Althouse: "Yet, I don't believe criminal charges are appropriate... or that they are in John Edwards' future."

May 4, 2009

"Yet, I don't believe criminal charges are appropriate... or that they are in John Edwards' future."

"He's paid dearly for his errors in judgment and that should be enough. I see no need to kick him around any more."

Oh no? Why have these campaign finance crimes at all if we aren't going to enforce them? What is it about John Edwards that he deserves special compassion? I'd say he owes us big time for staying in the presidential race, holding our attention, when what we needed to do was compare Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. That was massively selfish — and Elizabeth Edwards didn't stop him when she had the chance. I will not be suckered into feeling sorry for them.

71 comments:

The Dude said...: Ann, you are wrong. Laws do not apply to liberals.

His dying wife is a get out of jail free card.

Ask many of your commenters - they can explain why the silky pony can do no wrong.; 5/4/09, 9:45 AM
Robert Cook said...: Just as Bush, Cheney, Rice et al should be prosecuted for their crimes, so should John Edwards be prosecuted if the investigation finds he violated the campaing finance laws. What's good for the goose is good for the randy.; 5/4/09, 9:45 AM
garage mahal said...: We need to look forward, not back. It would tear the country apart! We don't need a partisan witchunt right now do we? It would set a terrible precedent.; 5/4/09, 9:46 AM
The Dude said...: Don't forget Obama, Cook, he is a war criminal too.

Bring on the show trials. Trotsky vs. Lenin, round 2!

And remember, when they come for the Nader voters, you will be alone.; 5/4/09, 9:50 AM
jimbino said...: Only the poor and disadvantaged get punished in Amerika. It must be embarrassing to be involved in our highly criminal "justice" system.

A good start in reform would be to get rid of all bar certification and prohibit trained attorneys from holding public office, just as Mexico did with the offensive Catholic clerics.

What a fine world that would be!; 5/4/09, 9:51 AM
Sprezzatura said...: How the author of this post got a man to marry her is a mystery.

Presumably, this sort of bitterness and vindictiveness is the exception, and not the rule in the Althouse home.

That said, Edwards should be held accountable. But, stating this simple fact doesn't seem to require the Althouse hyperventilation.; 5/4/09, 9:59 AM
Anonymous said...: "One of us, one of us..."; 5/4/09, 10:00 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Don't forget Obama, Cook, he is a war criminal too".

Correct.; 5/4/09, 10:03 AM
Richard Dolan said...: Edwards hasn't "paid dearly" -- all that happened is that his political career ended (and deservedly so, even though he may be the only one who hasn't figured that out). Otherwise his life has continued pretty much as before.

Even if he had "paid dearly," so what? Sometimes an extraordinary fact about the defendant (usually, a terminal and advanced illness) will cause a prosecutor to defer action. At most sentencing proceedings in federal court, the judge notes that the family suffers because of the defendant's conviction. And sometimes extraordinary family hardship may cause the judge to impose a lesser sentence. But it's rare to see the "suffered enough - no need to kick him around" theme get someone out from under a federal criminal problem. If it did, there would be a lot fewer prosecutions. The toll that a federal criminal investigation takes on its target is always high, particularly in white collar cases. Most corporate malefactors could make a much better case of "suffered enough - no need to kick him around" and it shouldn't do anything for Edwards either.; 5/4/09, 10:04 AM
traditionalguy said...: Edwards suckered many, many democrats into believing in him and bundling money. Now he wants the exemption always given to Dems for "loving the people" so much that they have to cheat and steal so as to better help People. The repubs do have to go directly to jail when caught, since they are only selfish men. It is scary that we are so used to these thoughts that they makes sense to me.; 5/4/09, 10:05 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "How the author of this post got a man to marry her is a mystery."

LOL. Not all men are pussies.; 5/4/09, 10:09 AM
Wince said...: In a perfect world, Edwards would be waterboarded by former Bush administration officials.

Not to mention the hair-eating caterpillar.; 5/4/09, 10:10 AM
MadisonMan said...: I'd say he owes us big time for staying in the presidential race, holding our attention, when what we needed to do was compare Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Don't blame me if you were paying attention to the idiot Edwards. It was obvious he could never derail the Hillary! train.

As for kicking Edwards when he's down (is he?): Why not? Let's set a model for all politicians who are hypocrites when it comes to following the law.; 5/4/09, 10:15 AM
KCFleming said...: Edwards whispers "plausible deniability" with the warmest of smiles.; 5/4/09, 10:23 AM
Meade said...: Wasn't Edwards, supposed to be on Obama's shortlist for Vice President?

Imagine the poor judgement it would take to pick John Edwards as your VP.; 5/4/09, 10:23 AM
dbp said...: From a political standpoint, prosecution followed by imprisonment would be the best thing that could happen to John Edwards.

