Hrm... ambulance chaser/wife cheater... I love it when people call him a great man.

love child, love child, never meant to be.

My thoughts exactly.

I just hope the kid doesn't end up paying...

Could be. Looks damning. But, of course, this is the same magazine that brings us pics of space aliens landing in Iowa and of President Bush going on drunk rampages in the Big House.

Who would have thought a politician would have adulterous sex? Anybody asked currently serving Senators McCain, Vitter and Craig what they think about that? I'm sure they're against it.

Former Speaker of the House Gingrich, former Speaker-elect Livingston and former Representatives Foley, Schrock and Chenoweth probably think it's shameful, too.

God bless him, we can't ask Representative Henry Hyde what he thinks about adulterous politicians, RIP.

To justify actions by giving examples of similar actions or to lessen criticism by the same means is something my parents taught me was completely wrong when I was a child.

It's like David Berkowitz saying that you shouldn't be so angry with him because Gary Ridgeway or Ted Bundy killed more people.

It's like David Berkowitz saying that you shouldn't be so angry with him because Gary Ridgeway or Ted Bundy killed more people.

Actually, it's more like Love Child saying that.

The sex is not news. However, thinking you're going to get away with covering it up in this day and age is a sign of extremely poor judgment.

However, thinking you're going to get away with covering it up in this day and age is a sign of extremely poor judgment.

Not to pile on (what's the point?), but I'd edit that to "...is yet another sign of extremely poor judgement." After all, the second lapse was precipitated by the first.

Here's more damning evidence -- NOT WORKSAFE!!! It's a pic with secondary sexual whatchamacallits prominently displayed.

Senator Edwards, like Senators Vitter, Craig and former Representatives Foley, Schrock, Chenoweth, Gingrich, Livingston, Hyde, Scarborough etc, etc... is a very moral man who has often derided the adulterous shortcomings of others and bragged about his 90+% rating from the Christian Coalition... so I'd have to agree that this is BIG NEWS!!!

Personally, I find those striped curtains the most shocking thing about that photo. I am beyond scandalized by those things.

I enthusiastically supported John Edwards for President. Until it's proven that he's not the child's father, I wouldn't support him for dog catcher. I hope he kept his bar membership current, because his political career is likely over.

I just hope McCain and the Republicans run against John Edwards for the 2008 Presidential election.

Hrm... ambulance chaser/wife cheater... I love it when people call him a great man.

I love the "ambulance chaser" rap. One of his big cases was a lawsuit filed on behalf of a young girl who had her insides ripped out by a faulty jacuzzi, and who will need ultra expensive medical care for the rest of her life. The judgement he won for her will pay for that care. Out of curiosity, what do you think the girl's family should have done, Jeff?

If Edwards won the primary, we would be doomed to at least 4 years of McCain. Unforgivable.

Esq. Edwards also kept 1/3 of the $25 million judgement awarded to the little girl who had her insides ripped out.

Mother Theresa he ain't.

Everybody deserves to be compensated for their labor, but did he really "earn" $7.5 million?

If the love child allegations were centered on Mitt Romney, I guarantee it would be all over CNN and MSNBC by now.

And the L.A. Times would have a full bureau assigned to the story.

Mister Tee, don't be an idiot. Damn right he earned $7.5 million dollars. I guarantee you that he (or his firm) advanced hundreds of thousands of dollars to pursue that case. If they had lost, they would have been out that money. No attorney would take that risk without a potential large payday. Large contingency fees make legal representation availabel to injured parties of modest means.

But oil companies are earning windfall profits, right?

My point is not that contingency fees are immoral; rather, that Sen. Edwards portrayed himself as a lawyerly Robin Hood motivated primarily by his altruism.

In fact, his personal wealth benefitted greatly from representing those who had suffered personal injury or malpractice.

Spinning his success as a P/I attorney and one (incomplete) term in the U.S. Senate into a V.P. nomination was an amazing triumph of style over substance.

What do windfall profits have to do with it? You seem offended that Edwards' personal wealth benefitted from representing injured people. That was his profession. Do you believe that injured parties should not be able to recover damages for their injuries, or do you just believe that they shouldn't be allowed to have lawyers represent them?

Everybody gets paid, unless they're volunteering for free. Some people get paid more than others.

A very small percentage of personal injury lawyers get paid more than most of their peers. The same can be said of a minority of class action attorneys.

