Carolina Politics Online

Good. Maybe now he’ll go home, shut the door behind him, and we’ll never hear from him again.

Hofstra students and others hoping to watch former Sen. John Edwards take the stage with his wife Elizabeth will get only half the show next month.

Elizabeth Edwards was scheduled to join her husband, who has avoided the public spotlight since admitting to an extramarital affair with a campaign videographer, at a Sept. 8 speaking engagement at the Long Island, N.Y. university, reports Lorenzo Perez.

Under the Dome

He’s embarrassed her enough.  Why would she show her face anywhere with him?  What I don’t understand is how there are still people out there who want to hear Edwards speak.  It has been proven that the man is the louse and the cretin that people like myself have been telling you he is for some time now.  It has been quite apparent to those of us who never drank the “Two Americas” kool-aid from day one.  But, I’ve never been one to credit the American people with a whole lot of intelligence.

URBANA, ILL. - Less than a month after John Edwards admitted having an extramarital affair, the University of Illinois said the two-time presidential candidate has agreed to speak on campus in October.

University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said Thursday that a student group has booked Edwards to speak Oct. 14 on “The American Dream.” Tickets are free, but the student group is paying Edwards $65,000.

The N&O

Seriously… I’ll start taking up a collection. I’m sure we can agree on some amount of money that will convince him to never enter the public eye again.

DENVER - John Edwards is burning up the phone lines, begging former aides and backers to forgive him for lying about his affair - but hearing their rage instead.

As Democrats kick off their convention Monday, the onetime presidential contender is a man without a party - or a political future - trying to rebuild bridges through dozens of remorseful phone calls.

It’s proving a hard sell with onetime true believers.

New York Daily News

I have never revelled so much in another man’s suffering as I have watching John Edwards’ fall from grace.  I just can’t think of a better guy this could have happened to.  Every time I saw him on television preaching his deceiving and deceptive rhetoric it disgusted me with every fiber of my being.  The chickens have come home to roost and what a glorious day it is.

Democratic officials in Western North Carolina praised Obama’s pick of Biden as his vice presidential running mate on Saturday, while Republicans said the seasoned Delaware senator only highlights the presidential candidate’s inexperience.

Buncombe County Commissioner and Democratic superdelegate Carol Peterson said Biden brings “decades of experience” and proven leadership to Obama’s ticket.

Asheville Citizen-Times

The problem is these years of experience Ms Peterson points out don’t gel with the change and hope message Obama has been pawning off on America since he began his candidacy.  While I personally like Joe Biden, he represents over 30 years of entrenched Washington interests, not something new and innovative.

In the end I don’t think Biden will do anything for Obama anyhow.  Historically, Vice-Presidential candidates do little to help the guy at the top of the ticket.  John Edwards being on the ticket for Kerry did nothing to aid him in winning North Carolina.

Many of those same hometown supporters already had gone to bed Friday night before ABC aired an interview on “Nightline” in which Edwards admitted to an affair two years ago with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter.

They missed the former U.S. senator confessing that he had strayed from the values he learned growing up in Robbins. Edwards told ABC he had become “something different than that young boy who grew up in a small town in North Carolina.”

“Because that young boy would never have done this, never thought about doing it,” Edwards said, “to his family or to his wife.”

But as members of the national media took whacks at Edwards, Hancock and others in Robbins muffled their dismay with Sunday vows not to condemn him.

Charlotte Observer

I’m not surprised.  After all, the media covered it up for almost two years after it took place until a tabloid magazine broke the story.  In fact, just a few weeks ago the LA Times ordered its bloggers not to talk about it.

If this isn’t indicative of the very heavy left wing bias in the mainstream news media I don’t know how much more proof one can require.  If Edwards were a Republican do you really think the media would have sat on this story for so long until they were forced to report on it?

Elizabeth Edwards released a statement to the Associated Press concerning her husband’s recently admitted affair.

Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some most recently caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences. None of these has been easy. But we have stood with one another through them all. Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him.

John made a terrible mistake in 2006. The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done. But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my diagnosis in March of 2007. This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well. Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private. The pain of the long journey since 2006 was about to be renewed.

John has spoken in a long on-camera interview. Admitting one’s mistakes is a hard thing for anyone to do. I am proud of the courage John showed by his honesty in the face of shame. The toll on our family of news helicopters over our house and reporters in our driveway is yet unknown. But now the truth is out, and the repair work that began in 2006 will continue. I ask that the public, who expressed concern about the harm John’s conduct has done to us, think also about the real harm that the present voyeurism does and give me and my family the privacy we need at this time.

There are a couple issues I have with this statement.  John Edwards is a formerly elected public official and a two time candidate for President of the United States.  They both know full well that there is no expectation of privacy when you enter public service.  The fact is she aided her husband in burying this incident during his recent presidential campaign and I don’t think that sheds any better light on her.  Was it the lure of the White House?

The other problem I have is the claim that Rielle Hunter’s baby is not his.  The Washington Post had an article on this today.

Edwards maintained in a statement that the affair ended too soon for him to have fathered her baby, Frances Quinn Hunter, who was born Feb. 27. Hunter and a former Edwards fundraiser, Andrew Young, have maintained that Young is the father.

