How about- Why does John Edwards bug “people”? And not use us. Edwards does not bug me. Mitt Romney hair is always perfect and people say he would make a good president. Double standard at work?
David do you want to provoke dialogue or encourage it?
I think you are a bit of sensationalist. Using headlines and your blogs to create a stir.
There are ways to stimulate dialogue without causing a sensation.
I think you could do better.

David:
According to recent polls, he also ‘bugs’ the poor. Further, he is not the only who mentions the poor, he has just elevated the poverty issue as his co-campaign slogan (along with Iraq war). Why does it bug us, because many of us care about the poor, give to the poor; however, we also recognize that most people in this country who are considered poor, are in fact, not poor (travel around in Africa or South East Asia and poverty takes on a whole new meaning). Yes, let’s help the poor, but let us help those who are really poor. Let us give to the Salvation Army or help out the local mission. Let us get the Gov to give school vouchers so that poor parents can give their children a chance at a decent education. After, all major studies agree, an education is the pathway to financial stability and success.

Poverty is a subject that deserves much more of our time and attention in America.
I can’t stand John Edwards.
I have not been struck down by lightening yet. I’ll keep you posted.

It is easier, however, to label him a hypocrite.
It sure is, especially when he provides fuel for the fire such as claiming to be pro-ebvironemnt, yet he and his small family live in some 50,000 square feet of housing on a secluded 100+ acre lot here in NC.
You won’t see this career environmentalist voting for that hypocrite.

For four years, I was a youth leader at my church. I was fond of telling young people that a hypocrite is merely a person who sometimes fails to live up to the values he/she espouses. In other words, we are all hypocrites.
With that as background, why has this ugly insult been mainly directed at John Edwards and Mitt Romney? In Romney’s case, the answer is clear– whether his conversion on the “Road to Des Moines” is genuine or not, its timing could hardly have been more convenient. It’s less clear why Edwards is such an inviting target. Is he really more of a hypocrite than Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, or any other national political figure? David, I think you’re on to something.

People have compared Jesus to many things. But probably more than anything else, imho, he was a brilliant psychologist or observational comic. He simply lived above the infantile thought processes such as the one David Kuo describes in this thread. Jesus took the axiom ‘Know Thyself’ seriously, like everyone should. Society has no boundaries of maturity beyond the blatantly clear symbols and paternalistic rhetoric identified with child and adult. As adults we are as forgivingly patient with ourselves as we are with children. Even though we are conscious of the differences between childish thinking and sound judgment, we’re content with the line being blurred. People just continue living with these “little flaws” or “quips” (which is actually a conditioned reality and the way we behave) without ever changing the approach. And this lazy mentality does not insult our intelligence or pride on a personal level! Jesus Christ was extremely courageous and seemed radical but it was not necessarily because of any great political strategy or attractive insight for that present day. He was extraordinarily talented and able to channel his rage and frustration by bearing witness to the amusing lives of those in his day; and, in so doing he gained the world. It was his timing to know when to say what that made him heroic. His life is an example of first ‘knowing thyself’ and then continuing to live in that sound spiritual realm no matter what. He didn’t expect people to act exactly the way he did, but I think he wanted everyone to know they had the individual right to access freedom if they were willing to surrender their heart and soul. I think his major theme was that anyone could break through the constrictions of society that weigh down the individual. I’m not a biblical scholar, but I suspect he’d have remarked that to live any other way would be to have not really lived at all. Your personal and/or spiritual convictions come first. Then everything else should conform around that – the church, secular institutions and whatever.