My point is that John Edwards held himself up as benevolent protector of the downtrodden, not as somebody who was out to make a fortune. Maybe he did both: but he certainly benefitted in proportion to his clients' collections.

His lifestyle suggests he's not as benevolent as the image he had portrayed (the mansion on the clear cut, the philandering, the Big Lie defense).

Many trial attorneys (P/I practices in particular) have supported Democratic candidates and PACs, while the recipients of that largesse have called for windfall profit taxes on Big Oil, Big Pharma, etc. In fact, the profit margins of successful law firms is much higher than the 8% to 10% net profit margins posted by Big Oil.

In general, I think attorneys are overcompensated (especially the P/I and class action headliners) when compared to the costs that jackpot justice imposes on the larger society.

I don't derive any benefit from the multiple class action forms that are mailed to my home. The class action lawyers do.

Former Senator Edwards has always been too willing to tell others how to run their personal lives and cast out those who transgress.

I agree that his political career should be over. He should join Senators Vitter and Craig in the political wilderness. There they can wander, spurned and ridiculed, along with Speakers Gingrich and Livingston, Chenoweth and Scarborough... sustained only by the fragile sustenance of tiny fees from the media and lobbying and consulting firms.

I do believe Senator McCain has hinted to committing adultery as well... I personally am willing to forgive him for that transgression and leave it lie. But if anyone here thinks we should spend a few million and appoint a special prosecutor to find out the truth, I guess we gotta do it.

"To justify actions by giving examples of similar actions or to lessen criticism by the same means is something my parents taught me was completely wrong when I was a child."

Apparently they didn't teach you any manners, respect or the virute of j]knowing what you're talking about, as evidenced by your ambulance-chaser claim.

Edwards represented a girl who had been turned down by every previous lawyer she approached.

He took great risk and spent a lot of money trying that case. The jury was so offended by the defendant's negligence -- prior knowledge of the defect because it had previously injured at least two other children -- they gave the girl more than she and her risk-taking attorney asked for.

My point is that John Edwards held himself up as benevolent protector of the downtrodden

In Mr. Tee's somewhat sad world, defenders of the downtrodden should never be handsomely rewarded, and there's even soemthing suspect about them if they are. Riches are reserved for CEOs who put their companies in the tank.

Sheesh, more proof that the only thing Democrats have going for them is the cold, cruel worldview of so-called conservatives.

In fact, I think Mr Tee is more than just a little jealous of John.

Maybe it's time he asked himself why he hates rich people?

Geeze, what is this fixation with Edwards. He is a has-been. Who cares anymore what he does or has done? He is totally irrelevant.

The scandal isn't the bastard / love child, but the fact that the NYT isn't all over this like they were about the perhaps equally questionable allegations about McCain and his ladyfriend lobbyist. Edwards is a lawyer and the Nat'l Enquirer has been sued before . . . if he didn't do the deed, why isn't he filing a lawsuit?

I admire wealth, especially when it is created, rather than inherited.

It's the faux populists/centimillionaires like Al Gore III and John Edwards that really bother me.

Worse still are the newly rich who want to punish those who are aspiring to create wealth with punitive taxes (like Obama).

Again, if this story was about Romney, it would be page 1, top of the fold in the L.A. Times, NYT, and leading all the cable channels. It's only because of the dominant media bias that the Edwards story has been bottled up so far. Plus the fact that the Enquirer is leading the charge.

Further confirmation of my long-held opinion of Mr. Edwards. Putz

Won't miss Edwards ONE BIT.

Who cares anymore what he does or has done? He is totally irrelevant.

Until a couple of weeks ago, he seemed a likely Cabinet member.

This is QUITE a bit more than DNA from a blue dress. Odd that the mainstream media has not dug into the story. No bias here.

Its amazing how we say we expect so much from politicians, yet we end up with either (1) the mindless, idea-less, boring, never done anything or (2) the scandal waiting to happen.

You dig deep behind any "great" leader, you'll always find the dirt. My personal favorite story is the late Senator Strom Thurmond. He's got a nice memorial on the SC State House grounds which lists his, now, five children. The marble has been changed (obviously) from "four" to "five" to list his illegitimate, "mixed-race" child whom he fathered in his 20s.

Politicians are only people, they're going to screw up. And, when they do, its a catch-22: either hide it and wait for the scandal or kiss your career goodbye. No wonder they all try hiding this crap.

