Althouse: "She called her spouse a 'hick' in front of other people and derided his parents as rednecks."

January 9, 2010

"She called her spouse a 'hick' in front of other people and derided his parents as rednecks."

"One time, when a friend asked if John had read a certain book, Elizabeth burst out laughing. 'Oh, he doesn’t read books,' she said. 'I’m the one who reads books.'"

59 comments:

Jason (the commenter) said...: At first I thought this was something put together to destroy Elizabeth's image and allow Edwards to continue his political career. But reading past the firstpage, I have to say, we really dodged a bullet when we got Obama. And I don't like Obama!; 1/9/10, 5:51 PM
rhhardin said...: Oh my God! It has a page 2, and many pages after that!

It's a writer settling in for a word quota story.

Anyway it's a wonder John didn't go elsewhere for some appreciation.

I take it her marriage wasn't her highest priority.; 1/9/10, 5:53 PM
michaele said...: Whew, that whole chapter was brutal to both John and Elizabeth. Jeez, what were they thinking in going forward with his candidacy.; 1/9/10, 5:53 PM
Matt Eckert said...: If only Amanda Marcotte had known about this! She would have spoken truth to power and saved us from the chance of an Edwards presidency.

Instead we had to depend on John's untrustworthy dick.; 1/9/10, 5:54 PM
Ricardo said...: There's always a story, behind the story.

Love the illustrations!; 1/9/10, 5:57 PM
Matt Eckert said...: It's just a good thing that press thoroughly investigated President Obama and nothing is hidden about him or his private life. I bet he is a clean upstanding role model like Tiger Woods who he was often comparted to.

Oh wait a minute.; 1/9/10, 6:02 PM
Clyde said...: Some people deserve each other. It's apparent that the Edwardses belong in that category.; 1/9/10, 6:06 PM
Wince said...: Sheeeesh.

I'm just glad I read far enough to see this.

She called Nick Baldick, his campaign manager, an idiot.

I, for one, would prefer to be called "idiot" rather than "Baldick."; 1/9/10, 6:12 PM
joated said...: In France she'd be serving time for those cutting (although probably true) remarks.; 1/9/10, 6:14 PM
Kirby Olson said...: She could talk substantively. Had she run for president, I would have voted for her, had she been healthy. She has an actual brain. I listened to her once for a whole hour, riveted. I'm a Republican, but if she has a brain, I'd vote for her over the idiots running in the Republican party lately.; 1/9/10, 6:15 PM
David said...: "“Why the fuck do you think I’d want to go sit outside a Wal-Mart and hand out leaflets?” she snarled at the schedulers."

Roosting chickens.

Sometimes I am right about stuff. John Edwards is one of my examples of that. It was clear that he was a simpering phony even before that two minute video of Edwards primping his hair came out.

And Kerry picked him for VP!

And Axelrod--don't get me started.; 1/9/10, 6:16 PM
David said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/9/10, 6:16 PM
Wince said...: Oh, that makes sense, now I understand.

She called Nick Baldick "idiot," because if she called out "Baldick" Axlerod would also respond.; 1/9/10, 6:20 PM
Matt Eckert said...: Thank God that the mainstream media display the courage and investigative thoroughness to this matter as they did to the affair that John McCain didn't have.

It makes you proud to be an American.; 1/9/10, 6:25 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: "Yes, to you, Baldrick, the renaissance was just something that happened to other people, wasn't it?"; 1/9/10, 6:28 PM
vbspurs said...: My stars! I'm speechless.

Even hatchet jobs in magazines strive to write positives about the subject -- there is NONE, absolutely nothing positive in this article about John or Elizabeth Edwards. They both come off as entitled, snobbish, mean and totally self-deluded.

I think I am like a lot of Americans. Whenever I looked at John Edwards, I saw a lightweight of the highest order. Even Kerry found him chilling when he cried on cue about the tragic passing of his son, Wade, and then the next moment was smiling and joshing.

I don't understand why people like this get as far as they do. Are looks and the ability to sell yourself that important in life?

As for Elizabeth Edwards, though I couldn't wish her health on my worst enemy, she was always a virago-type, similar to Barbara Bush, and I didn't have much sympathy for her during this scandal. I'll never forget the sad comments by die-hard Edwards supporters on Daily Kos, who wrote to her that her brief, and very cold message telling people to mind their own business about the Hunter affair, was simply not good enough. Some had given thousands of dollars to Edwards' campaign.