I like Edwards. I like his wife better. And talking about the poor- anywhere- is a guarantee that most will be turned off – just not as interesting as a sex scandal. We live in neo-Victorian times. The extraordinary rituals of gentility (actually about power) today that are a joke when we look at the blindness this sort of worldview generates.
One friend – who has never worked a day in his life (inherited wealth) becomes furious, rageful , when the subject of medical care comes up. We shouldn’t let people who abuse the system into the ER, just arrest them – says my friend. So, I ask, should we just put big bins for the bodies outside the ER? This guy went to Assisi and the trip was ruined because there were too many – of “those” people around. I mean – go to Assisi and despise the poor that live there. The poor are not attractive, many are utterly impossible to care for. The rules of a middle class society don’t apply – they look silly. ie – license plates. In my state – we pay rather a lot to renew license plates every year. Our car must pass an inspection which costs little, but the repairs demanded by that inspection can be hundreds of dollars – especially is you are driving aan ancient car. So – in my city – having a truly legal license plate – means you are less desperate than your neighbors. Lose the car, lose the job. We don’t have much mass transit here. Health insurance – you gotta be real poor to receive treatment. In my state, many very disabled – ie. cerebral palsy in a wheel chair – were tossed off the Medicaid rolls last year. Can’t get medication anymore, and it is hoped – as in Victorian times – that such people would have the good sense to become invisible. Edward is talking about the two level society. The visible one that lives with its own rules, its own economy and its own blind privilege and the other one – hopeless, often illiterate, sick, always on the edge of falling into an abyss. I’m sure I don’t understand the questions, let alone the answers to such huge social problems. I just know we cannot pretend the poor are poor solely because of their moral shortcomings. We must examine our own shortcomings – our blindness.
I think that is what Jesus was talking about.

People who smile that much creep me out. I’m glad he’s focusing on poverty although I disagree that it’s simple to do something about. I have a close friend who has more income in loans than most of us do from working and who I never expect to see out of poverty. I think God for someone in my life to give to and be kind to, overlooking how much of his fortunes result from his own choices, but I don’t imagine there’s a policy or a charity that will lift him from poverty. There are reasons Jesus said “The poor are with you always.”
I’m not trying to say that a Christian doesn’t have a duty to care for and respect the poor, but I’m always uncomfortable with the assertion that a $19 billion program will end poverty.
It’s funny, but one thing I think we do to ourselves is become overly affected by the eternal parts of the Lord’s teaching and diminish the worldliness of some of it. We can (and probably should) declare a war on poverty or launch an initiative to end it but how will you or I treat the next unwashed, homeless person we happen upon is a question with more scriptural gravity.

I don’t like Edwards as a candidate, even though I think he is well-intentioned and sincere.
My problem with him is that I think he lacks political substance. In other words, he seems like a lightweight to me. He is obviously intelligent, but I have the feeling that he’d be a political lightweight even if he’d stayed in the Senate for many more years than he did. Perhaps he seems like too much of a “people-pleaser.”

One of the problems in dealing with poverty is that we only want to deal with the attractive poor. We don’t want to be changed by the encounter.
I think Edwards’ appearance and smile work against him – but -iin person – the guy who is not on TV – is no lightweight. There is a reason he is in the top three in the Democratic race. There seems no one with substance at this point on the Republican side – I keep hoping somebody will pop up – I want a race between people of substance.
Edwards has it. Hilary – despite all her baggage – has substance to her arguments, and Obama – brilliant comet in the sky right now – my daughter who studies these guys very very closely – assures me he is the most substantive despite his perceived lack of experience.
Dealing with poverty in this country and in the world will require conversion – a conversion where we all begin to see one another – rich and poor and utterly middle class as beloved creations of the Father. We must – in this country – examine the privilege that is ours – and reject some of that privilege. Hardest damn thing to do because I always assume others are more privileged and thus more able to give something up.
When I cared for very sick people in the ICU years ago – everyone looks the same in those nasty blue gowns they give you in a hospital. Once a good nurse has cleaned you up and cared for you – everyone looks the same – Often think that might be a place to start. Imagine every person you meet after they’ve been cared for by a very good nurse.

Thinker said:
“When I cared for very sick people in the ICU years ago – everyone looks the same in those nasty blue gowns they give you in a hospital. Once a good nurse has cleaned you up and cared for you – everyone looks the same – Often think that might be a place to start. Imagine every person you meet after they’ve been cared for by a very good nurse.”
Thanks. I like the way you think.

