Reply #50: No, Edward's actions directly harms the party, and Obama.

[sakura]

Elizabeth and her children are certainly the ones stigmatized, and they are paying a steep and undeserved price for JE's disturbing lack of impulse control. However, they are not the only ones hurt by his selfish, stupid actions.

Long ago, Gary Hart lied. He got caught. Then Bill lied. He got caught. Now Edwards has lied. He's been caught. The MSM is busy painting a picture of our party from these "trends" (ignoring the relevant republican data, of course) and doing their best to spill some ink on Obama. Will ignoring the MSM's antics make them go away? Doubt it. Ignoring them has never worked before.

It would be ridiculous to think that a man as intelligent (brilliant!) as John Edwards didn't know what he was getting into when he chose to start an affair with this woman. So why would someone as smart as he do so? Perhaps, as one other leader said, "because he could." Or maybe he thought he wouldn't get caught. Whatever his reasons, he has put the health of his party at risk. He has put his needs above the needs of our country.

As for your war pigs comment, I'm sure you realize that has nothing to do with this issue. Plenty of evil exists in this world. Pointing out the lesser evils does not in any way diminish or excuse the greater evil. What's more, while it's true that the war pigs should be "disqualified" from politics, that's not how it works. Sadly, stunts like JE's make the chances of them being voted out less likely.

And as for judging, we do so all the time-- even you. We judge our candidates on the information they present to us about their achievements, their vision and their character. It's our job to judge. And when a candidate lies about any of those attributes, it's fully justified that we judge him again.