John Edwards, not guilty and also not innocent
John Edwards is guilty of many things — stupidity, venality, arrogance and a callous cruelty among others — but a jury of his peers has found him not guilty of Count Three in the six-count federal indictment against him.
The jury deadlocked on the remaining five charges, and the judge in the case has declared a mistrial on those counts.
For the time being, at least, the verdict means that Edwards has won his gamble not to admit guilt and to fight the charges against him, which focus on alleged abuse of campaign finance laws. I can’t claim to have followed the case closely enough to have an opinion on the legal outcome, in part because as indicated above, I had already reached a conclusion about the man himself, and it wasn’t good. It was enough to know that the country had dodged a bullet in not elevating him to the vice presidency or higher, and that his reputation was forever ruined.
As Roy Barnes, a former Edwards supporter, put it recently, “There are some people who ought to be taken out from a courthouse, tied to an oak tree and just whipped. I think he fits into that category.”
I’m sure Barnes was speaking figuratively when he said that. At least I think he was.
Maybe.
– Jay Bookman
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698 comments Add your comment
Don't Forget
May 31st, 2012
10:04 pm
TC, How about pedophiles?
That’s completely different. Pedophiles are thought to be a result of arrested psychosexual development.
bman
May 31st, 2012
10:04 pm
did John Edwards break campaign finance laws and pay money to gay escorts? Am I missing something?
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:05 pm
“Interesting in the extreme how quickly the anti-gay marriage crowd makes the jump to pedophilia.”
Why? It is a fair question. I was sexually abused as a child by a (married) pedophile? Did this person “choose” to ruin a marriage and family?
josef
May 31st, 2012
10:05 pm
BOTH
I love that one…especially when you think of the secondary meaning/usage of shearith–close friend, relative…
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:05 pm
“But is someone is claiming there is not choice involved, then why doesn’t that also apply to pedophiles or others abnormally “oriented”?”
What does pedophilia have to do with the discussion of being or not being gay? It’s as irrelevent as the imaginary association between gay marriage and polygamy. No relation at all.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:06 pm
“That’s completely different. Pedophiles are thought to be a result of arrested psychosexual development.”
Says who? Do they have a choice in their desire or not?
G Mare 71(PLEASE VOTE NO ON TSPLOST)
May 31st, 2012
10:06 pm
And don’t call me Shirley! G O D is pretty much okay, tho.
And to, the earlier poster who figured he is the oldest on this blog: I was born in 1941. You?
Don't Forget
May 31st, 2012
10:07 pm
then why doesn’t that also apply to pedophiles
Crier, can’t believe you actually asked that. Kids are not consenting adults, period.
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:07 pm
“Why? It is a fair question”
It is irrelevent to the discussion of being or not being gay.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:07 pm
“What does pedophilia have to do with the discussion of being or not being gay? It’s as irrelevent as the imaginary association between gay marriage and polygamy.”
So YOU say. Prove it. Prove that pedophiles CHOOSE that behavior (which they cannot seem to break out of).
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:08 pm
Edwards has a future.
He will be starring in Swamp People: Real Hunter Housewives Edition
He will not be on ER. He doesn’t like sick people, even his own wife.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:09 pm
“Crier, can’t believe you actually asked that. Kids are not consenting adults, period.”
We are not talking about kids. We are talking about sexual orientation.
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:10 pm
“Prove that pedophiles CHOOSE that behavior (which they cannot seem to break out of).”
Why should I do any such thing? It has nothing to do with the discussion of being or not being gay.
JamVet
May 31st, 2012
10:11 pm
TC, you demand proof, yet when challenged to do so yourself, you do not.
What’s up with that?
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:11 pm
“We are talking about sexual orientation”
Pedophilia is not a sexual orientation.
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:12 pm
I think obamahas erectile dysfunction
Would explain a lot
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:12 pm
“Pedophilia is not a sexual orientation.”
What would you call it?
j$
May 31st, 2012
10:13 pm
John Edwards was very close to being the Democrat nominee.
Certainly the choice of many liberals here.
