Elizabeth Edwards is on "the View" this morning...

[Blue_Roses]

nt

[grantcart]

1. This is going from sad to maudlin to mawkish.

Please Elizabeth go home and be the great mother that you are.



She shouldn't have encouraged the campaign once she knew, but now she is saying that getting out would have been more of a problem. Elizabeth, once you were rediagnosed with cancer you could have gotten out and nobody needed to know about the affair.


In this case "spending more time with my family and working with my wife on her health" would have been both true and noble.

[Hepburn]

3. I agree....

...Elizabeth needs to give it a rest.

I can understand the anger and poor judgment at this time in her life...but she is tarnishing her reputation. Sad, very sad, to watch.

JMHO

[Javaman]

4. she is slowly sinking into self parody.

She now wears her grief on her sleeve.

I would have more admiration for her if she morphed her grief into something positive. She may still yet, but so far, not so much.

She needs to take a break.

[Adelante]

40. Really

She could be an important voice for health care instead of conducting this melodramatic road show. I have sympathy for her personal life pain, as a human being, but I am awfully bored with her public performance. What a waste.

[coinstar queen]

20. Why is she tarnishing her image? (I didn't see the show today.)

My feeling is that she has earned the right to drag Johnny thru the mud if she so chooses. I was thinking the other day what a blow it must have been for her to discover this whole affair...

[Hepburn]

22. Because she is coming off, IMO, as revengeful. n/t

[coinstar queen]

23. Perhaps...but she has been humiliated...never forget that...

She has every right, IMO, to voice her side of things, rather than stay the mute, pitiful victim. I remember a similar public humiliation with Kathie Lee Gifford...LOL, I think she is still raking her husband over the coals about it! But sometimes it's way people feel empowered.

[Hepburn]

26. I would have expected her to take the higher road and not...

...discuss her personal life with the nation. That just seemed to me like what she would do. Do I understand WHY she may feel as she does? Of course. However, I just have a problem with airing dirty laundry in public.

I think it diminishes her...and she seems to be rubbing salt in her own wounds...but it's her life and if this is what she needs to do and she feels it is helpful to her situation...then so be it.

Very sad to see this going on.

[emilyg]

9. I agree 100%.

[cwydro]

38. Yes.

Me too.

[2Nurselady]

12. Nothing But Respect For Elizabeth Edwards

I am presently reading Elizabeth Edwards' book, "Resilience" in which she talks about her father and her childhood, the death of her son, her husband's political aspirations and campaigns, her incurable cancer, and yes, her husband's affair. She gives a very thoughtful accounting of her perspective. She is trying to find her own healing and is doing it in a way that is demonstrative of her love for her family, including her husband, and in which she is both candid and dignified.

I think that too many women in Elizabeth's situation stay quiet for the sakes of others or because they are worried about the opinions of others about them and they suffer in so many ways because of it.

Elizabeth Edwards is a victim in this. She should not also allow herself to be further victimized by the criticisms of people who have not walked in her shoes.

[coinstar queen]

21. Thank you. We haven't a clue what kind of choice she had to make...

She loved this man and wanted him to realize his dreams. Even after she found out about the cheating, she probably still loved him and so much energy had been invested, etc.

One thing to remember here: you could make the case that in 2008, Edwards was the perceived front-runner because he had been the veep candidate, had experience running, was a known brand, wasn't a woman (sorry, Hillary), and had more experience at a federal level than Obama. So perhaps Elizabeth thought that it would be fairly easy to slide into the White House.

[NYCGirl]

31. You'd think she would realize after Iowa that it wouldn't be all that easy. NT

[karynnj]

34. Every poll put HRC way ahead - Obama second - Edwards pretty far behind

In addition, in 2004, the media pushed him like crazy and Kerry beat him easily in one of the easiest nomination victories ever. He also was not good as a VP canddiate. He was in both 2004 and in 2005 and 2006 a media favorite and they pushed him.

[malaise]

25. I have nothing but respect for her

What's more I loved when she said if the child is John's, the other children need to be prepared for a change in their lives.

In my word the bottom line is that children must not be victims - parents die and siblings must know one another. Children are just children.

Bravo Elizabeth Edwards.

[Kalyke]

29. I've walked in some of her shoes - and kicked the cheating bastard out.

I didn't enable him to go on pretending he was a populist, loving husband, every-man candidate and try to fool millions (of course, my ex wasn't a politician, but you get my meaning).

I think too many women in Elizabeth's situation stay with the jerk, which makes young men everywhere think they can have their cake and eat it too, particularly if they're rich.