But what really hurt them, was that they went ahead with his presidential bid, despite knowing of this ticking time bomb of the affair/illegitimate kid.

Politicians who cheat probably think they will either get away with it, or that it won't be a problem, if they spin it right. If it works, you'll be president like Bill Clinton. Problem is, most of them end up like Gary Hart.

Cheers,
Victoria; 1/9/10, 6:28 PM
vbspurs said...: wv: fiess. FIESS UP!; 1/9/10, 6:28 PM
vbspurs said...: I listened to her once for a whole hour, riveted.

I met Lynn Cheney once, and had the exact same impression. What a great public speaker she is, and as smart as a whip.; 1/9/10, 6:30 PM
J. Cricket said...: Matt,
I don't recall a single instance in which Obama was compared to Tiger Woods. But that doesn't keep the "Althouse comment community" from smearing the President of the United States in any way possible. Don't let facts get in your way!

You must be so proud.; 1/9/10, 6:42 PM
rcocean said...: Maybe they can blame Ann Coulter.; 1/9/10, 6:45 PM
Matt Eckert said...: Thanks JC. Anything to afflict that slick communist who is destroying our country is a good thing.; 1/9/10, 6:51 PM
joewxman said...: Elizabeth has a body without sharp edges or lines! One of the best insults i've ever read (robin givens i believe) and thank God we were saved from John Edwards and his marcia brady hair flip.; 1/9/10, 6:52 PM
Matt Eckert said...: Besides, I thought it was good old Joe Biden who said that they were both very much alike. "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy" Biden said. “He is a lot like Tiger Woods. Or maybe Urkel. I don’t know. I forget which is which. Sorry I have to go and get some more hair plugs.”; 1/9/10, 6:53 PM
mariner said...: J. C. Nickel,

You're delusional.

If Tiger Woods is being compared to Obambi, it's Tiger who's being smeared -- even now.; 1/9/10, 6:57 PM
Matt Eckert said...: J.C. only likes it if you compare Obambi to the other J.C.; 1/9/10, 6:58 PM
hombre said...: I'm no fan of John Edwards, but that piece read like a tabloid article. I'd expect some attribution for some of those "conversations" before accepting that the Edwards are that awful.; 1/9/10, 7:05 PM
hombre said...: Edwardses?; 1/9/10, 7:07 PM
Cedarford said...: vbspurs said...
I listened to her once for a whole hour, riveted.

I met Lynn Cheney once, and had the exact same impression. What a great public speaker she is, and as smart as a whip.

Suffering Saint Elizabeth, once the facade was gone - apparantly was a real nasty piece of work in the eyes of those closest to her.
Somehow, people close to Lynn Cheney say she is endearing, even her foes. Like Anne Romney. Cindy McCain, a committed "help others" activist since her teens - would have made a great 1st Lady. Pity she was with the other John.

There are lots of bums that are great public speakers. Even mezmerizing ones. Still bums (Jesse & the Edwardes) or self-promoting empty suits (Palin & Obama); 1/9/10, 7:09 PM
Unknown said...: You're right, J.C.--Obama was never, ever, not once, compared to Tiger.

But that doesn't stop the "reality-based community" from creating facts out of whole cloth as much as possible. Don't let the facts get in your way!

You must be so proud.; 1/9/10, 7:11 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: We all know John Edwards is a phony.

But do we know that Elizabeth isn't one?; 1/9/10, 7:29 PM
JAL said...: Yet no one called her out on her behavior, least of all her husband. His default reflex was to mollify her—or avoid her.

So that's why their house in Orange County, NC is 28,200 square feet.; 1/9/10, 7:36 PM
somefeller said...: John Edwards's success, such as it was, came from a classic example of political generals fighting the last war. The only Democratic Presidents after JFK were white Southern Democratic men, so therefore a lot of people in the party were looking for a white Southern Democratic male as the person to put up as nominee. And many of those people were otherwise pretty liberal and in many cases females or members of minorities. (The biggest Edwards supporter in my group of political friends was an African-American woman, who was blunt about her doubts about Obama or Clinton winning in the general election.) There weren't many examples of that type to work with and Edwards was a good-looking and smooth guy, so he got the nod from a lot of people. Thank heaven he wasn't the Democratic nominee in 2008.; 1/9/10, 7:43 PM
Roux said...: You never never never make your spouse look bad in front of others. Not if you want to have a successful and loving marriage. Keep your criticisms in private.

