Source: ABC News

Edwards Admits Sexual Affair; Lied as Presidential Candidate
In ABC News Interview, Edwards Says He Cheated, but Did Not Father Child


John Edwards repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extramarital affair with a novice filmmaker, the former Senator admitted to ABC News today.

In an interview for broadcast tonight on Nightline, Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he did have an affair with 44-year old Rielle Hunter, but said that he did not love her.

Edwards also denied he was the father of Hunter's baby girl, Frances Quinn, although the one-time Democratic Presidential candidate said he has not taken a paternity test.

Edwards said he knew he was not the father based on timing of the baby's birth on February 27, 2008. He said his affair ended too soon for him to have been the father.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5441195&page=1

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Like anyone really believed he wasn't.

Was called every name in the book, was told the Huffington Post was full of you know what, and that I should be banned for posting such horrible lies.

Hmmmm..........

Not gonna say it.... but.....

Hmmmm.........

I can't say I feel bad for John. In fact, I think he got exactly what he deserved. I feel bad for Elizabeth. She seems like such a wonderful woman, and to be going through cancer and have her husband do that.

This puts John Edwards in the company of Newt Gingrich. I have no respect for men who do things like this.

anyone on a pedestal.

When I was young I hero worshiped JFK as the perfect person - president, husband, dad. Imagine my chagrin (great) when I found out he was also a huge cheat and made a fool out of his wife. Ugh!

I can never have the same regard for him although he did try some noble endeavors when he was in office.

There are NO excuses as far as I'm concerned.

It's called Divorce.

It's that simple.

And the fact that his wife is extremely ill, well that just goes to show what kind of person he REALLY is.

they respect the "sanctity of marriage" and only see it as between a man and a woman when asked how he thought people like my partner and I should be treated.

I never understood what people are thinking when they say that.

First off, how does it affect me and my marriage if two gay people want to marry?
Second, if it's such a "sacred" thing, then how can they get divorced? Especially people like McCreepy and Goulliani?

Marriage" Boy I'd like to kick him right in the balls.

People are human, and we have no idea about their personal lives. Was it wrong to have an affair? Well, yes. But that does not make him all of a sudden a bad person. Now watch, the news will be talking about this all day long, and how much of the Susskind story will we hear? I predict not very much.

Priorities outta whack.

His personal stuff has nothing to do with taking on corporate interests.

McCain. What is it about powerful men who seek other women when their wives are having a health crisis. Exactly what part of in sickness and in health did the LAWYER John Edwards NOT understand?

I hope he has truly ended the affair and is trying to make things right with his WIFE, who has stood by HIS side as she battles cancer.

Look at the other things he has done and fought for.

But this does undercut.

. . . this was before his wife's cancer had returned. And Elizabeth Edwards has said he told her about it in 2006, and apparently forgives him.

I don't think it's something that warrants public scrutiny. I mean, he's not a politician who makes family values the basis of his political life.

Connect the dots here. He hired a woman he'd recently met, so he had no knowledge of her sexual history. He says the baby couldn't be his because of the date it was born - meaning that it could have been his child if it had been born at a different time, meaning he had unprotected sex with this little known woman. This means he risked catching a whole range of STDs from and then transmitting same to his wife. This would be horrible for any wife, but HIS wife had had chemotherapy for her cancer, meaning she had a compromised immune system, and would have been far more seriously affected by a STD than a person in good health.

So if he was having unprotected sex, what are the odds he had his new partner tested beforehand for the full range of STDs? His wife, on the other hand, had to go to HER physicians and explain that her husband had had unprotected sex with a relative stranger, and so his wife had to be tested for every possible STD.

..."When clinicians test for sexually transmitted infections, they
usually test for a few different ones. To decide what to test for,
clinicians examine their clients. They talk with them about their
visible symptoms, other symptoms they may feel, and what kind of risks
they may have taken.