“I would welcome participating in a paternity test,” Edwards told ABC’s Bob Woodruff on Friday. “Be happy to participate in one. I know that it’s not possible that this child could be mine because of the timing of events. . . . Happy to take a paternity test and would love to see it happen.”

According to their claim, the timing would be incorrect for Edwards to be the father.  Here is why I am skeptical that they are being truthful about this, though.  If the baby is not Edwards and he is not continuing this affair then why on Earth was he in Beverly Hills visiting Hunter?

Meanwhile, the editor of the National Enquirer, which broke the story of the affair and Hunter’s pregnancy, took issue with Edwards’s statement distancing himself from photos purporting to be him holding Hunter’s baby. Edwards admitted to ABC that he met secretly with Hunter last month at the Beverly Hilton to try and “keep this from becoming public.”

This week the Enquirer published a blurry photo of a man looking like Edwards holding a baby. The the tabloid said the photo was taken at the hotel.

“I don’t know if that picture is me,” Edwards said. “It could well be. It looks like me. I don’t know who that baby is. I have no idea what the picture is.

Yeah, ok………..

RALEIGH - Former Sen. John Edwards might have to move quickly to save his spot on the national stage.

With just two weeks before their national convention, a number of Democrats are saying Edwards needs to publicly address National Enquirer stories that have alleged he had an affair with a campaign worker and fathered her baby.

Democrats gather in Denver on Aug. 25 and Edwards, as the 2004 vice presidential nominee and a presidential candidate who won delegates this year, ordinarily would be locked in as a speaker.

Instead Democratic insiders say convention organizers will try to avoid the lingering questions if Edwards himself doesn’t talk.

Charlotte Observer

Let’s face it.  We are suppoed to be presumed innocence, but Edwards is looking pretty guilty here.  All he has to do is come out and deny the allegations if they aren’t true.  He hasn’t said a word on it, not a single word.  What else is everyone expected to believe by his behavior?

On Wednesday, however, the former U.S. senator, presidential candidate and 2004 vice-presidential nominee refused to answer questions that took a tabloid turn.

About a dozen reporters and photojournalists attended a speech Edwards gave to an AARP Foundation symposium on poverty and aging in Washington.

Afterward, he avoided a crowd of waiting reporters, at least some of whom wanted to question him about recent reports in the National Enquirer that alleged a sexual relationship between Edwards and a former campaign videographer and an ensuing coverup.

Citing unnamed sources, the Enquirer published a story in October claiming that Edwards was having an affair with a woman who had filmed a series of campaign videos, and that he had gotten her pregnant.

Charlotte Observer

I told you Edwards was an absolute scumbag.  Of course, that’s been obvious for far longer than the past couple of weeks.  Any objective person who listened to this guy campaign for President over the past four years could hear the sleaze in his very words and actions.

What kind of a man goes out and has an affair with another woman while his wife is suffering from a fatal disease?  People actually wanted this guy to be our President.  Scary.

WASHINGTON — Former Sens. John Edwards and Sam Nunn are on a list of potential running mates for Democrat Barack Obama, a congresswoman said Thursday, one day after she met with the team Obama has reviewing possible candidates.

Charlotte Observer

Boy, an Obama/Edwards ticket would make a great little Socialist love fest, wouldn’t it?  You think freedom has disappeared under Bush?  That will pale in comparison to an Obama/Edwards administration.  Go ahead and put that sleaze bag on your ticket.  It’s a great idea if you want to crash and burn on Election Day.

I predicted this months ago. No, not that Edwards would endorse Obama, but that Edwards is a spineless jellyfish that would pull exactly what he did today. John Edwards wants a part of this next administration, whether that means being VP on the ticket again or a cabinet position. He wants it really bad and he wanted to make certain he didn’t screw it up. So he waited. He waited until it was almost completely certain who the nominee would be and then he came out and blessed them with his endorsement, when it no longer mattered. This guy didn’t even have the gonads to choose between Obama and Clinton when it was still up in the air and that is why he didn’t belong anywhere near the White House. He really is a worm.

Edwards said Obama has brough many people into the democratic process that wouldn’t otherwise be involved and has inspired the nation.Clinton has served the country very well for a long time and has forged an historic campaign for the nomination and for the presidency, he added.

Asked after his speech if he would endorse either Obama or Clinton, Edwards declined to comment.

The News & Observer

Edwards is no fool, but he is ambitious. He wants a high ranking position in the next administration; he may even still be hoping for VP. As long as this race is still up in the air Edwards is going to keep his mouth shut. He won’t make an endorsement until it looks fairly certain beyond all doubt that either Obama or Clinton will prevail in the nomination. That way he doesn’t burn any bridges with either candidate. Then he’ll come out and endorse the supposed victor. Just watch and see.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama met Sunday morning with John Edwards at Edwards’ home outside Chapel Hill, continuing a courtship of the former North Carolina senator.

“Senator Obama visited this morning with John and Elizabeth Edwards at their home in Chapel Hill to discuss the state of the campaign and the pressing issues facing America families,” Obama spokesman Dan Burton said in a statement.

