She may have been told the bad news a long time ago, but it wasn’t publicly announced until this week. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/52 "2010-12-08T23:14:44Z")
She had to face a lot publicly all at once. The death of her son was relatively long ago, but she faced her husband infidelity - and not just infidelity, but he had a child with another woman while battling stage IV terminal cancer - publicly, and the death of her and her husband’s political ambitions - as well as the related diminution of her ability to affect public policy. While there are women who have been publicly cheated on, and women who suffered publicly from a terminal disease - very few women have had to deal with both simultaneously - and had those two events impact what they - publicly - tried to accomplish with their lives. That’s a hell of a shitstorm to deal with at once. ---
**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, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/53 "2010-12-08T23:23:04Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > While there are women who have been publicly cheated on, and women who suffered publicly from a terminal disease - very few women have had to deal with both simultaneously - and had those two events impact what they - publicly - tried to accomplish with their lives. > > That’s a hell of a shitstorm to deal with at once. So when what happens to poor women regularly in private happens to a rich white woman in public, the world weeps? Still having a hard tome reconciling the size of the outpouring here. Compare your description above with, e.g., Anna Nicole Smith. Fatal condition, younger than Elizabeth Edwards, unstable relationships with multiple men, including marriage to at least one man many times wealthier than the Edwards combined, and kids from ~1 to ~20, all in a very public way. Do we feel the same way about Smith as we do about Edwards? Why or why not? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/54 "2010-12-08T23:40:18Z")
Elizabeth Edwards spent much of her adult life serving on various charity’s, she was a spokesman for all sorts of causes. She did a lot to try and help others. At one time she was a highly successful lawyer. She gave that up to pursue her public work. I wish life had dealt her a better hand. In her later interviews she mentioned her biggest wish was to see her 2 youngest children grow up before she died. I react to the story because I went through a similar situation with a cousin. Ovarian cancer killed her within 5 years. Cancer doesn’t care who you are or how rich/poor. It kills anything it touches. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/55 "2010-12-09T02:18:06Z")
As a breast cancer survivor, this news hit me pretty hard. Breast cancer can recur to any survivor, years or even decades later. When it returns, it is eventually fatal. Most of the time we can put this knowledge out of mind, but news like this can make us feel much more vulnerable. If you know a breast cancer survivor, please treat her or him tenderly for a time. R.I.P. Elizabeth. You deserved better. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/56 "2010-12-09T02:38:32Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > So when what happens to poor women regularly in private happens to a rich white woman in public, the world weeps? Still having a hard tome reconciling the size of the outpouring here. > > Compare your description above with, e.g., Anna Nicole Smith. Fatal condition, younger than Elizabeth Edwards, unstable relationships with multiple men, including marriage to at least one man many times wealthier than the Edwards combined, and kids from ~1 to ~20, all in a very public way. > > Do we feel the same way about Smith as we do about Edwards? Why or why not? I’m guessing the reason women who are poor and non-famous aren’t being eulogized here- just a hunch this- is because their deaths don’t make the news. People _ **do** _ eulogize their dead relatives who aren’t necessarily rich or famous here, but it would be impossible to start a thread for everybody who dies. While I don’t think anybody here is suggesting that her’s is a death on par with Evita Peron in terms of mourning or controversy, I think that the fact a woman with two small (and one grown) children died during the Christmas season after a long and painful illness, and a woman who to my knowledge never did you personally any harm, is in and of itself enough to not deserve threadshitting. ---
**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 9, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/57 "2010-12-09T02:52:58Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’m guessing the reason women who are poor and non-famous aren’t being eulogized here- just a hunch this- is because their deaths don’t make the news. People _ **do** _ eulogize their dead relatives who aren’t necessarily rich or famous here, but it would be impossible to start a thread for everybody who dies. > While I don’t think anybody here is suggesting that her’s is a death on par with Evita Peron in terms of mourning or controversy, I think that the fact a woman with two small (and one grown) children died during the Christmas season after a long and painful illness, and a woman who to my knowledge never did you personally any harm, is in and of itself enough to not deserve threadshitting. I am not thread shitting. Heck, if her husband’s campaign had lasted long enough to the primary in my state, I was prepared to give him a very good look-see. Ihave nothing against any of the Edwards. I just honestly truly don’t get what it is about her that separates her from a zillion other women who die this Christmas season and every other season under virtually identical circumstances. My hypothesis is that it reflects some projection of the mourner on the public persona of the person who died. Maybe this is true for other celebrity deaths too, I will keep an eye out for the next one. A second hypothesis might be “pretty white girl syndrome” or something similar to that. A third might be “There but for the grace of god goes I”, b ut maybe that is a combination of the first two. I am not saying people shouldn’t mourn, or that she is not deserving of that, because we all are. I just don’t get why this is rising above the normal static of when people die. E.g. maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see a thread this week when Don Meredith died, and I suspect he brought more hours of entertainment and meaning to the lives of more Dopers than EE did. I think in his case, it would be easy to say what made him rise above the noise of the 100K or so men who have played in and retired form the NFL since he did. Not all of them, but most of them. But in EE’s case, it seems so hard to say other than that she was a tragic figure married to a man who was a Senator. I find those sort of juxtapositions very intriguing for what they say about the public zeitgeist. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/58 "2010-12-09T02:59:13Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > E.g. maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see a thread this week when Don Meredith died, and I suspect he brought more hours of entertainment and meaning to the lives of more Dopers than EE did. I think in his case, it would be easy to say what made him rise above the noise of the 100K or so men who have played in and retired form the NFL since he did. Not all of them, but most of them. But in EE’s case, it seems so hard to say other than that she was a tragic figure married to a man who was a Senator. I find those sort of juxtapositions very intriguing for what they say about the public zeitgeist. [Dandy Don, RIP](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=588240). I’ll grant that it’s not quite as busy as this one though. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/59 "2010-12-09T04:15:48Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > [Dandy Don, RIP](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=588240). I’ll grant that it’s not quite as busy as this one though. Well, the argument about her “worthiness” to be remembered by anyone certainly lengthened this thread significantly, so that didn’t help matters. Sorry, I don’t know who Don Meredith is, but I wouldn’t go posting in any remembrance thread asking why the hell someone is worth a thread or some news coverage. Edwards was a champion of same-sex marriage. She advised the Obama administration on health care issues and testified before Congress on it. She worked hard for a progressive action organization. I find those things admirable and worthy, and so I am sad to see that she has passed. ---
**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 9, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341/60 "2010-12-09T05:02:37Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Well, the argument about her “worthiness” to be remembered by anyone certainly lengthened this thread significantly, so that didn’t help matters. I am not asking why she is “worthy” to be remembered. Everyone is worthy. I am trying to get an understanding as to why her circumstances warrant the particular outpouring that she has received, which is above and beyond an average outpouring. > [@](#): > > Sorry, I don’t know who Don Meredith is, but I wouldn’t go posting in any remembrance thread asking why the hell someone is worth a thread or some news coverage. Me either. > [@](#): > > Edwards was a champion of same-sex marriage. That’s a big plus in my book. I had kind of forgotten that, as she became most public with it as she was already ill. and probably could not do more lately. But she did speak up when given a chance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-elizabeth-edwards/563341.md?page=4)