As usual, I appreciate Thinker’s remarks. Maybe we can’t end poverty, and maybe some of the poor don’t really want to do what it takes to lift themselves out of poverty. But it seems to me, if we claim to be Christians, should try to help make thier lives at least a little bit better. A little better health care, a little better access to transportation, a little more help at school. We could all be a little bit more of a good nurse.

Maybe the people who are “bugged” by Edwards are the ones who don’t want us thinking about the poor, and the disappearance of the middle class as those in the middle drop closer and closer to the poverty line. Those who are floating the label “hypocrit” may just be the ones who don’t want the spotlight turned to the wealthy who do nothing to help the poor. I have no problem with a rich man who tries to help others. I do have a problem with the rich man whose “charitable” contributions are limited to the local art museum, opera and other playgrounds of the rich.

There are many people in our society who have great resentment toward the wealthy, but accept and desire subjugation by them as the proper (and very paternalistic) order of society. (They don’t admit that last part easily.)
When a wealthy liberal person comes along and asks to be their leader, but won’t engage in the subjugation and paternalism they want imposed, they go wild in their reverse classist bigotry (aka anti-snobbism). It’s like watching bad teenagers run amok on parents who don’t want to punish them.

Foot washing
One of my favorite liturgical moments is on Holy Thursday when the priest washes the feet of those in the congregation. I’ve forgotten the way it is to be done, but it always amazes me. I’ve been one of the “washees” and for some reason it brought me to tears.
When I was a night nurse – one of my friends would spend a long time bathing each patient. Some were conscious, some were combative, some were just restless in the night. Her favorite thing to do was fill basins with warm water and then let them put their feet in the warm water. this is very difficult to do when the patient cannot sit up or move on their own. but, I remember the expression of relief on their faces. It was simply a loving gift. I began to imitate my friend. Recall how much better my patients felt when I was able to do that.
But Washing Feet takes time and love. We should perhaps take that task a bit more literally.

It is petty to make superficial comments about people you obviously don’t know.
If you are a Democrat, wouldn’t it be more useful to attack the non-Democrats? You are doing THEIR work…and it may well come back to bite you.
Think with the top of your head, not the bottom of your gut.

I grew up in Prestonsburg, KY. It will be interesting to see what the rest of America thinks when they see the footage from this area. After leaving there I finished college, medical school, residency… Let’s just say I am in a far different financial position than the one in which I spent my childhood. Although I probably will not vote for him, Edward’s upbringing reminds me of my own.
Just because I am relatively “rich” now doesn’t mean that I don’t have an understanding of poverty. (My husband was shocked the first time he visited my hometown). Because of the opportunities that are given us in this country and the support of my parents, I made it out of that life. I am sure there are lots of other poor people who could do the same if given the opportunity.

Edwards, like all of the democrats these days bugs the honest American because he and they are just not honest about the Marxist socialism they want to implement on America.

Just wanted to say a quick hello to B. I grew up in Louisa and have been to P’burg many times. Tell me you didn’t take your husband to Butcher Hollow.

Hey Donny, Try reading “notes from the Underground”by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Great little book. But before you do that – for goodness sake – the one note band stuff is getting old.

Hi Pat! No, I did not take him to Butcher Hollow. However, I did take him to the hollow next to my house;)
B