My best friend's wife is a shrew. She constantly criticizes in front of his friends. All it does is make her look bad.; 1/9/10, 7:59 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: I am not 100% certain Elizabeth is as sick as the Edwards' have claimed. Most of their other public claims have been false, so why not that one? Especially since they milked it for all it was worth in a grab for the Presidency.

This paragraph sickened me:

"The thought was occurring in the minds of many old Edwards hands, in Iowa and farther afield. The mainstream media, yet again, was determinedly ignoring the Enquirer. If that trend continued, there was still a chance that John could win the nomination—and "....

... the White House, which would be bad because such a mendacious, morally bankrupt, and troubled couple would be the First Family?

No. That would not have bothered the media or the handlers. What would have bothered them was...

"If that trend continued, there was still a chance that John could win the nomination—and thus deliver the White House to the GOP on a platter when the story eventually, inevitably, was proved true."; 1/9/10, 8:29 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: Very next page:

"Tentatively, unhappily, but soberly and seriously, the Edwards old guard began discussing their obligation to the party to come forward with what they knew."

Yes. Their obligation to the party, not to us. Not to their fellow countrymen.

Party before country.

Hell of a couple, the Edwards are. They deserve each other. Their supporters deserve them and vice-versa as well.

None of them deserve America.; 1/9/10, 8:34 PM
Unknown said...: Elizabeth is like the Hildabeast - anyone who sees them up close and personal doesn't like them at all, so they find a good-looking empty suit as a front. The fact both picked oily lawyers and compulsive philanderers clearly says something about a personality sub-type.

Both women are the real wonks in the family, hubbo is there for PR and any broads he picks up along the way (and that's all he better pick up), are his as long as it's kept sotto voce. These are political partnerships, not marriages.

Elizabeth was always a lot more tech-savvy than Hillary and I suspect a lot more competent; Hillary was only as good as her PR.

Slightly OT, but does it seem to anybody else like the Lefties are suddenly coming unstuck? I know Friday wasn't a great day for the administration - job figures and the fighters scrambled by NORAD, but, what with Dingy Harry and Maatha in MA, it's starting to look a bit like H+1 on Omaha Beach.; 1/9/10, 8:44 PM
former law student said...: Reading the crackmc would have alerted Edwards to the danger in this Hunter chick:

She spouted New Age babble, rambled on about astrology and reincarnation, and announced to people she had just met, “I’m a witch.”

But this part doesn't seem phony; you have to compartmentalize your grief if you want to be taken seriously:

when he cried on cue about the tragic passing of his son, Wade, and then the next moment was smiling and joshing.

Prolonged grieving makes everyone uncomfortable -- try sobbing during a job interview some time.; 1/9/10, 9:12 PM
EnigmatiCore said...: FLS talks like he knows from experience.

Figures.; 1/9/10, 9:14 PM
Simon Kenton said...: So the National Enquirer did what the Mainstream Media would not, and that may have saved us from having this puffball and his harridan for our president and first lady.

It's time for another round of earnest self-searching from the national media which will discover, yet again, that the reason they are in trouble is Craigslist. Or the Internet in general. Or amateur competition that operates without layers of professional factcheckers. Or a cynical public that stupidly and delusionally won't accept accurate if it happens to be fake.

wv finelies. !; 1/9/10, 9:15 PM
former law student said...: Figures.

Yep, Mom died while I was in college. I still tear up when I think of her.; 1/9/10, 9:23 PM
Cedarford said...: Both women are the real wonks in the family.
Not really.
Though intelligent and hard-working, Hillary was just not in Bill Clinton's brainpower league.
And while Suffering Saint Elizabeth got all sorts of laudatory remarks about how smart she seemed to media people infatuated with her victimhood - it was John Edwards who was the far more successful lawyer and public figure - until his flaws wrecked him.; 1/9/10, 9:23 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: you have to compartmentalize your grief

I think that's probably true. Their child died. If they didn't compartmentalize that, they'd be crying all the time.; 1/9/10, 9:25 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I agree with Victoria about Lynn Cheney. She's great.

