This morning I got this little bit of fan e-mail:
http://blogs.thestate.com/bradwarthensblog/2007/08/why-i-see-john-.html
I always think of this article when I see him on tv
Yes, that is indeed a link to the infamous “Why I see John Edwards as a Big Phony” column. I still have people bringing that up to me. Lots of people. Even people who know nothing about me, or The State newspaper for that matter. That’s because that column, which I didn’t think was anything remarkable when I wrote it, caused 190,000 extra people to come to thestate.com that day (not to mention being picked up by Drudge and The New York Post and other outlets I don’t recall at the moment — Dennis Miller loved it), thus distorting the Web sites figures so that a year later, the Web folks would have to explain at senior staff, “Our numbers are good now; they just don’t look good because we’re comparing to that column of Brad’s…”
It’s weird to think that more people will remember that one thing than any of the stuff I wrote about issues I cared a thousand times more about. That’s an almost statistical certainty, given that more people probably read that than anything else I ever wrote. Which really was not my intention. Sigh.
Anyway, I assume the reason that came up was because of this development:
RALEIGH, N.C. — Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally admitted Thursday he fathered a child during an affair before his second White House bid, dropping long-standing denials just ahead of a book by a former campaign aide who initially took the fall.
Edwards released a statement admitting paternity of the girl, Frances Quinn Hunter, who was born in 2008 to videographer Rielle Hunter as the result of an affair Edwards has already confessed to.
“It was wrong for me to ever deny she was my daughter,” he said, adding he was providing financial support for the child and mother. “I am Quinn’s father.”…
In other words, when he came clean and confessed all before, he was actually not coming clean and confessing all. Big freaking surprise.
Note that he uses the phrase, “It was wrong…” Does he mean that? Does he really know it?
It’s a bit pitiful to relive your “glory” column because of a non-news bit, don’t you think?
I’m very sorry that Elizabeth Edwards, who is, of course, not as nice as she likes to portray herself but then who is, has to deal with all this during her final days.
Brad, you were right on in your early call-out of Edwards as a phony. I suspect that the people of NC knew that, which is why he decided to run for Prez in ’04 instead of another term in the Senate.
You know, I had a similar experience with David Beasley back in 1994, when he was running for governor. My then two-year-old daughter wandered into an office where Beasley was meeting with an advisor, and if looks could kill, we’d both have been goners. He never even spoke. I thought it was particularly nasty and probably revealing, and if I ever intended to vote for him, that fixed it for good.
Politicians have to be able to fake it, because nobody can be “on” all the time, but you can tell a lot by the way they treat ordinary people. And babies.