May he go forward and try to make the world a better place.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:14 pm
“Why should I do any such thing? It has nothing to do with the discussion of being or not being gay.”
It has everything to do with it. If you want to argue that gay behavior is acceptable because those so oriented cannot help their orientation, the same must apply to any abnormal sexual orientation that cannot seem to be helped. Pedophilia seems to fall into that category. How many of these guys are imprisoned, released and then go right an do it all over again. Who would wish that kind of grief upon themselves?
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:14 pm
“What would you call it?”
A power play. Just as rape is not about sex, it’s about power…pedophilia is about power not sex. Sex in both cases is the tool, not the goal.
Brosephus™
May 31st, 2012
10:14 pm
Don’t Forget
Delirium Tremens is good too. The place in Fairburn carries quite a few micro labels and imports. JamVet is probably more of a “beer snob” than I, but I mostly consume those. The yellow fizzy stuff like Bud Light is cooking beer.
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:15 pm
“If you want to argue that gay behavior is acceptable because those so oriented cannot help their orientation, the same must apply to any abnormal sexual orientation that cannot seem to be helped”
I’m willing to agree that pedophiles cannot seem to be helped. What does that have to do with being or not being gay?
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:16 pm
J$
Corzine was almost Obama’s treasury secretary
He stole a Billion bucks from investors
Don't Forget
May 31st, 2012
10:16 pm
Crier, sorry you had that experience but pedophilia is a crime against another just like rape regardless if it is homo or hetero. There is a victim. Sheesh, how’d I let myself get involved in this conversation.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:16 pm
““Pedophilia is not a sexual orientation.”
“What would you call it?”
A way to save you position from a logical assault.
josef
May 31st, 2012
10:16 pm
Okay, I make this comment everytime we go here. I ought to just put it so I can cut and paste.
I really don’t concern myself with too much of the how and why. I just accept it as a given part of who I am. Like Lilly Tomlin the night a heckler asked the question. She said, “you know, I’ve been asked that so much lately, I’ve actually begun to think about it myself.”
I lean toward the genetic and here is why, ancestrally uppity snob that I am. I’ve got one of those family trees that goes back a long way and includes a goodly number of names a part of the Western Civ books…and it’s amazing the number of gay folks falling out of the tree when it’s shaken. My cousin Jack and I took to making a list of just the ones in our own lifespans..and there were a surprizing number and from all the various environments and family types…so, I don’t know…but it is interesting…
j$
May 31st, 2012
10:17 pm
Bros – try Wild Turkey (101) instead.
barking frog
May 31st, 2012
10:17 pm
If a moral compass is
insufficient to guide
your sexual orientation
consult your stars with a
sextant.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:18 pm
“I’m willing to agree that pedophiles cannot seem to be helped. What does that have to do with being or not being gay?”
Is that not the reason homosexuality has now gained widespread acceptance – that gay people did not choose this for themselves else why would they?
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:18 pm
Beer schmeer
Try a “blue mother f-cker” sometime
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:19 pm
“There is a victim. Sheesh, how’d I let myself get involved in this conversation”
Because in the minds of too many anti-gay people there is some spurious association between being gay and being a pedophile. They can’t seem to help it. Sooner or later any discussion about being gay leads to introducing pedophilia.
bman
May 31st, 2012
10:19 pm
this topic is sort of sickening….
josef
May 31st, 2012
10:20 pm
Don’t Forget
“Sheesh, how’d I let myself get involved in this conversation.”
Nothing good on the tee-vee?
barking frog
May 31st, 2012
10:20 pm
Will Rogers never met a
man he didn’t like.
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:20 pm
“Is that not the reason homosexuality has now gained widespread acceptance – that gay people did not choose this for themselves else why would they?”
No. I accept it as being something that is none of my business.
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:21 pm
I like women
I chose to be hetero
Deal with it peeps
To each their own
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:22 pm
“bman
May 31st, 2012
10:19 pm
this topic is sort of sickening….
LinkReport this comment”
True dat.
barking frog
May 31st, 2012
10:23 pm
Homosexuals Unite!