The Obama visit followed a similar one earlier this month by New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama, of Illinois, and Clinton, locked in a tight fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, are working hard to get Edwards’ backing.

The News & Observer

I have a pretty good hunch that Edwards will come out and endorse Obama. Neither of them like the Clintons and Edwards’ supporters seem to be flocking in Obama’s direction.

Democrat John Edwards bowed out of the race for the White House on Wednesday, saying it was time to step aside “so that history can blaze its path” in a campaign now left to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. “With our convictions and a little backbone we will take back the White House in November,” said Edwards, ending his second campaign in a hurricane-ravaged section of New Orleans where he began it more than a year ago.Edwards said Clinton and Obama had both pledged that “they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency.”

Associated Press

It’s about time. Every time I have to hear John Edwards open his mouth I want to punch him in it. He really is the textbook sleazy, pandering politician. I wonder which of the two Americas will benefit from his exit.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially-charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was running third, a sharp setback in the state where he was born and scored a primary victory in his first presidential campaign four years ago.

The Associated Press made its call based on surveys of voters as they left the polls.

The State

Democratic presidential primary tomorrow all for South Carolina. Go out and vote as long as it’s not for John Edwards!

John Edwards may be a native son of South Carolina, but polls show that Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, has a better chance of a strong showing in Nevada on Saturday than in his birth state next week.

“Intuitively, you think it would be the other way around, because he was born in South Carolina and was senator in a neighboring state,” said Andy Taylor, a political scientist at N.C. State University in Raleigh.

The Winston-Salem Journal

John Edwards is nothing but a whining, annoying pissant and I can’t wait to see him go down in flames. He got spanked today in Nevada by both Obama and Clinton and if he is trailing in his own state he has no hope. It’s time for Edwards to step aside and exit, stage left.

LADY’S ISLAND — It took Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson almost 15 minutes to drop the words “Law and Order” during his talk Saturday at Barbara Jean’s Restaurant, drawing a round of applause from the crowd of about 200.

But the Lady’s Island gathering saved its loudest ovations for the former actor’s conservative messages during a brief Beaufort stop on an overcast afternoon. Coming off a sixth-place finish in New Hampshire’s Republican primary, the one-time Tennessee senator found a warm reception in “my neck of the woods.”

The Island Packet

During a campaign stop on Hilton Head Island Saturday, Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said although the national media has spotlighted his rivals’ campaigns, he remains optimistic about his prospects in South Carolina’s primary.

Edwards, making a short stump speech outside the Hilton Head Diner after shaking hands with a packed-house inside, said he’ll rely on word-of-mouth campaigning from supporters in the state, partly because the other contenders for the party’s nomination have more money to spend.

The Island Packet

Thompson recently got an uptick from his performance at this past week’s debate in Myrtle Beach, but I don’t know if that will be enough for him to make up the ground he needs to win this state. If he pulls off a primary win here I will be surprised, but it’s possible.

As for Edwards, he is wasting his time and should just drop out of the race. Barack Obama is going to win this state hands down.

A journalism student at the University of North Carolina who apparently drew the ire of the John Edwards campaign has won a job with MTV.

In October, Carla Babb posted a report on the Chapel Hill location of Edwards’ campaign office on YouTube. Her professor later said the Edwards campaign tried to kill the story and demanded it be removed from the Internet.

Asheville Citizen-Times

If you recall, Babb was the one who wrote the piece criticizing the Edwards campaign for choosing an upscale shopping center to house his campaign headquarters when his message is one of reducing poverty and his infamous “two Americas.” The Edwards campaign allegedly demanded the story be pulled and the corresponding video be taken down from YouTube. Apparently Babb never received that memo about how when it comes to John Edwards’ hypocrisy nobody is allowed to tell the truth.

A recent study of Veterans Affairs records showed that the number veterans with post-traumatic stress increased by almost 20,000 in the last fiscal year — a nearly 70 percent jump.

Edwards said the Bush administration’s extension of tours to 15 months has only exacerbated the situation, and he promised to increase the time given to service members between deployments. A Defense Department study this year showed that inadequate time stateside led to higher rates of PTSD or aggravated mental stress from service in the field.

Edwards’ campaign said there are too few trained counselors in the networks available to veterans and that vets avoid seeking care because of the wait or the stigma. Instead, Edwards said he would increase counseling and training for counselors and allow veterans to seek treatment outside of the existing system.

The VA has a backlog of as many as 600,000 claims, increasing delays for initial treatment by up to six months, according to the campaign. Edwards pledged he would eliminate the backlog by Memorial Day 2009 — four months after he might take office — and said he would cut the processing time by half.

Edwards’ plan also would provide a comprehensive medical examination as part of a “Homefront Redeployment Plan” provided to every veteran. Edwards said veterans don’t receive their first examinations for months or years after leaving the service, making it more difficult to determine whether an injury is service-related.

News & Observer

This is actually a good idea, about the only good idea John Edwards has. Our military veterans and active duty soldiers get treated like crap by our government, quite frankly. They aren’t receiving proper care. The Walter Reed debacle was just the tip of the iceberg regarding the sad state of VA care in this country and they don’t get paid enough for what they do.