It’s bad enough that the senator and once democratic nominee hopeful for the US cheated on his wife Elizabeth while she was in the midst of a fierce battle with cancer, as if that didn’t make him look like a big enough cad to many women across the US, but now there are details surfacing that his former mistress may have been paid “hush money” of $14,000 a month by his campaign committee. 

For what, no one knows for sure, but some are speculating either she may have demanded it, or perhaps it was an effort to cover up the fact that she and Edwards have a child together, which they both have seemed to strongly deny.  Not only has the woman, Rielle Hunter, denied paternity tests, but she hasn’t come out and directly said that John Edwards is or is not the father of her baby who is about nine months old.  The other problem is that Edwards was supposedly ambushed at a hotel by reporters, where he was allegedly visiting Rielle and her baby. 

If this was true (which Edwards strongly denies also, after months of also denying the alleged affair and then eventually admitting to it), then why was Edwards visiting her and her baby, if this child was not his, and if their affair was totally over?  It seems very hard to swallow, and it sure hasn’t helped Edward’s political career, but scandals like this happened to President Clinton when he was in office, and he did not lose his wife, nor did he lose any political creidbility. 

In fact, he amazingly still had the respect of the American people and was regarded as an excellent commander in chief while he was in office.  Funny thing is, there are still lots of people who lament the day Clinton went out of office and Bush went in, looking at the past with rose colored glasses and idealizing Clinton, myself included at times. 

Who knows what happened with Edwards, but the fact of the matter is that sexual matter are completely private, and they are between him and his wife, it’s really non one else’s business.  While many’s heart may go out to Elizabeth Edwards, we should perhaps let them just deal with this alone, after all, this stuff happens every day to every day people, but they get the luxury of dealing with the heartache of infidelity in the privacy of their own homes without the glare of cameras and speculation in their face.