Thinker-your comments really hit home for me, as usual. Awsome. Thank you.
When I first started worked as a domestic violence advocate in the 90′s, I was very committed to helping these families, but often was shocked and surprised that they were, let’s say, sometimes hard to “pity” (HaHa!). Ah, the stories I could tell you of women who were appallingly NOT the cowering, helpless women in the corner I had heard about in my social work classes. Something my supervisor emphasized was that I needed to remember that many of the women I would be working with were not going to be the sterotypical, easily pitiable “victims” we all grow up seeing on Lifetime TV. They would be a “messy” bunch, survivors, that were wounded and imperfect, but were still trying to do better. I soon learned to ignore the package as much as possible, and focus on what was inside, what the person really needed (as opposed to what I thought they needed) in our relationship to help them move forward. They wouldn’t be seeking help if they were a hopeless–they actually were great optimists. They wanted what we all want–a decant standard of living, free from violence, a few amenities, to be able to have expectations and plans for their futures.
The poor in America are not like the poor in other countries, and this is why we tend to dismiss their needs. The other day I overheard a clerk at our electric company mock a client applying for utilities assistance, saying “maybe she shouldn’t have bought her kid those sneakers”. I have no idea where the boy got brand new Michael Jordans, but it’s very possible that he had just participated in the Salvation Army’s back to school clothing drive, and they were donated to him. We all think we care about the poor, but I think sometimes that this two tiered society is actually making us so angry and so tired that working class and middle class people can feel somehow that they are competing with poor people for resources, and they turn on them in anger. Have’s depend on Have-nots to exist, you see.
Unless they are the perfect image of a “deserving” candidate of our pity, they are ignored or blamed for things over which they have little or no control. We absolutely need people like John Edwards and others to put a face on what the real continuum of poverty looks like in this country, and keep talking about it, even if the guy does pay some working person $400 for a haircut.

What bugs people about John Edwards isn’t that he’s wealthy and talks about the poor, it’s that he lives an extravagant lifestyle and talks about the poor.
That and the fact that he advocates for policies that would use the power of the state to take other people’s money and redistribute it to the poor. He’d get a lot more credit if he organized other wealthy people in the country to work together and voluntarily help the poor. Instead he wants to gain power for himself so he can do it his way, with the state.

Bill Gates is very rich. Bill Gates does a whole heck of a lot to help out the poor, both in this country and around the world. John Edwards helps no one but himself. No one criticizes Bill Gates for being rich and talking about charity. No one criticizes the Rockefellers or the Fords for being rich and talking about charity. How much has John Edwards given to charity? He sets up a non-profit and uses its funds to finance his travel and pay his political staff so he could get his presidential campaign off the ground. He’s not just a hypocrite, he’s worse than a hypocrite.
More than that, he goes on about this Two Americas, where the rich one is getting rich off the back of the poor one. But he concludes that a household making $100,000-200,000 is “rich” and are therefore to be punished through his class warfare policies. This pisses those people off to no end. Are they living comfortably? Of course. Do they know this? Yes, and they help out where they can and as much as they can. That’s why the US has the highest charitable giving rate in the world. And its about more than just giving more money, which explains why so many Americans give so much of their precious-little free time to volunteerism. Americans are giving what they can, and giving up the little free-time they have. So it’s understandable that they’re going to get pissed off at someone who gives so little of his time, and actually takes from money that is meant to go to the poor, who comes in and berates them for getting rich off the backs of the poor and threatens to use the state to take their money from them and give it to the poor (and most likely screw it up in the process, losing millions to waste and corruption).
Americans are the most giving, charitable and caring people in the world. You’ll have to forgive them if they’re not excited about a guy (who is the exception to the rule of American generosity) who wants to punish them with draconian economic policies that have, in the past, done more harm than good.

I remember reading not too long ago, after the story about Al Gore’s energy inefficient mansion in Tennessee, about how Bush’s Crawford ranch is much more environmentally friendly.
Well, it’s also worth noting, in 2006 alone, the Cheneys gave about $7 million to charity, one of the largest charitable donations by a US public official ever. The Bush’s also regularly give a greater percentage of income to charity than the Edwards’. But everyone knows Cheney and Bush are greedy corporate stooges (out to destroy the environment), right? Whatever you think of Bush and Cheney on other issues, this is not atypical that the ones who don’t make lots of noise about the government’s role to regulate and control every aspect of American life who do a better job of promoting individual responsibility by leading by example.

Heard a quote from Senator Obama today that seems to touch our discussion a bit.
“Somehow we have lost the capacity to recognize ourselves in each other. You know, people talk a lot about the federal deficit, but one of the things I always talk about is an empathy deficit.”
When did it become weak to feel empathy for the suffering? I’m not sure when the subtle change occurred, but it has been coming these last 20 years or so. Empathy is the first moral lesson we teach our children. We turn to our toddler who has done something outrageous to another and say, “Now, how do you think that made him feel.” And the lesson begins. Do we still ask that question of ourselves and of our children. Or do we righteously claim our own victimhood? I think it is a question that bears discussion.