He could parlay his suffering as transformative and re-enter the scene not as "silky pony" but as a serious man of purpose.

People are idiots and would totally eat that up.; 5/4/09, 10:31 AM
Kirk Parker said...: "I'd say he owes us big time for staying in the presidential race, holding our attention "

Speak for yourself. :-)

But everything else you say here is spot on.; 5/4/09, 10:36 AM
EnigmatiCore said...: "I will not be suckered into feeling sorry for them."

Your lack of empathy disqualifies you from Obama's SCOTUS short list, Althouse.; 5/4/09, 10:41 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Wasn't Edwards, supposed to be on Obama's shortlist for Vice President?

It must have been a very very short list then.

Imagine the poor judgement it would take to pick John Edwards as your VP.

Almost as bad as picking Biden.
:-D; 5/4/09, 10:43 AM
Meade said...: dbp said...
"From a political standpoint, prosecution followed by imprisonment would be the best thing that could happen to John Edwards."

Also, from a standpoint of psychological health, prosecution and prison might be best for him:

"Edwards is using terminology that others have not dared to use," Behary said. "He might just be doing it to say, 'Look, I have this syndrome, I have this problem.'
"By putting a diagnostic label on it might be another way of not taking responsibility."; 5/4/09, 10:46 AM
Joe said...: Edwards hasn't paid dearly. What a bunch of nonsense! A few disgusted bloggers doesn't constitute a penalty. Edwards is still very wealthy and can hob nob with just about any other wealthy, powerful person he chooses.

(Among those, the biggest disgust is his choice of mistress, not that he had one. And given his wife's book, it does appear that Edwards tends to hook up with women who talk too much about the wrong things--a sure sign of poor judgment amongst the privileged class.); 5/4/09, 10:46 AM
kjbe said...: The PAC is the legal loophole for his probable get-out-of-jail-free card. More so than the sympathy card being played in the article…and the guy certainly has more than his fair share of sympathy cards to play.; 5/4/09, 10:58 AM
Laura(southernxyl) said...: "1jpb said...
How the author of this post got a man to marry her is a mystery.

Presumably, this sort of bitterness and vindictiveness is the exception, and not the rule in the Althouse home.

That said, Edwards should be held accountable. But, stating this simple fact doesn't seem to require the Althouse hyperventilation.

9:59 AM"

Did I say in the Marilyn French thread that it USED to be that women were supposed to sit down and shut up? How foolish of me.; 5/4/09, 11:10 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Jeez, dbp, are you trying to give us all nightmares???!?; 5/4/09, 11:11 AM
Christy said...: While the authorities may not have the evidence to charge him with criminal acts, do his contributors have a civil case against him?; 5/4/09, 11:13 AM
Franco said...: Hillary was given entree into politics because of the lies of a cheating man, and she was denied because of the lies another.; 5/4/09, 11:25 AM
Bissage said...: I guess his defense team is going to have to pretty much do its best to keep obstetricians off the jury.; 5/4/09, 11:28 AM
MayBee said...: He didn't just hold our attention. He received something like $8.5 million from the tax payers to run his vanity primary.; 5/4/09, 11:43 AM
Anonymous said...: I'll always remember this sad fraud as exhibit #2312301293 of the liberal media taking care of its own and not saying boo about his affair until the National Enquirer spoke up. Pathetic even by their standards. You can bet dollars to donut if he had a 'R' behind its name it would have magically "had legs"; 5/4/09, 11:43 AM
The Drill SGT said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/4/09, 12:01 PM
The Drill SGT said...: The appropriate punishment would be for the slimey ambulance chaser to lose his law license, but I don't see how that could happen, absent a plea deal or a felony conviction, and those aren't gonna happen.

If I could be sure he'd still be shunned by the people and ignored by the press in two years, I'd say let him go home to minister to his wife.

Alternately, we could sentence him to live with Hunter :); 5/4/09, 12:02 PM
Jordan said...: Y'all don't get it. His hair is off the hook. The body is still up on charges.; 5/4/09, 12:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Did any of this tool's exploits ever break into the major media? Or are we still full of respect for the sexual, financial, and legal privacy of Democrats?

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin...; 5/4/09, 12:22 PM
traditionalguy said...: Obama should appoint Edwards as Ambassador to The Vatican where his sincerety act will get them so confused that the Pope will say he favors abortion until he wakes up and realizes that he has only been taken in by sincere boyish charm.; 5/4/09, 12:35 PM
Anonymous said...: The Pope would cackle in John Edwards's face. I mean, really.; 5/4/09, 12:39 PM
Elliott A said...: I'm surprised that there was only one reference to obstetricians. Edwards singlehandedly ruined many good and competent physicians and has created a situation where there is a continual shortage of obstetric care in NC. He made untold millions which he still enjoys the fruits of with a lie. He should have to refund the fees he collected in all those lawsuits. Then, maybe, he will have paid enough.; 5/4/09, 12:49 PM
hdhouse said...: My God he reminds me of Newt Gingrich!