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:23 pm
If Catherine the great wants to have sex with a horse, why do I care
Whack, but I don’t care
Brosephus™
May 31st, 2012
10:23 pm
“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
–Benjamin Franklin
‘Nuff said!!!!
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:23 pm
“I chose to be hetero”
You do realize, don’t you, that saying you choose to be hetero means you also could choose to be gay?
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2012
10:24 pm
I don’t see why ya’ll are so hard on towncrier for his opinion on what happens after gay marriage.
I don’t agree with his main points but neither do I completely dismiss them. Once you allow gay marriage you redefine marriage. And you can bet your ass that polygamists absolutely will challenge the marriage law- whether they will succeed is a different question.
Polygamy has a much lengthier history and tradition going back thousands of years and through many cultures than gay marriage. There is no reason why polygamists cannot and will not mount a challenge.
Now as far as opening the door for gay men from Nambla to marry young teenage boys 13 years of age I can’t see that ever- that’s hopping on the crazy train.
What I can and do see is polygamists knocking on the door pretty hard. And if that gets through then 30-50 years down the line what is there to stop gay men from marrying multiple 18- 20 year old young men in the same way straight men have taken advantage of and married far younger women. May seem crazy now but I would imagine that if you asked someone 50-60 years ago the about the issue of gay marriage they probably would have thought you certifiable. Hell even gays back then probably would have thought it was nuts to think gays could ever worry. Its not as far fetched as you guys think.
We will never get to the point of legalized pedophilia but it is possible for polygamy and the idea of older men(gay and straight) to take advantage of much younger 18-21 year olds in weaker economic and power circumstances.
Just a thought and for the record I don’t have much of a dog in this gay marriage fight. Not really my ithue.
barking frog
May 31st, 2012
10:24 pm
Fair’s Fair
what were you before you
chose hetero?
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:24 pm
From gays to polygamy, pedophilia and bestiality
hmmmmmmmmmmm
All mentioned tonight. Not all be the same person, but all mentioned. Wonder why and how that happens?
j$
May 31st, 2012
10:25 pm
I’ve got 400 houses:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plPsnWFng0w
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:25 pm
“Because in the minds of too many anti-gay people there is some spurious association between being gay and being a pedophile.”
The association is merely an immoral one in my mind and I am attacking the view that homosexuality is not immoral by trying to show that the grounds for accepting it could be applied to other abnormal forms of sexuality. I draw the line I do on scriptural grounds; I have no idea what grounds you draw the line upon other than perhaps an ever evolving situational morality (in ancient Greece, pedophila was acceptable).
bman
May 31st, 2012
10:25 pm
“You do realize, don’t you, that saying you choose to be hetero means you also could choose to be gay?”
It’s a choice??
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:26 pm
“barking frog
May 31st, 2012
10:23 pm
Homosexuals Unite!”
They already do….. Just not legally
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:26 pm
“All mentioned tonight. Not all be the same person, but all mentioned. Wonder why and how that happens?”
It ALWAYS happens. There are some people who simply are incapable of separating them from each other. One leads to the other inexorably in their minds.
bman
May 31st, 2012
10:27 pm
TBS .. .. try eating a bad taco bell combo and reading over this
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:27 pm
Frog
I was asexual prior to hetero
Hetero is more fun
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:27 pm
TD
So all the polygamist are just waiting their turn?
They do not need gays to forge a way for them. Why are they not already petitioning on a huge scale across the country?
It is a weak @ss slippery slope argument……..at BEST
TC has his right to his opinion. No one has tried to silence him as he suggested or questioned earlier
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:28 pm
“The association is merely an immoral one in my mind and I am attacking the view that homosexuality is not immoral by trying to show that the grounds for accepting it could be applied to other abnormal forms of sexuality”
And in doing so you are tying together behaviors that harm others and behaviors that do NOT harm others. And they are NOT comparable.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:28 pm
“Now as far as opening the door for gay men from Nambla to marry young teenage boys 13 years of age I can’t see that ever- that’s hopping on the crazy train.”
