He had an affair. He screwed up. That doesn't make him a bad husband. As far as we know, he held Elizabeth's head when she was vomiting from chemo. Or maybe not. But people are not so easily classified into "good" and "bad". I'm not willing to judge either Edwards - him for his affair or her for not raising the issue publicly. Some things should be private. We try to justify our obsession with private matters by saying it's about "character" or that it would have effected the outcome of the election, but the truth is that we're simply a nation of gossips who can't keep our noses out of private matters.

I never got the fuss about Bill Clinton's relationship's, either. A lot of men are very good husband's even though they sometimes have relationships outside of marriage. If a woman would rather have a loving relationship with a man who fools around, so be it. I'd rather be married to Bill Clinton than George Bush any day of the week, and I'm betting that Bush has never had an affair in his life.

I would also rather have a President who knew and admitted his weaknesses than one who arrogantly went through life thinking that he was as good as his press releases and thinks he never made a mistake in his life.

Finally, I sure as hell don't want to see Elizabeth Edwards vilified for not making this public. Good grief - do we have no moral standards left whatsoever?

It is not all that uncommon for a man to cheat or leave his ailing wife. That doesn't make him a good person or admirable, but it is a phenomenon that occurs fairly regularly among cancer survivors.

I think that fact underscores the idea that what John Edwards does with his penis, provided that it is consentual and among adults, is really no one else's business.

I can't imagine anything more disruptive to family life and "just wanting to feel normal again" than being the POTUS. I don't feel anything for Edwards other than he or they clearly didn't use any reliable form of birth control. His family are having to suffer enormous stress and how could he have answered the 3 am phone call? Would there be a baby crying in the background? Who needs these people? And the Hillary people still whining and complaining.....that had the Edwards affair come out earlier she would have won Iowa. Ha, they don't care about the American people at all. They are driven by an unbridled need for power and celebrity. There is plenty of great talent available who will work hard for women, and we have that person. So why don't we get behind the effort to get a Democrat elected and deal with the fact that some of us out here are waiting for more than a bad husband to lead us.

You don't have any idea how she feels, what went on, what the circumstances are, nor the right or business to feel betrayed or offended.

Being a cancer survivor does not entitle any one to live vicariously the problems of Ms. Edwards, or no more that being a survivor of a fractured skull allows me to participate on a class action suit against baseball bat manufacturers.

Please have some respect and compassion for BOTH of them.

You're all so busy making up excuses for him, but apparently you haven't figured out yet that this was the one time John Edwards finally got caught. My guess is that he's had affairs like this the whole time he's been married.

To paraphrase Edwards himself: "If you want to make up excuses for me - feel free. You cannot make up more excuses for me than I have already made up for myself."

*MoodyRiver*

Faux news ran this 24 hours a day when a tabloid found out Edwards had an affair.

The only thing funnier than Faux trying to make an issue out of nothing is Joan Walsh trying to help them. Bush and his cronies lied us into war, killed 5000 US soldiers and a half million civilians and are almost certainly guilty of treason on several counts. But wait.... A guy who once was running for the Democratic nomination (and lost badly) had an affair!!!! Stop the presses.

Another hilarious example of "Yenta Journalism" is when someone like Walsh invents some type of imaginary emotional relationship with Elizabeth Edwards and uses that imagined relationship to ramble on bout "what she should think about it". Walsh does not know either of the Edwards, she is not their friend or confidant, does not share her background or even know if they have anything in common... oh, except she is female so I have sort of have a stake in the Edward's marriage. Bull!

P.S. ("Yenta Journalism" is a wholly owned phrase coined myself... so hands off!)

Now that we know how the cancer surviors feel.

Imagine the headline: "Man who is not in public office or seeking it has affair". Sounds pointless, right? But the media have obsessed over am an who ran for president, but isn't president, isn't a candidate, isn't the candidate's running mate, and isn't seeking any other office.

It seems to me a line got crossed. Now that Edwards has been so pilloried, how many other former politicians have unreported scandals? Maybe they think no one knows, but more likely no one has cared. Now a personal scandal is a legitimate story. When conservatives delight in Edwards' problems, they should be careful what they wish for. How many other unreported scandals might now seem newsworthy? It seems like there used to be an unwritten agreement: you leave office and/or don't run, and your scandal remains private. Not any more.

By the way, we might go to war with Russia. Thought it might be worth an offhand mention. Now back to who fathered the videographer's kid.

I can understand the Edwards marriage suffering great strains. People don't always behave nobly under this type of stress. I get it; really I do. On a personal level, their marriage or affairs are none of anyone's business.

BUT, from the standpoint of a public couple, their behavior seems either naive or conceited. We all know the response of the press and public when affairs are revealed: the story will be a big one and the offender's stock will go down. I don't think a single person would have counseled John Edwards to go forward with a campaign that featured his happy marriage as a central fact of his life when his affair was so recent (and possibly still ongoing). Sorry; even if it's not fair no one gets a pass on this one.

Both of them are intelligent people. They knew the risks involved if the story became public (and apparently were willing to risk a bombshell story if he had become the nominee). Either they thought his candidacy was *that* important or were counting on everyone keeping silent. This makes no sense, especially now that Edwards *still* seems like he might not be telling all the truth. If this couple truly wanted their privacy they could themselves have been more private. People have removed themselves from public life for many reasons. Sometimes you have to make tough choices, but we all do. The choices we make determine the choices we can make.

Now look what has happened: everyone is talking about the affair, but surely in large part because Edwards has remained in public life. He was even being touted as a vice-presidential candidate until recently. Not all of this hubbub could have been avoided, but I think much of it might have been.