Oh the humanity; 5/4/09, 1:02 PM
Anonymous said...: All politics is now a crime, it seems. Let the lawyer have a taste of his own medicine.; 5/4/09, 1:03 PM
Cedarford said...: Good 10:04 AM post by Richard Dolan!; 5/4/09, 1:44 PM
Methadras said...: "He's paid dearly for his errors in judgment and that should be enough. I see no need to kick him around any more."

This is the same tripe that was trotted around for Bill Clinton. If a Conservative or a Republican said something like this, he would have been skewered. The hypocritical double-standard that the liberal/leftist crew employ is beneath contempt.; 5/4/09, 1:44 PM
john said...: It's the hair. The hair is the mirror to ones soul, and the longer it takes us to recognize it, the longer these fakes and scam artists will prey on us.

Evidence?

The evangelist.

The pol.

The alien.; 5/4/09, 2:15 PM
hdhouse said...: Methadras said...
" The hypocritical double-standard that the liberal/leftist crew employ is beneath contempt."

Ahh Methadras, you have a contempt level? How low is that?....ohhhh that's right, your a republican.; 5/4/09, 2:22 PM
The Dude said...: hdhouse "your" does not equal "you're".; 5/4/09, 2:41 PM
save_the_rustbelt said...: Rich white people, especially lawyers, rarely have to obey the law.

At least not until the crime gets into some really large numbers.; 5/4/09, 2:55 PM
save_the_rustbelt said...: "LOL. Not all men are pussies."

You tell him! You go girl!; 5/4/09, 2:56 PM
Revenant said...: I'm with Richard Dolan on this -- how has Edwards "paid dearly"? You can't even really argue that this killed his political career, because he didn't have one. He was a complete failure as Kerry's running mate and came in a very distant third in the Presidential primaries. Does anyone really think the Democrats were holding their breath eagerly waiting to nominate him in 2016 until this sex scandal came up?

The only price Edwards has paid is embarrassment. Maybe prosecuting him is a bad idea -- I have no opinion on that -- but if it is, it isn't because he has already "paid".; 5/4/09, 2:59 PM
Omnibabe said...: Thanks. Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks these two are getting exactly what they asked for...; 5/4/09, 3:09 PM
Anonymous said...: The less said & written about the Edwards the better. Cromwell's advice to the Rump Parliament seems appropriate:

Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!.; 5/4/09, 3:16 PM
KCFleming said...: I support rendition for Edwards.

Send him back to hell.; 5/4/09, 3:32 PM
David said...: Hey, I think the people who wrote the Bush administration memos on interrogation of prisoners have suffered enough too. So we can count on Talk Left opposing their prosecution as well, right?; 5/4/09, 3:37 PM
John Stodder said...: Wow. We really are on the road to a banana republic.

If you're on the right side of the issues but you break the law, you're said to have "suffered enough?"

I love how some of her commenters think the whole scandal was a plot to derail universal health care. A plot that no newspaper or TV network covered until it was inescapable, and only after he had dropped out of the race! Whatever insurance company paid for that plot didn't get much for their money.; 5/4/09, 4:08 PM
Eric said...: What's good for the goose is good for the randy.

The rest of your comment was boilerplate lefty idiocy, but that right there is funny.; 5/4/09, 4:22 PM
Fen said...: So how long before Edwards starts lecturing us again on his "Two Americas". Hypocrite.; 5/4/09, 8:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Ann,

Sweetheart. This is a boys game.

Go sit down honey.

Crimes like money laundering campaign cash to your side snatch just aren't going to be prosecuted in Barack Obama's America, pookie. Not on the Soc side anyway.

So sit over there and be quiet sweetheart, and go back to taking pictures of food you eat in restaurants and oh look, there's a tree!; 5/4/09, 8:03 PM
Ken said...: Edwards deserves to go to Hell. But he's not worth the cost of a prosecution. Besides, the Obama regime won't allow a prominent Democrat to face justice ( unless, of course, he upset Obama ).; 5/4/09, 8:12 PM
Kristo Miettinen said...: The reason to forgive Edwards is to set the precedent, so that Obama is not even seriously investigated.

Obama's credit-card fraud enablement was done in broad daylight and cannot be hidden, it can only be dismissed. Dismissing Edwards' offences sets the expectation of doing the same for the only Democrat who really matters.

All questions of how to deal with this or that Democrat ultimately boil down to whether Obama can stand this or that form of scrutiny.; 5/4/09, 8:19 PM
Ben said...: So Bush is a war criminal. And so is Obama. And Truman -- Don't forget Truman.

