Today's Hot Topic (1/23): Senator Edwards finally admits he's the father
Edwards Admits He Fathered Girl With Mistress
Former Senator John Edwards admitted on Thursday that he fathered a daughter with a campaign videographer with whom he had an extramarital affair during his presidential campaign.
“I am Quinn’s father,” Mr. Edwards said bluntly in a statement released to the news media, confirming what his wife, Elizabeth, his children, close friends, former staff members and the general public already knew or suspected.
“I have been able to spend time with her during the past year and trust that future efforts to show her the love and affection she deserves can be done privately and in peace,” he continued. “It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me.”
The child, Frances Quinn Hunter, will turn 2 in February.
The statement capped a lengthy period of denials and disclosures from Mr. Edwards about his relationship with the videographer, Rielle Hunter, who was hired to produce Internet videos for his 2008 presidential campaign.
It also came on the eve of the publication of a tell-all book by Andrew Young, the former campaign aide who originally claimed he was the father of Quinn, who bears a round-faced, blue-eyed resemblance to Mr. Edwards. Another book, “Game Change,” by the journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, recently painted an unflattering portrait of Mr. Edwards and of his wife, with many details provided by sources, almost all of them unnamed, who the authors said were once loyal aides to the Edwards campaign.
Mr. Edwards’s admission on Thursday was accompanied by a television interview given by a longtime confidant and adviser, Harrison Hickman. Speaking on the “Today” show on NBC, Mr. Hickman said that Mr. Edwards wanted “to begin to put this behind, not just him, but everybody else who’s been affected by this.”
At the same time, Mr. Edwards seemed to be grasping for some very public image rehabilitation. On Thursday afternoon, he arrived in Haiti with 30 doctors and a load of supplies and the intention of helping in the relief effort for several days, a spokeswoman, Joyce Fitzpatrick, said. In the past year, Mr. Edwards has visited El Salvador three times with the Fuller Center for Housing, a group that builds houses for the poor, and accompanied officials from the group to meet with government leaders there, said the center’s president, David Snell.
“They knew who he was because of the campaign,” Mr. Snell said on Thursday. “He’d joke that he was the one who tried to run for president and failed.”
A former trial lawyer, Mr. Edwards, 56, was a North Carolina senator turned vice-presidential candidate in 2004, and appeared to be a promising fresh face in the Democratic Party. In his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 he focused on rural, working-class voters who did not connect with Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama. But after failing to win the first several primary contests, he dropped out on Jan. 30, 2008.
Since late 2007, Mr. Edwards had been trailed by accusations that he had an affair with Ms. Hunter. He initially denied the veracity of a series of articles in the National Enquirer, calling them “tabloid trash.”
In August 2008, however, Mr. Edwards admitted that he had had a sexual relationship with Ms. Hunter in 2006, but flatly insisted he was not the father of her child. “I know it’s not possible,” he said at the time. During a segment on “Nightline,” Mr. Edwards also said his wife’s cancer had been in remission during the affair.
His admission on Thursday made it clear that many parts of his account were false. Frances Quinn was born in February 2008, almost a year after Mrs. Edwards announced that she had a recurrence of breast cancer and that the disease was no longer curable.
Ms. Fitzpatrick explained the timing of her boss’s announcement by saying: “Senator Edwards is very concerned about Elizabeth, how she felt about this subject, and he was concerned about her health. The second concern, of course, was the children. The third concern was that there was a child support agreement in place.”
Ms. Hunter and Mr. Edwards signed that agreement on Wednesday, Ms. Fitzpatrick said. She would not disclose the financial terms but said it gives Ms. Hunter primary custody and Mr. Edwards “liberal” visitation rights. “He intends to be fully involved in her life and for her to know her brother and sisters,” she said.
Several former campaign aides said on Thursday that they were far from surprised by the revelation of paternity. One former aide, who declined to be identified because he said he did not wish to embarrass his current employer, said that Mr. Edwards’s once-close inner circle has “disintegrated.”
“No one has heard from him in an extraordinarily long time,” he said.
John C. Moylan, a longtime friend and campaign adviser who said he speaks with Mr. Edwards occasionally, said he wished Mr. Edwards had stated sooner that he was Quinn’s father. “If we revise history, we could change a lot of things,” Mr. Moylan said. “But I think the path to redemption can’t start until you’ve acknowledged everything that happened, and I think he’s done that. I wish that had occurred a long time ago.”
He added, “I think the repair of his public image is going to be a long, hard road, if that is possible at all.”