Depending on what is found during the examination and conversation,
the clinician may take samples of:

blood ? to check for CMV (cytomegalovirus), hepatitis, herpes, HIV, or syphilis

urine ? to check for chlamydia and gonorrhea

cells ? to check for BV (bacterial vaginosis), chlamydia, gonorrhea,
HPV (human papilloma virus), molluscum contagiosum, or scabies

fluid, secretions, or discharge ? to check for BV, gonorrhea, herpes,
HPV, pelvic inflammatory disease, syphilis, or trichomoniasis"

I took it to mean that it couldn't be his because, if you count back to the approximate conception date, he was no longer having sex with her. That does not mean he ever had unprotected sex with her. And, as many people have found out, sometimes condoms fail.

There are increasing reports coming out about Rielle's claims during her pregnancy that Edwards was the father - given his history of lying about the whole relationship, a paternity test is the only thing which will definitively settle if it's his child or not.

Which would explain why she has been so forgiving. It's really disturbing how people are trying to come up for reasons to make this worse.

...still an idiot....

This hurts not only Edwards, but the progressive cause, I think.

Let's not make this like the new virginity, you do it once and you're always corrupted. Spouses will have affairs. This is between Edwards and his wife, who has apparently found it in her heart to forgive him.

It's conservatives who make "family values" anti-divorce, and "the sanctity of marriage" a cornerstone of their agenda. (Not to mention saving marriage from gays.) Therefore, I think there's an added burden there. It becomes a political issue when they have affairs.

Lying and recklessness aren't good qualities in a leader, ya know?

Now I know what they're talking about.

Both showed lack of judgment to think that this was going to remain secret.

When her cancer returned, she said how winning the White House, fighting for national health care and against poverty were more important than her health. Yet, had he been our nominee, not only would we lose the White House, but many congressional races, too.

Rielle had to have had unprotected sex to be impregnated (great odds against a failing birth control method). What a risk-taking woman to have unprotected sex these days with HIV, not to mention an unwanted pregnancy.

So, if she won't announce who the father is and/or consent to paternity test, are we to believe John is categorically not the father because he says so?

Rielle is the one to interview, NOT John.

Yeah. . .Hester Prynne and

the Scarlet Letter A

once again 2008.

All of a sudden Edwards realizes he better not do anything that might get him nominated, so he drops out before Super Tuesday.

I am definitely surprised to hear this from Edwards. But his revelation seems to be quite graceful, certainly more so than the average affair scandal.

And before March, Edwards was my favorite candidate whom I was hoping would be on the Oregon ballot!

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nevermind

If he was and he did, he'd be totally cool.

Jesus, and the public, forgive diaper-sex republicons. They are special.

I could not care less. Edwards needs to answer to his wife and that is it!

He just joined the republican hypocrites we do not want our leaders to be like.

Edwards sought and received forgiveness from his wife. Republicans are expected to cheat on their wives, attempt to strangle their mistresses, serve their partners with divorce papers while recovering from cancer surgery, stock their offices with pretty bimbos and get caught soliciting sex in an airport mens room.

Its a double standard. I am disappointed with Edwards but Elizabeth is the one who needed to decide what happened to him (divorced, made to sleep on the couch for 6 months, etc).

I don't understand why its such a big deal.

Hello folks - real problems, over there, look!

as a candidate that we'd probably have to support him --

The dishonesty and hypocrisy are pretty broad in this story we're hearing ---
after all, he did run as a family man! I think we all have something to learn
from this --- about men --- and about women --- about husbands and about wives.
And about families.

I think we all still work from some illusions about sexual behavior and about
marriages. Many recognize that what we think we know isn't necessarily the truth
or at least all of it. But I think we all know we still have a lot to learn.


So . . . coming back to John . . . I would have been happy with a populist
president -- the messages are there still, unharmed by this scandal --
But the dishonesty then jumps in the way of whether he would be have been a honest and
reliable populist president. As others have pointed out, FDR had affairs.
Ike had n affair. Does it matter to governing--?

Anyway - that's my opinion --- if he had been the candidate I'd probably be voting
for him.

Just as an added question ..... What if we had known this about John BEFORE he
decided to run for president. Would that have made a difference in this "scandal"...?

who already has the goods and is chompin at the bit to get at these malevolent crooks who have raped this country stupid. Edwards would have made a better F B Eye director imo.

We gotta be extra careful, because he's my #3 choice for AG (Patrick, not Edwards (#2) and Elliot Spitzer (#1))