XX Factor: the blog

"Dave Matthews at Our Wedding" Is the New "Hiking the Appalachian Trail"

Emily, I agree that modern women don't really want a Don Draper, but at least he's a way better fantasy than fellow affair-havers Mark Sanford and now John Edwards. First, Sanford had that lame Appalachian Trail excuse and the even more embarrassing press conference. In a New York Times article over the weekend, it was revealed that Edwards promised mistress Rielle Hunter that he would "marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band." What is wrong with our chronically unstylish philandering politicians?

Say what you will about Don, but at least he was discreet, and embarrassing Betty is the last thing he'd ever want to do. Both Sanford and Edwards have maximally humiliated their families with their dalliances. It now appears as if Edwards is the father of Hunter's child, as people have been speculating all along. If Edwards had been honest when his affair with Hunter had first emerged, if he had said, yes, this is my child, it would have been awful for Elizabeth and his children, but at least it would have been only briefly in the public mind. But he didn't do that. Instead, this farce has been drawn out for months on end. If Edwards didn't come clean in order to save his political career, it was a stupid move. Americans hate being lied to, especially repeatedly and over moral issues. Has any American political career survived an out-of-wedlock child?

Comments

History

By: geml | Mon, 09/21/2009 - 13:14

Alexander Hamilton was considered by many as George Washington's love child. And what are we calling a "political career" -- strict election or a life in politics? Benjamin Franklin's out of wedlock child went on to become the Royal Governor of New Jersey.

So if nothing else, we can take some comfort in knowing that Rielle Hunter's daughter (and likely John Edwards') is by no means barred from having a political future of her own.

Yes, a career can survive an out-of-wedlock child

By: vb | Mon, 09/21/2009 - 10:15

To counter Grover Cleveland's image of purity, his opponents reported that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child while he was a lawyer in Buffalo. The derisive phrase "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?" rose as an unofficial campaign slogan for those who opposed him. When confronted with the emerging scandal, Cleveland's instructions to his campaign staff were: "Tell the truth." Cleveland admitted to paying child support in 1874 to Maria Crofts Halpin, the woman who claimed he fathered her child named Oscar Folsom Cleveland.

After he won election, Cleveland supporters changed the phrase to:"Ma, Ma, where's my Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha Ha Ha."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland