John Edwards: Not Focused On My Reputation
Two-time presidential candidate John Edwards, in his first extended print interview since acknowledging that he had an extramarital affair, tells The Washington Post's Alec MacGillis that he is not ready to declare his '08 WH run a mistake, saying only that it's a "very complex question." He said his run focused on still-salient progressive issues, like health care reform, and forced rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to do the same.
Edwards also said that he has simplified his life dramatically in the wake of revelations that he had an affair even as wife, Elizabeth, was battling cancer.
"The two things I'm on the planet for now are to take care of the people I love and to take care of people who cannot take care of themselves," he said.
Edwards would not answer questions about mistress Rielle Hunter, the paternity of Hunter's baby, his wife's memoir, or the investigation into the use of his campaign funds to pay Hunter, a videographer. He said, though, that he's not embarking on a media tour to restore his public image.
Reputation "is not something I'm focused on," he said. "The only relevance of it at all is my ability to help people. That's the only reason it matters. I'm not engaged in, or interested in, being in a p.r. campaign."
MacGillis writes that Edwards would not rule out a return to politics, however. Read on.
If he's not interested in reputation, why is he talking? Also, if he's going to talk, he needs to address the cover up and the money provided and still being provided to his mistress.
Go away Edwards! You are morally reprehensible and a waste of a human life - just like your whore.