Of course, she's married to Dick Cheney who is also great.

/ducks

WV: eureho This is a Tiger Woods thread?; 1/9/10, 9:28 PM
bagoh20 said...: I take issue with this statement above: "Instead we had to depend on John's untrustworthy dick."

Dick apparently probably did his job just fine, and worked overtime late into the evening - don't blame him. This is guilt by association and it's wrong.; 1/9/10, 10:00 PM
From Inwood said...: Egad, I have to agree with C4.

I'm sick of hearing, mostly from females, about how smart/brilliant/intellectual Hill is.

And I was sick of hearing how Eliz E was apparently almost as smart/brilliant/intellectual as Hill.

And, oh, Sonia Sotomayor. Wait. I never heard much about how smart/brilliant/intellectual she was.; 1/9/10, 10:05 PM
Mian said...: I find it frightening that this charlatan came very close to getting the nomination.

The MSM dereliction of their duty in conducting "due diligence" on a candidacy --regardless of party or of political stripe -- is utterly appalling.; 1/9/10, 10:20 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: how smart/brilliant/intellectual Hill is.

I've even heard her called the Smartest Woman in America. Yet, I've never seen any evidence of this. Where does the idea come from? Bright, yes; brilliant, no.; 1/9/10, 10:22 PM
former law student said...: Bright, yes; brilliant, no.

Right. Hard work instead of flair. In lawyer parlance a grinder.; 1/9/10, 10:50 PM
vbspurs said...: I am not 100% certain Elizabeth is as sick as the Edwards' have claimed.

Ooh, I don't know about that, Enigmatic. I mean, in this horrible hit piece (I dislike the Edwardses a lot, but my God, it's vitriolic) Elizabeth Edwards is emotionally remonstrating with her husband about his affair, and rents apart her blouse in public IN A CAR PARK, to show him her breast CA scars.

We're talking, tough, tough stuff here.; 1/10/10, 12:53 AM
vbspurs said...: Edwardses?

"Oh, look. It's the Hernandezes-ses."; 1/10/10, 12:55 AM
vbspurs said...: My best friend's wife is a shrew. She constantly criticizes in front of his friends. All it does is make her look bad.

At the risk of sounding weirdly anti-American today (having referenced earlier how Americans don't dress well, but like others who do, and of course, the TV is on all the time thing), I have to say that American women have an awful reputation with foreigners about this. Europeans always comment on how emasculating they can be towards their husbands, even in public.; 1/10/10, 12:56 AM
Anonymous said...: You may be wondering why an article such as this one wasn't published any sooner. It's because the hothouses of leftism that are mainstream journalism think exactly the same. Like this:

From: "Pierce, Tony"

Date: July 24, 2008 10:54:41 AM PDT

To: [XXX]

Subject: john edwards

Hey bloggers,

There has been a little buzz surrounding John Edwards and his alleged affair. Because the only source has been the National Enquirer we have decided not to cover the rumors or salacious speculations. So I am asking you all not to blog about this topic until further notified.

If you have any questions or are ever in need of story ideas that would best fit your blog, please don't hesitate to ask

Keep rockin,

Tony

That's from the Los Angeles Times, which banned its bloggers, including political bloggers, from mentioning the Edwards/Rielle Hunter story.; 1/10/10, 1:09 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Several things:

Thanks, FLS, that's just the quote I'm using in my next post (I read the article this afternoon at work) and, yea, I woulda been on that lousy bitch so fast,...

Next, I, too, have heard Elizabeth Edwards and Lynn Cheney speak and found myself impressed. Two very smart women. (I can't listen to Hillary Clinton for 5 minutes without wanting to kill something.) Elizabeth strikes me as tough-as-nails, and no B.S., which I like, even in this article. Their people sound like the typical wimps that are dragging the country down, getting their wittle feewings hurt in a high pressure campaign - losers - somebody's gotta be da man and it sounds like it's Elizabeth! Too bad she settled for a show horse, though. That's not so bright.

I can even identify with that opening her shirt in public bit - that man HAS HER IN HELL at that point, mentally and physically, with a dead son, cancer, and being made a cuckold by that man - I cut her slack for a touch of madness at that point. It all sounds very real to me.