Presently, the youngest age at which you can be married in some states is 13. If gay marriage is allowed, then a homosexual union between an adult and teenage that young must be allowed.
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:28 pm
Bro
If you are still on, how are the operations going for your end of the new terminal?
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:29 pm
Taco bell is bad for you
Eat chipotle
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:30 pm
“Presently, the youngest age at which you can be married in some states is 13. If gay marriage is allowed, then a homosexual union between an adult and teenage that young must be allowed.”
yes, if it’s legal for heteros it will be legal for gays. It’s abominable that it is legal at all.
j$
May 31st, 2012
10:30 pm
Whats up bman?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plPsnWFng0w
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:30 pm
The beastiality and pedophilia sickos are waiting behind the polygamists who seem to be waiting behind the gays……..
Who knew?
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2012
10:31 pm
Towncrier,
Pedophilia also has some cultural acceptance in the middle east as well. Lotta people don’t realize that.
josef
May 31st, 2012
10:32 pm
FROG
Knew we could count on you…
j$
But, did you CHOOSE Krispy or were you born that way or were you forced…
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:32 pm
“And in doing so you are tying together behaviors that harm others and behaviors that do NOT harm others. And they are NOT comparable.”
Huh? There is a whole lot of human behavior that is harmful, much of it not even illegal. Gay people harm each other, just like married people do. If a 13 year consents to a homosexual relationship with a 25 year old with the parent’s blessing, then who are YOU to say it is harmful? On what MORAL grounds?
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:32 pm
You can get married at 13? Where?
My kids will not live in that state…..
No need to put yourself through the pain and suffering of marriage until you’re as old as possible.
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:32 pm
Did I just read where someone sad that pedophilia falls into the same category as homosexuality?
And is someone defending this guy beyond saying he has a right to his opinion?
j$
May 31st, 2012
10:32 pm
Dogg/GA, no matter how much you want multiple husbands,
polygmy is no way to go Doggone.
TaxPayer
May 31st, 2012
10:33 pm
I suppose this video has already made the rounds a few times, eh.
bman
May 31st, 2012
10:33 pm
J$ .. .. THAT IS HILARIOUS!!
j$
May 31st, 2012
10:33 pm
TBS, that is an old liberal fable.
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:33 pm
bman
That is going to be tough on the bowels… May as well add a few Budweisers with it to really get the digestive tract going
barking frog
May 31st, 2012
10:34 pm
fair’s fair
asexual is lonely.
you’re much better now.
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:34 pm
j$
What?
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:34 pm
“. Gay people harm each other, just like married people do”
Ok, now you’re advocating for eliminating heterosexual marriages…right?
“If a 13 year consents to a homosexual relationship with a 25 year old with the parent’s blessing, then who are YOU to say it is harmful? On what MORAL grounds?”
A thirteen year old is not legally old enough to engage in a legal contract. Even in states where young marriages are allowed the parents must give their consent. Statutory rape is statutory rape, regardless of the willingness of the younger partner.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:35 pm
“Pedophilia also has some cultural acceptance in the middle east as well. Lotta people don’t realize that.”
But it can’t happen here, right TD? Just like people might have said 50 years ago gay marriage couldn’t happen here or 80 years ago that Hitler was no threat.
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:35 pm
Frog
No doubt
I’m not an amphibian
You guys can reproduce asexually
Totally weird
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:36 pm
Oh, and BTW, parents cannot give their consent to an out-of-marriage relationship between a young child and an older adult. It is still statutory rape.
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:37 pm
Why are there so many good funny people on 30 rock?
Because Tina fey is funny cool? And gay?
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:37 pm
Now it is on to Hitler……..
We are slipping, skiing and snowboarding tonight……. Who knew, especially in a May in GA?
Doggone/GA - 999.999.999.999 (preserving my anonymity)
May 31st, 2012
10:38 pm
“80 years ago that Hitler was no threat.”
