Elizabeth and John

I used to have a good deal of respect for both Elizabeth and John Edwards. The key phrase there is 'used to'. While I still respect them and admire the work they have done, they pissed away a lot of that respect.

Edwards denied the affair, but Scher and other loyalists from his 2004 campaign doubted his word, made excuses, and stayed out of the 2008 presidential race when Edwards launched his campaign after Christmas.

A few days later, Edwards made a partial confession to his wife Elizabeth, of a single, regrettable encounter with Hunter. Like Scher, she asked him to drop his bid, to “protect our family from this woman, from his act,” she writes in her book.

But Edwards went ahead with the campaign — and Elizabeth Edwards put her reluctance aside to drive his campaign forward.

You don't run for president with an unexposed affair hanging out in the background. Had John Edwards won the nomination and then his affair was exposed, John McCain is our president and much of what John and Elizabeth believe in is immediately put on the back burner if not back in the refrigerator for four to eight years. They risked that because they wanted John to be president.

I want to be clear that I could give a shit about a candidate having an affair. I don't like it, but it really isn't any of my business. I could also give a shit about a candidate using drugs, what church they do or don't go to and a whole host of other issues that are nothing more than low hanging fruit for stupid chatter. The problem is that the vast majority of voters do care about such things. John and Elizabeth knew this and ran anyway.