Great post, David. I agree with every single word. I often use similar analogies to make my point. People call Edwards a hypocrite because “he’s rich.”
The scribes, pharisees, chief priests, and the sadducees all did the same to Jesus. They criticized Jesus for eating with the “poor” while claiming to be the royalty, i.e., the Son of God, the King of Kings.
Their logic? How can you be the Son of God, and associate with the poor?
People apply that sime line of thinking to John Edwards, as if you cannot be authentically rich and authentically concerned about the plight of others. I guess “envy” and “anger” against rich people, and frustration of one’s own plight also plays a large role in the tendency of others to call Edwards a hypocrite. For many of the wealthy, he troubles them, because he’s rich like them, and doing more than they are, which is another angle to what you said. He’s stepping up, many of them are not.
How many people here donated or know of someone who donated funds to help Katrina victims and tsunami victims? If so, are you a victim of Katrina or the tsunami? If not, then you are saying that you didn’t have to be affected by Katrina or the tsunami to care enough to do something to help those who were. So, why can’t they see that John Edwards doesn’t have to be poor to care enough to do something to help those who are poor?

Sure Edwards is great for mentioning the poor but than he turns around and conspires with Hillary Clinton on how to get rid of other candidates who “aren’t serious” according to him because they aren’t rich where it concerns campaign contributions.

Something else I forgot to mention is while Mr. Edwards is talking about the poor here in the States what about all those poor people who are now poor today in Iraq because of him? He was a co-sponser of the Iraq War Resolution with Joe Lieberman. Look at their society now. It was reported by Brian Williams earlier this month that so many young girls are now sex slaves so their parents can earn money and as young as six. So the next time you hear Mr. Edwards speak about poverty think of them and who helped to start it.

I think you have to look at the bigger picture of why people don’t like Edwards. If it’s because of his home or how he spends his money than that’s really shallow and should be ignored but if people have real concerns about him dealing with his stance on issues and his plans than you shouldn’t write him off. If someone brings up his voting record in the Senate (for one term by the way) you should look at it. Mr. Edwards is also a Bilderberger: http://www.oilempire.us/edwards.html#cooliris Bilderberg is a very elite group of people who want to rule the world and back in January of this year Edwards spoke at AIPAC group meeting where he was all for attacking another country (Iran) which would make them poor as well.

Emily said: “Sure Edwards is great for mentioning the poor but than he turns around and conspires with Hillary Clinton on how to get rid of other candidates who “aren’t serious” according to him because they aren’t rich where it concerns campaign contributions.”
Says who? Fox News? You can’t even hear most of their conversation, so you don’t know who or what they were talking about. You are just believing what someone in the media told you like the media is supposed to be so honest.
Did you know that in the past the Clinton, Edwards, and Obama campaigns have discussed limiting the number of joint appearances, because they feel like there are too many debates and forums? Most of these things don’t even get on television. Did you know about that?
Do you think there is even a possibility that they could have been talking about someone who could limit the number of joint appearances being the ones who are “not serious” instead of thinking they are talking about other candidates?
You are believing the media speculation. The media don’t know who Edwards and Clinton were talking about, and neither do you. Tell me. Do you walk through life assuming everything?

Wow, Emily. Are you an Obama supporter? You know, Barack Obama, the guy who would have voted to authorize the Iraq War had he been in the Senate, based on the fact that he has voted for every funding bill for Iraq that came across his desk, until the last one, which he only voted against after debate was over and it was clear that it would pass? That Barack Obama.
John Edwards voted to give Bush the authority to go to war, which was naive, because even though Bush didn’t have to go, who didn’t think that he would? Barack Obama kept voting to give Bush money to continue messing up in Iraq, which was ridiculous. Edwards never voted to give Bush funding beyond the initial authorization.
John Edwards has apologized for his stupid vote to give Bush the authority to go to war. Has Bush apologized for his policies in Iraq ruining the lives of the Iraqi people. John Edwards didn’t set the policy for Iraq, you know?

