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Go Home Could John Edwards Really Be This Dumb?

THE PLANK SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

Could John Edwards Really Be This Dumb?

Politico is spotlighting a long piece about the pathos of Andrew Young, the former John Edwards staffer who made the ultimate sacrifice for his beloved boss: publicly claiming to be the baby daddy of Rielle Hunter's child, only to be later kicked to the curb by his idol.

The piece paints no one in a positive light, conveying the sense that Young is a creepy loser and both Edwardses creepy users. But at the tail end comes a tidbit (which those following news of Young's upcoming tell-all may already have known) that stopped me cold:

"And Young, with all the fury of a spurned lover, may be holding out yet another threat to his old idol, if it comes to that: an explicit videotape, two people who have seen it said, of Edwards and Hunter together."

A sex tape of John and Rielle? Seriously? If true, either Edwards was taped without his knowledge (which seems far-fetched, especially if his ex-dogsbody Young has a copy) or he somehow got talked into letting someone (presumably Hunter) document his icky little indiscretion. If option B, I'm sorry, but the man is too stupid to be allowed to live among normal people. 

A rich pol with presidential ambitions catting around on his wildly popular wife is risky enough. Getting himself videotaped indulging his middle-aged porn-star fantasies? That's nuttier even than letting your mistress get herself knocked up.

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5 comments

The answer is yes. He had an affair with a staffer FOR HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, didn't he?

- csmiller

September 30, 2009 at 4:34pm

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I think John Edwards first climbed up out of the slime in the Garden Of Eden. We just didn't know this because God kept calling him The Snake. And all men are snakes, right? But original sin is now built around the proposition, "let he who is without sin cast the first stones at glass houses if a small fortune can be made hitting them". We're all sinners, right? But how many of us have managed to make a fortune marketing it? And let's face it: Put men and sex in the same room together and it doesn't get much more, uh, nuttier. Even in the White House, the Congress and the Muammar Qaddafi entourage. Bottom line: Will YOU watch the sex-tape when it rises through the sludge to the top of the vat? I might, sure. I've always had a sort of crush on Edwards's hair. gw

- iambiguous

September 30, 2009 at 4:51pm

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"If true, either Edwards was taped without his knowledge or he somehow got talked into letting someone document his icky little indiscretion." You forgot option 3, which is to put a camera on a nightstand and turn it on, and (for whatever reason) trust tape to his good friend, since he obviously could not take it home and perhaps Hunter didn't want to keep it around herself. As to men and their penises, nothing is too stupid or dangerous. Bill Clinton got a bj in the Oval Office, with literally an army of staffers close by, many of whom had to know something wasn't right. "Mr. President, your 2:00 consultation with a very junior staffer is here." "Send her in, and clear my schedule until..well, until I say so."

- blackton

September 30, 2009 at 5:12pm

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In fact the answer is ohmigod yes! I'd tweak csmiller's comment above and say that the guy was probably prepared TO ACCEPT THE VP SLOT ON HIS PARTY'S TICKET while knowing that this stuff was going to come out! He was willing to hand the election to the GOP.

- ironyroad

September 30, 2009 at 5:45pm

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ironyroad is right. I couldn't care less that he cheated on his wife. What really pisses me off is that he and his wife decided to press forward with his campaign even though it was just a matter of time before his secret would have been revealed and the GOP would have waltzed into the White House. Everybody loves Elizabeth, but it is easier to believe that her husband knowingly made a sex video with his mistress than it is to believe that Elizabeth was not aware that going forward with the campaign jeopardized health care reform and the entire Democratic agenda. Neil

- purcellneil

October 1, 2009 at 8:33am

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