Dump the man, humiliate HIM and teach our young women they don't have to put up with behavior like this from their husbands and teach our young men not to act this way (and vice versa, if the shoe fits).

[Pisces]

33. Edwards doesn't have to teach men how to cheat. She is dying of cancer and has small children.

Dumping him is not teaching him a lesson. It is letting him off easy. Dump him so that he can go off and sleep with woman 15 yrs younger than him every night? That is what men do, and men with money and good looks will have no shortage of female company. Some punishment.

Cheating happens, it didn't have anything to do with Elizabeth. He did it for selfish reasons that he can not even articulate. He has lost his past life. Nothing from this point on will ever be the same for him. His children will never look at him the same, the public , his friends and colleagues, and most of all Elizabeth ( whom he never wanted to know about his sordid affair).

[karynnj]

32. Your opinion is very kind,

but it ignores that Elizabeth Edwards could have forced the end to campaign when her cancer returned. In fact, had she done that, I doubt even the NE, which had not yet printed anything would have continued to put resources there. They both would have gotten intense sympathy and gone out on a high note - letting either return to public life.

In addition, in the book (from the only excerpts I read), she suggests that she became less active in the campaign. In reality, in 2007, Elizabeth was an attack dog attacking her husband's opponents in a way I can not remember any spouse doing. Give me any examples of HRC attacking Bob Kerrey, Tsongus, or Jerry Brown or Teresa Heinz Kerry attacking Dean, Edwards etc. In fact, Elizabeth Edwards did not do this in 2004 that I can remember.

I suspect that a large part of her anger is that not just did JRE betray her on a personal level, he destroyed the work she did making him an important politician. From the point he ran for the Senate, she put all her energies and intelligence into making him a stronger politician. There were 10 years of that - and he is now absolutely over as a politician.

On a personal level she was a victim; on a "professional" level - she is guilty of pushing JRE for President when she KNEW he had a skeleton that could have made him lose the general election. Not to mention her attacks on others were sometimes dishonest.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Ugh! That show has set perceptions of women back decades.

I'd MUCH rather watch repeats of Virginia Graham's 'Girl Talk'.

Here she is with Adela Rogers St. Johns and Joan Crawford:

[ecstatic]

5. The women were catty and rude prior to her coming out

and Barbara is in full witchy form today. At the end of the day, it's EE who keeps putting herself in this situation.

[lies and propaganda]

6. Is she promoting a book?

Because this is some srsly old, unimportant news in my eyes..

[northernlights]

37. yes, she is promoting her book and very likely has

contractual obligations to do so.

[ecstatic]

7. She wants the baby issue to "go away"

What would that consist of?

[Arugula Latte]

14. I can't help but think about what a strange road that baby is going to have.

It seems quite likely that the baby is Edwards'. (She looks very much like him, and the lack of paternity test so far seems like another clue.) Through no fault of her own, of course, this poor baby is the living "evidence" of John's "dalliances" and "indiscretions" as Elizabeth puts it. What kind of a relationship is going to evolve with her and her father, if any? How will his other kids regard her? ("Here, kids, I'd like you to meet your half sister, who was conceived while I was cheating on your now-deceased mother back when she was being treated for her cancer.") What will the baby's mother tell her? Then, when she's older, she can just find all sorts of tawdry stuff about her mother's affair and her own birth/babyhood on the Internet ... Weird age we live in. I hope John Edwards helps spring for therapy for the child.

[rvablue]

17. I would hope it would be more than just springing for therapy.

If it's his, he has more than enough resources (and definitely an obligation) to help raise the child.

Who knows, maybe that effort is already underway?

[Arugula Latte]

18. Maybe so... What a mixed up mess.

You'd think that Edwards & Hunter would have at least have made sure they were using extra-strength-super-protection birth control.

[coinstar queen]

27. I don't take that statement literally...My God, I cannot begin to imagine

what it must be like to be married for decades, have four children with a man, lose one, get a serious illness, go on two Presidential runs with your husband, and have this fall in your lap. The child is obviously innocent, but think about how she must feel to know that there is a physical manifestation of her husband's betrayal...

[cali]

8. Didn't watch.

it's sad to have the admiration one had for a person, morph into pity and vague disgust.

[marshall]

10. How long before they go on Jerry Springer for Who's the Daddy?

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

[Arugula Latte]

13. Or "Maury." ... "John Edwards, you ARE the father!"

[marshall]

19. Maury is a step or two above Jerry

Maybe they can do Maury next, and determine that Edwards is the daddy.

Then they can do Jerry, and have all the kids on to talk about the family dynamics.