To Emily,
Give it up. John Edwards was invited to speak to the Bilderbergers, just like every major Presidential candidate in modern history. I don’t like it, but it’s just the way it is. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be speaking before them before it’s over…watch.
As for the hair cuts, that you so foolishly focus on just because the lying media in this country tell you that you should, all candidates live in expensive houses. All candidates get expensive hair cuts as part of their media production expenses. Even the make-up job that Edwards was smeared about, was done because the television station that he was about to appear on TOLD HIM THAT HE HAD TO GET ONE before they would let him on camera. Why? For the same reason that their reporters get make-up and hair done before each show.
People like you, Emily, amaze me. You don’t have the critical thinking skills to understand that John Edwards is being smeared for things that are a normal part of the political climate in this country. Why doesn’t the “establishment media” criticize the political realities in this country, of which Edwards is just a part?
We live in a plutocracy. No regular person running for President will get any press. There are approximately 30 other Republicans and Democrats running for President beyond the ones that you have seen during the debates ( http://www.politics1.com/p2008.htm ). The others get no press coverage. Why? Because the media excludes them because they can’t raise the money, and because they are not “insiders.” John Edwards is wealthy. Most candidates are, because you have to be just to get noticed. That means they live in houses that cost more than ours. That means they wear clothes that cost more than ours. That means that most of their hair cuts and make up jobs cost more than regular people’s (like Hillary Clinton’s ONE-TIME $6,000 EXPENSE for a hair and make up session, paid for by her campaign).
Word to Emily. Learn to think for yourself and stop letting the lying media tell you what you should believe.

Why doe Edwards’ bother me? Well lets take a look at two Americas. The “Have’s” and the “Have Not’s”. The “Haves” work hard to earn a living and instill unto their children how to make the American Dream a reality. The “Have Not’s”, for the most part, live off what ever the government will give to them and make little, if any, attempt to improve their own lives. In recent years I have come to realize that there are those in this great country that truly, and I mean TRULY, need assistance just to live any form of life, but this is not always the case. Able bodied persons should get a hand but not a continued hand out. Mr. Edward’s plan is that of socialism. Take from the rich, meaning the middle class not the wealthy like Edwards, and give it to those who will not help themselves. This type of behavior, or government, did not work for the communist and it will not work here in the United States. I think the two Americas are really, the People in Power and those that must live by the laws and rules they create.

Paul,
You are a victim of the delusion that all people who work hard and instill the values of “the American Dream” in their children are in the “Haves” category. Many, many people work to exhaustion everyday in this country, yet have very little to show for it. They are called the “Working Poor”.
Many wealthy people do work hard, but many more do not. Ask yourself if you would rather be a major shareholder of Exxon, making millions for doing nothing, or scrub people’s toilets for a living. There are also many ways that the wealthy are subsidized by our government, especially those at the very top of the food chain. It’s called “Corporate Welfare”.
Please don’t sucker in for the lie that because you “have”, you somehow are morally superior to those who don’t. You may actually have done LESS to deserve it than the guy in line next to you, counting out his pennies for a gallon of milk. Paris Hilton worked how hard for her “have” lifestyle?
Remember that it’s not just hard work that leads to success, it’s also a little bit of luck. Don’t lose your compassion and empathy for the less “successful” people, if only because you, too, could lose it all one day and be dumped into their category.

I love what you have said here. You are 100% correct. Edwards’ campaign is forcing America to grapple with an uncomfortable issue that it has not had the desire (or the need) to confront since the 1960s. The media is on a rampage to discredit Edwards as much as possible, to undermine his policies, because he truly has the tools and well-developed policy proposals to make this a better nation. But his truth and integrity will probably come at a personal cost to him. In spite of this, he has given me hope and revealed to me that there are politicians out there who care and want to honestly change America. There’s nothing wrong or hypocritical for a man of personal wealth to talk about poverty. There is no double standard here. But it has to be understood that America, since its inception, has been a double-talking, hypocritcal nation, building up its military-industrial complex at the cost of the under-society…
Edwards is in for a tough one, and I honestly hope that when all is said and done, he will be standing to secure the Democratic nomination.