That's brutal.; 1/10/10, 1:22 AM
Anonymous said...: Jesus, Crack. What about ripping off her blouse and screaming, Look at me?

What about the insane insistence that staff members prove that the staffer who took the fall was the father?

Elizabeth Edwards doesn't come off as tough or wise or anything like that. She comes off as a petulant, deluded bitch lamely using a disease to demand sympathy.

To hell with Elizabeth Edwards. She's an idiot whose 15 minutes long ago expired. I second Jason well above, I thank our lucky national stars that Obama beat this guy, and I despise Obama.; 1/10/10, 1:30 AM
damianlewis719 said...: That was a fascinating article.; 1/10/10, 7:47 AM
EnigmatiCore said...: "I mean, in this horrible hit piece"

Yes, it is that.

Is there a reason I should take the article at face value? This is from one of those tell-all books, isn't it? My perception is that those books are not always the most truthful of tomes.

While titillating in a train-wreck manner, I don't assume that everything I read there is true. Further, and maybe this is harsh, I have come to think that everything that power-hungry couple utters, including normally innocuous words like 'the', are untrue.; 1/10/10, 8:31 AM
Dark Eden said...: You know there's this real undercurrent of classist bigotry just under the surface of a lot of supposedly open minded tolerant liberals.

People who would recoil in shock at a comment about blacks or jews or muslims will go on for hours about 'those dirty southern hick rednecks.'; 1/10/10, 9:47 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Seven Machos,

You're describing stuff that happened after she knew about the affair - that's the madness I was referring to - it'll do that to you, which is why I'm so against the "why is anyone so upset about ____'s affair when everybody has them?" attitude: there's some awful shit they're ignoring when they say that.

When I discovered my wife's adultery - not the murders but just the cheating - I went mad (as anyone here can imagine - actually you can't) losing 100 lbs, locking myself in the house and living on coffee and cigarettes, railing at almost anyone that approached me (which, of course, is still kinda true online) with these roiling fits of emotion that were just unstoppable, and so intense I dislocated a vertebrae in my neck that required cortisone (I think) shot in my spine to fix. I would scream in my sleep and wake up, screaming, just wishing I could die. And, once I discovered the guy was a homeopath - someone taking advantage of my wife while destroying my life as an individual - it got even worse, because then I had to know everything about the wild and wooly world of NewAge: what, exactly, was going on here and why didn't I know about any of this stuff before? (I'd never heard of homeopathy.) That's when I started turning on anyone that was even remotely associated with it - lost a lot of friends over stuff like just mentioning "karma" - it was sad, man. So, yea, I feel for people who are put through that.

Now, on the other hand, I no longer buy the "Saint Elizabeth" shit either, but I can at least accept that - politician or no - she's a human being and there are parameters to what we can take, emotionally, and what she had to endure, on the world stage, had to be off-the-friggin' charts. I think she's still going through it with all this gotta meet the baby shit.

I know I am, and I'm working on 5 years. The blog was snatched down twice, by NewAgers in my circle, because it was so virulent, but here's some posts from the earliest days of it's third incarnation - and if you click on the screen shot, here, you can see the kind of insanity I was suddenly finding all over my apartment that I had to come to terms with. "Scotty", BTW, was a guru (who I thought was just a friend) that used to come over and get on my nerves - check this shit:

"Roselight meditation". "Reiki from the future". "Channelling". "Should not worry about Troy (my name, y'all) if I don't worry about him, he won't worry about me."

I'm like WTF? I honestly had no idea what she was writing about and got really, really, scared for her. I was ready to KILL. Read it, close, and the cultism shines right through. Whether anybody knows it or not, that's what this culture is supporting:

Mystic Mayhem™; 1/10/10, 12:09 PM
Fen said...: You know there's this real undercurrent of classist bigotry just under the surface of a lot of supposedly open minded tolerant liberals.

People who would recoil in shock at a comment about blacks or jews or muslims will go on for hours about 'those dirty southern hick rednecks.'

Its more than just classist bigotry or provincialism. Its racism toward rural whites. Lefty's hate them. And ignorantly use bigoted stereotypes to imply "rednecks" are ignorant bigots (ironic, yes).

Take one of their comments and replace "redneck" with "spic" or "nigger" to get a sense of what the Left is really made of.; 1/11/10, 7:21 AM