In the future, everyone will be a war criminal for 15 minutes.

And a pussy, too.; 5/4/09, 9:09 PM
Peter said...: I am kind of curious just how American politics has become a continuing criminal enterprise. I am also curious how Republicans get prosecuted and convicted for the awful crime of not being the one to "out" someone who was not a covert agent while no Donk gets even really prosecuted, even for getting caught with bribe money in the freezer.; 5/4/09, 9:10 PM
jcr said...: I am kind of curious just how American politics has become a continuing criminal enterpriseIt all starts with Alexander Hamilton. He was the criminal mastermind behind first Bank of the United States, which committed a massive theft by inflating the currency by 70% in the first three years of its operation.; 5/4/09, 9:18 PM
Doug Santo said...: You were suckered into voting for Obama, why draw the line with edwards?

In your post on 1/22/09 you said that Obama "...really is a solid, normal person who remained grounded in the middle of all this craziness. And I like to think that, now that he's President, with his steely nerve, his intelligence, and his groundedness, he'll do the job that must be done. The trickery is over."

I still can't get over the naivete of that statement.

At any event, why not give Edwards the same benefit of the doubt? After all, Edwards was a victim of the cult of personality just like Obama was. You claim Obama was embarrassed by the adulation, well Edwards was taken in by it. Edwards is a victim. Edwards desreves a bail out!

Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA; 5/4/09, 9:38 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Wow, Doug, you really took that out of context. Here is the quote as it appears in a contrast between the Bush and Obama's campaign's.

The trickery that was over was the trickery of the campaign... that worked because Obama was pretty normal. It wasn't at all about whether Obama was capable of being Prez.; 5/4/09, 9:57 PM
From Inwood said...: This just in:

Notre Dame will award an honorary degree to John Edwards in place of the medal rejected by Mary Ann Glendon.

Edwards will be recognized as an example of God's promises on Sin & Redemption. See Romans 3:21-26. Developing....; 5/4/09, 10:09 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: "Yet, I don't believe criminal charges are appropriate...or that they are in John Edwards' future. He's paid dearly for his errors in judgment and that should be enough. I see no need to kick him around any more."

Why have laws if no one will enforce them. If Edwards had been a Repubican, the lynch mob would storm the doors of his home, drag him through the streets, and hang him from the first tree they found. After they tortured him and tarred and feathered him.

Fuck Edwards, his wife and kids.; 5/4/09, 10:23 PM
Hyphenated American said...: Lets remember two people - Tom Delay and Ted Stevens. Both were prosecuted only because they were republicans, both are innocent.

Lets send the dogs after Edwards. This pig deserves to be in jail.; 5/4/09, 11:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Whenever anybody slighted Sarah Palin's modest but relevant executive experience last fall, I was quick to point out that the party that had nominated John Edwards for the same office during the previous go-round was not in a position to criticize even the lightest of lightweight candidates this time.

Near as I can tell, this is the only thing of value to have resulted from the very existence of this horrible, vainglorious, wicked man.; 5/4/09, 11:19 PM
hdhouse said...: Oh great. Then when Newt pulls up and wants to be president of course I can count on some here to scream about it.

Edwards wasn't elected to anything. He dropped out. He is history and probably rightfully so but there is no investigation of him right now, just his PAC so don't get carried away unless there is something more. If he broke a law the emphasis on "he", then he gets what he gets. Otherwise he is both out of politics and out of a marriage to a good woman.

What this has to do with Obama is just nothing, zip, zero...which of course won't stop the Peter the Gross's vile spilling out of every of every opening in his body.

Jesus, Peter, do you talk that way in front of your kids?; 5/5/09, 5:08 AM
The Dude said...: "vile" spilling out of every opening?

What does that even mean?; 5/5/09, 7:37 AM
Doug Santo said...: Ann-

With due respect, I suggest your statement on 1/22/09 speaks for itself. I don't understand how I took it out of context. I don't understand the context which makes the statement a rational and logical analysis of President Obama's abilities.

Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA; 5/5/09, 8:40 AM
Sokmnkee said...: I found it unbelievable at first when they said Edwards had had an affair. I always thought he seemed like a closet gay, so I naturally assumed he had had an affair with another man. At any rate, if I were Elizabeth I would have his dingleberries dangling from my rear view.; 5/5/09, 12:13 PM
hdhouse said...: NKVD...vile as in evil substance and dripping out is probably what he does...sorry you are too damn dense to figure it out.

ya'betcha.; 5/5/09, 8:34 PM
Meade said...: http://www.nationalenquirer.com/john_edwards_mistress_rielle_hunter_dna_test_love_child/celebrity/66637#; 5/6/09, 4:06 PM