But Mr, if Edwards is a hypocrite, then he is a hypocrite. And a low-life opportunist who thinks he can win the presidency by suddenly waking up and discovering there is poverty. You ought to have the integrity to say it like it is, not chew curd like you are chewing in this post. Else you are a hypocrite, too.

John Edwards, new President of the United States. Why? Because America is better than that.

The Republicans and the mainstream media cast the first stone–in fact, an awful lot of stones. But they have had eight years in office during which time they relaxed the safety standards that have been responsible for the deaths of many coal miners. They traded safety throughout industry and at the FDA for millions of dollars of campaign contributions. They started a war responsible for the death of at least 3600 Americans on false pretenses. The Republicans and media no doubt also spend mega-money on image consultants and pollsters, and far more on mansions, vehicles, vacations.
The Republicans just want Edwards out of the way because Edwards will steal their voters and hold a mirror up to and shine a light on the Republicans’ corruption and dirty deeds.

The Republicans are the captives of the arms making-insurance-energy-agribusiness-processed foods-pharma complex. Republicans wrap themselves in the flag even as they neglect the care of sick Veterans. They quote the Bible but look the other way when young Congressional pages are being solicited by a Republican Congressman Mark Foley from Palm Beach, visit houses of prostitution before and after denouncing Clinton (David Vitter), and carry on adulterous affairs (Rudi Giuliani). Their media pundits have been caught doing sexual harassment (Bill O’Reilly), gambling (Bill Bennett), and drug additcion (Rush Limbaugh). The Republicans don’t want universal health care or a hike in the minimum wages, so they want Edwards out of the way.
It bothered me, too, so I did some research. That haircut charge included the cost of paying the hairdresser for lost work because of travel time spent to visit the place and time of the candidate’s convenience. A lawyer’s time is billed at over a hundred dollars per hour, so being efficient with your time puts the cost into perspective.

John Edwards is a disgusting human being. He cheated on his wife, who has terminal cancer, then lied and is now claiming he did not father the child of the homewrecking harlet he had an affair with. He is a horrible person who will come out of this unscathed.
It sickens me that people forgive infedility so easily. It destroys families, and if families can stay together after it, nothing is the same, lives are changed, the pain is immeasurable and lives can be destroyed. The children of the adultering pigs, (not just the adultering husbands but the wives and the ones who cheat with the married person) they either look at their parents differently and that is painful or they are taught that infidelity is really not a big deal and their morality is then damaged and may also become an adulterer.
This man who wanted to be our president, who claimed to be such a wonderful man is no better than a horny dog running wild. He will continue to spin this and think by saying he didn’t father that child with the woman he was breaking his wedding vows with makes it less horrible and expect the public and his family to buy the load of crap he’s trying to sell.
How is he saying his assistant, or whatever the guys is, is also sleeping with this woman and is the father of her child? What the hell kind of sexual games are they playing? Or is it all lies to protect him? Either way, he is a sick and disgusting betraying, adulterous, liar and he should be seen for what he truly is.
I feel sorry for his family and can’t believe his wife and children are staying with such a low-class, piece of trash. He doesn’t deserve his wife’s support and love. This obvisouly is her decision but she is dying and she is holding on to the man and his lies because she wants to believe in him and this has to be so painful every day and it is so unfair that this man, which is hard for me to call him, has brought such pain and shame into this woman and her children’s lives. He should be ashamed of himself and he should do the right thing by the child he fathered if it is his child and by denying that child if it is his is just another selfish act of this selfish, horrible man.
This can’t be the only woman, or harlet, he has slept with during his marraige that wasn’t his wife, just wait, the good boy he pretends to be, not so much. That is what makes this so scary, the wolf in sheep’s clothing. He deserves to lose everything, he deserves to have his heart broken and feel so betrayed and lost and he deserves to be known for the bastard he is.