I'd love to see a shift toward seeking folks qualified to be, err, statespeople (?) regardless of their personal lifves rather than squeaky clean boring.

"I don't derive any benefit from the multiple class action forms that are mailed to my home."

Unless you opt in to the class, brainiac.

Right, $7.5 million for winning compensation for an injured little girl sets some kind of historic record in quarterly profits, right?

No, wait, that record was actually Exxon's making $13 billion on gas last quarter! And Exxon earned and deserves every single penny of that, right, Mister Tee, unlike Edwards?

"I admire wealth, especially when it is created, rather than inherited.

It's the faux populists/centimillionaires like Al Gore III and John Edwards that really bother me."

Don't forget McCain, marrying into 25-year younger inherited beer money after his wife was disfigured for life in a car crash. That must bother you like hell.

And how do you figure Edwards didn't create his wealth? Or is there some inheritance we're not aware of?

This love child scandal gives Edwards character and would have made him an even stronger candidate for president, in my probably minority opinion. Bill Clinton was only emboldened by weirder, more embarrassing sex stuff than having a love child.

And if I do "opt in", I'll get a check for $25 to $85 dollars a year later. When I probably wasn't "wronged" to begin with.

I'm willing to bet that each lawyer on the case did much better than $85,000 and that's money they would not have earned without my alleged victimization.

Most class action lawsuits are a scam: if that's how you make your living, you should know it better than I.

It's legal blackmail, more often than not.

Note to Bill McDonald:

There's a great "two Americas" joke in here somewhere.

There are a few noble lawyers and there are a bunch of greedy scum lawyers. Most of the class action lawyers fall into the later and I always considered Edwards in there as well. Never could figure out why anyone would want to elect someone to lecture them all the time. Must be a Mommy fixation or something. It is especially puzzling when the ones doing the lecturing (Edwards, Gore, etc) just do it as a professional service. They don't actually follow this advice themselves.

The folks here who claim to despise Edwards 'cause he's a trial lawyer and claim they hate lawyers for not creating wealth... probably don't have jack to say about all the lobbyists running the McCain campaign. Nor do they have jack to say about how the number of lobbyists in DC has quadrupled during the 12 years the GOP controlled Congress. BTW, the number of earmarks octupled during that time.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there's some reason to admire the folks that brought us forced abortion and slave labor in the Northern Marianas and busted budgets here in the US and lots of other good things. Maybe lobbyists are very admirable people and I just don't know it.

Maybe I'm wrong and this isn't just selective outrage towards someone whose political stands these folks disagree with.

So much for my pick for AG. Damn. Surprising how many folks will boot a man while he's prone. Ease up - please. He's no longer a candidate. His fall from grace will be mighty. Thats enough. Oh, and about lawyers: "Lets kill all the lawyers, kill em tonight." (D. Henley "Get Over It") Come on Tee, sing it with me.

"When I probably wasn't "wronged" to begin with."

Yeah, credit card, insurance and telecom companies very rarely rake in millions by illegally skimming pennies of individual transactions with millions of customers. Hardly ever happens.

Most of these companies don't mind entering multi-million dollar settlements on class action suits, even though they haven't really done anything wrong, either. They do it because they don't really care about money and are motivated by altruism rather than profit.

If being a CEO is how you make your living, you know this better than I.

Part of the mystery has been solved:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/08/edwards.affair/index.html

He still denies the child is his, however.

So he admits to having an affair with a paid "consultant" (who has subsequently used three aliases while moving around the country) while contesting the Democratic nomination for U.S. President.

And it's not like his wife was dying of cancer (or anything) because everybody thought she was in remission at the time.

And he's certain that he is not the baby's father because:

A) Another staffer was boinking her at the same time.

B) That other staffer (aka "Fall Guy") says he's the father.

C) The "count backwards" math suggests the baby was conceived well after he was no longer having (ahem!) intimate relations with the woman he previously denied having any intimate relations with.

D) He has not taken a paternity test.

Get Maury Povich on the phone, he'll know what to do.

I can still be A.G.?

On the August 8 edition of MSNBC's Race for the White House, host David Gregory baselessly ...

GREGORY: Welcome to Race for the White House on a busy Friday. It's your stop for the fast pace, the bottom line, and every point of view in the room. Tonight, more on Edwards and the fallout from his admission today about a sexual affair: Is this another skeleton in the Democratic closet that Barack Obama must struggle to overcome? Will Edwards appear at the Democratic convention? All of that ahead.