Ms. Fitzpatrick said that she could not confirm news reports that the Edwardses were separated. Mr. Edwards, she said, planned to continue to live in Chapel Hill and focus on “his wife, his family and his work on poverty.”
As for a future political career, she said, “That’s not part of his plans at all.”
* * *
What are your thoughts?
If you were Elizabeth Edwards, would you stay with him?
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What are your thoughts? I think he is a jerk to put his family through all of this crap for all the world to see.
If you were Elizabeth Edwards, would you stay with him? I can only speak for myself and say without a doubt I would and could not stay with a man who cheated on me...
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I think he is a douche bag. (simply and crudely put but there you go...) I am glad he publicly acknowledged paternity but I still think he should be ashamed of himself. As for Elizabeth Edwards I have always liked her and I know that she has struggled hard with this. Regardless of her choice (and I don't feel comfortable saying what she should do) she deserves better than a piece of shit husband like him.
My thoughts are that he isn't the first politician to father an illegitimate child and deny that child. While he may have publically denied the child there is nothing to suggest he has not been financially responsible for the child.
As for Elizabeth Edwards, I cannot put myself in her shoes. I have not suffered the loss of a child and battled cancer only to be faced with the reality that it is back and terminal. What she needs at this time in her life is only known to her and I'm not going to arm chair quarterback how she handles this.
Again, I would suggest that it was probably not a secret that Edwards was the father to her or to Edwards. This was only publicly acknowledged it doesn't mean weren't aware of it sooner.
Quoting tericared:
What are your thoughts? I think he is a jerk to put his family through all of this crap for all the world to see.
If you were Elizabeth Edwards, would you stay with him? I can only speak for myself and say without a doubt I would and could not stay with a man who cheated on me...
Edwards is a huge disappointment to me. He was my first choice for President....I don't think there is anything he could do at this point that would change my opinion of him. As far as how Elizabeth handles this, whatever her decision I will not judge her. Personally I would not stay in that relationship. I think it does more harm than good for everyone.
I would have kicked his lying, cheating, low-life a** to the curb a loooong time ago!!! How could she ever truly love, trust, and respect him again?!! And with his illegitimate child as a reminder, it would be constantly thrown in her face!!! He is scum. Especially for denying the paternity of his own flesh and blood to the public in order to protect his own hide from the public's scrutiny & scorn!!! If I were Elizabeth, I would have taken my nice fat divorce settlement and focused on my children and friends to help me deal with my cancer battle. That is what she should be doing in my opinion. Oh yeah, and get myself a good therapist to help me get over my anger and humiliation!!! The one GOOD thing is, John's political is OVER thanks to his own stupid actions!!! He got caught and now has to suffer the consequences!!!
My thoughts......I'm not surprised. If I were Elizabeth with a terminal illness, you're damn right I would stay with him. Let him take care of her, she deserves at least that!
Quoting Dzyre1115:
My thoughts......I'm not surprised. If I were Elizabeth with a terminal illness, you're damn right I would stay with him. Let him take care of her, she deserves at least that!
So wait........you are saying that you would "punish" him by keeping him there? How could you even stand to look at him without wanting to smash his face in?!!! lol Oh believe me, I would want to punish him, but not by having him live with me. I would turn all of our mutual friends against him and probably his own children - if I wanted to get nasty and play dirty! But keep him? Hell to the NO!!! Let him go off to his new trashy girlfriend and make a new family with his bastard child!! And sue him for grounds of adultery if their state allows for a fault divorce!! Not to mention I would get immense satisfaction over the fact that his career is shot for good. And I would play the victim card to the hilt. But that's just me;-) lol No one plays me for a fool.
You think a child gives two shits about the money? He denied A CHILD. Whether or not he supported her in secret is of no consequence to the immorality and sheer selfishness and depravity of denying IN PUBLIC that your child is your child for purely self indulgent reasons.
Quoting katy_kay:My thoughts are that he isn't the first politician to father an illegitimate child and deny that child. While he may have publically denied the child there is nothing to suggest he has not been financially responsible for the child.
As for Elizabeth Edwards, I cannot put myself in her shoes. I have not suffered the loss of a child and battled cancer only to be faced with the reality that it is back and terminal. What she needs at this time in her life is only known to her and I'm not going to arm chair quarterback how she handles this.
Again, I would suggest that it was probably not a secret that Edwards was the father to her or to Edwards. This was only publicly acknowledged it doesn't mean weren't aware of it sooner.
Eight Year Old Girl Given "Catastrophe Award" By Teacher
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on Jan. 22, 2010 at 11:56 PM