[FrenchieCat]

11. I happened to catch her on Larry King this weekend,

and that interview was quite depressing. I don't think I'd want to see similar interviews with her in them from this point on. Quite sad indeed.

[Missy Vixen]

15. Let's see here. If she speaks up, she has no class.

If she's silent, she's a doormat.

I'm really, really glad I'm not walking in Elizabeth Edwards' shoes right now.

[Kalyke]

30. What if she left him?

Which, is what I think she should have done.

But, of course, that's only my opinion.

[Missy Vixen]

36. Well, let's see here.

She leaves him.

She's dying. She has no idea what his intentions are after she's gone. Would you want YOUR child raised by his former light o' love? I sure as hell wouldn't. This way, she's made sure "the other woman" will never have a hand in raising her children, she's made sure that he will never hold public office again (and he shouldn't, not after his gamble with ALL our futures,) and she does not look like a doormat.

She's also extracting her revenge, one cold bite at a time.

She's entitled to do so. Hell, he hasn't suffered enough. Cheating on a dying wife, while using her to further one's own political ambitions? God.

[CTyankee]

16. I truly do not know why she is doing this.

It's all so strange.

If I were her I'd take the kids off on a nice vacation, or perhaps rent a summer place somewhere far away from the place she shares with her husband. Maybe somewhere that has interesting history in a totally different part of the country. Or maybe take the kids and travel a bit in Europe this summer. Perhaps get together with another family.

It's got to be miserable living in that house with him. If it were me, I would have done the man bodily harm by now...

[NYCGirl]

24. She trying to sell a book. NT

[CTyankee]

28. Well, she doesn't need the money from the book. Otherwise, I'd understand it.

So she humiliates herself publicly and drags her kids further thru the mud. Something is really wrong here...

[Pisces]

35. She's f'ing mad at the unfairness. There is nothing wrong with her. Sherri Shepherd humiliated

herself on the View over and over again talking about her husband's affair and baby dilemma. Now Sheri Shepherd is no Elizabeth Edwards but she is a woman scorned and don't we all revert to our base emotions when we are deeply hurt. Both are woman and reacting like every woman does in this situation. My best friend is just as angry 3 yrs later. She has 4 kids and the ex- husband has a new one on the way. Same anger over the unfairness.

[cali]

39. no. we don't all revert to our base emotions when deeply hurt

Every woman does not act like that in this situation. I'm certainly no saint, and I didn't.

[noamnety]

41. We may all revert to baser emotions when hurt

but some of us are still decent enough humans that we can separate our personal desire for revenge from the responsibility to do what is best for our children. She knows there is a good chance that John will outlive her and that her children will need a strong relationship with him to help them deal with that loss. John screwed that up as best as he could, now it seems she's determined to use her rich-woman's privilege and access to the media to shit all over what's left of her kids' emotional well-being.

[emilyg]

42. No, we don't all revert.

[CTyankee]

47. My only point is that E. Edwards has choices that a lot of women do not have.

I simply did not understand why Elizabeth put herself forward in this media environment to talk about it. I understand her anger. I just thought there might be a better way, that's all, to resolve the crisis.

Is that too much to expect? MUST we deal with famous people's FEELINGS about what they do?

I don't think so...

[KoKo]

43. She wants her OWN MONEY...and she wants to rehab her Husband, too...

She doesn't want to leave not taking care of them all...including her children.

The way she's going about it, though, maybe isn't so helpful...:-( Her Hubby is the problem...she's trying to be the "Good Wife." And folks are seeing it that way...as pandering to celebrity.

[SoCalDem]

44. I don't think all that many people will be buying that book..no matter how many shows she does..

In her shoes, I think I would have divorced the guy, grabbed me some moolah, and traveled with the kiddos for the tine I had left....Immersing herself into the trauma of HIS misdeeds does not seem all that uplifting for the time of "good health" she may have left..

HE will have a LOT more time with those kids than she will, and it's sad to see her wasting that time, wallowing in HIS mess.

[mnhtnbb]

45. I think Elizabeth is dying--soon. She gives the impression of someone

who wants to have her say because she knows she won't be here much longer.

[KoKo]

46. Well...Ted Kennedy is back...one might hope for Elizabeth....

she didn't look that bad to me and given her prognosis...she wouldn't have lasted this long unless she had some really good treatment in that "little white pill."

I wouldn't count her out yet..

[CTyankee]

48. And that makes a deep impression on me.

But I don't understand why she doesn't gather the kids and get the hell out for the summer and do somthing really nice for her and the kids and without this horrible man.

She needs time with her kids and I will just bet she needs time away from HIM.

Everybody needs a break now and then, right?