Godwin’s law? I’m out. Time to hit the sack.
barking frog
May 31st, 2012
10:38 pm
fairs fair
but we are not allowed
scrambled eggs.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:38 pm
“A thirteen year old is not legally old enough to engage in a legal contract.”
That can change – may not be likely but it is possible.
“Even in states where young marriages are allowed the parents must give their consent.”
I acknowledged as much in my post. Again who are YOU to condemn it? Is the “law” equivalent to your morality?
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:38 pm
Tina fey isn’t super cool tho
Stingy
She may be a log cabin repug
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2012
10:38 pm
They BOTH suck,
He has a point regarding sexual behavior, what is considered or once was considered abnormal or deviant, and situational sexual morality can certainly change over time and through cultures.
I hadn’t thought about it much before but what was or is considered normal or abnormal sexuality behaviors has been redefined in different cultures. The example of pedophilia once having been considered normal in Greece is an example.
And as I said look at the middle east. Its actually ingrained somewhat in their culture- poetry, literature, etc. At least that’s what I was taught in by my college history professor who had traveled extensively in the Middle east. There’s even a famous Arabic saying that I can’t remember how it goes- something like a boy for a day, a girl for a night or something like that. Can’t remember.
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:39 pm
“That can change – may not be likely but it is possible.”
It could be 15 degrees in the morning. May not happen but it is possible
barking frog
May 31st, 2012
10:39 pm
Is statutory rape an entitlement?
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:40 pm
Cynthia McKinney could be President (lets hope not)….. may not be likely but it is possible
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:40 pm
Frog. That’s whack
Im anti gay. If only Tina would convert back…. She’s got that librarian hot thing going on
Maybe we can regulate her back to heterosexuality
j$
May 31st, 2012
10:41 pm
Yeah, you want some dis?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loIUe0iCHBE
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:41 pm
Iraq could have WMDs buried in the desert……… may not be likely but it is possible
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:42 pm
Ronald Reagan didn’t remember selling weapons to the Iranians… may not be likely but it is possible
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:42 pm
“No. I accept it as being something that is none of my business.”
Pffftt. Not a very graceful dodge.
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:43 pm
Clinton did not have sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky………. many not be likely but it is possible
barking frog
May 31st, 2012
10:43 pm
fairs fair
tina should spend more
time as sarah.
Josef
May 31st, 2012
10:44 pm
Both
Is that Celsius or Fahrenheit?
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:44 pm
Wmd’s in the desert?
I better run upstairs. I think Tina is in my bedroom too.
Towncrier
May 31st, 2012
10:45 pm
“He has a point regarding sexual behavior, what is considered or once was considered abnormal or deviant, and situational sexual morality can certainly change over time and through cultures.
I hadn’t thought about it much before but what was or is considered normal or abnormal sexuality behaviors has been redefined in different cultures. The example of pedophilia once having been considered normal in Greece is an example.”
This is all indisputable fact, TD. But it makes liberals squirm because they don’t want to face the logical implications of their position for fear it will undermine it.
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:45 pm
TD
Thanks for the input but I am not buying his point………..
From the time he made his original assertion to the challenging of others to put up while he did nothing but offer more conjecture when challenged…………… You can buy it, if you like.
Once again, he can post all night and unlike his question or suggestion earlier, NO one has attempted to silence him
Thulsa Doom
May 31st, 2012
10:45 pm
“But it can’t happen here, right TD?”
Like I said you have a point.
I don’t think it will happen here but then again in the 1940s or 1950s it was probably unfathomable to the average American that abortion would ever be legalized. I think back then it was considered murder by the overwhelming majority of people back. Obviously attitudes or that situational morality of which you speak have changed and changed quickly. But that was the prevalent view on abortion and it wasn’t that long ago either that that view held sway.
j$
May 31st, 2012
10:45 pm
Sure, anything is possible .
Thanks for the reminder.
They BOTH suck
May 31st, 2012
10:47 pm
josef
Either one, it isn’t going to get there
Fair's fair
May 31st, 2012
10:49 pm
Frog
Agree to disagree.
I find hot smart women hot. Palin, not smart.