Why?

[oscardeuce]

Why Mr Edwards have you added your name to the list of our "leaders" who continue to break our trust.
You and you ilk from both sides of the aisle are a disgrace. You take our money. You enter Congress and exit years later as multimillionaires. You break your vows, lie, cheat, and steal...
Yet......
We vote for you.
Wait....
It's our fault!
WE THE PEOPLE should hold our leaders to higher standards. WE should not expect this kind of behavior. We don't expect perfection, you are not the Messiah, but you don't need to act like rock stars either.
Where's that rest button?

 

[bang guy]

What do you mean?
I look up to men who ask their wives to lie for them. It's quaint

 

[scotts]

Maybe he has been talking to Newt Gingrinch?

 

[rylan1]

They are human just like the rest of us... and if you look at the statistics of infidelity and divorce... it is not suprising.
One other thing is their "celebrity", power, and money make them even more susciptible to this stuff. Those things magnify opportunity and temptation...
The problem is that we put these people on pedestools, and its the same people that participating in similar activities who are reporting the story IMO...
What these people do in their own homes shouldn't be as big of an issue as we like to make it. They should have a reasonable right to privacy as long as they are not breaking laws... I just think its our fancination about the lives of celebrities... which includes politicians.
Its more important to me that they represent my interests, and not so much what they do in their bedroom.

 

[jpc763]

How is voting for them any different than dropping $40 - $50 bucks at the movie theatre to watch an actor or actress who is on their third or fourth spouse (because they cheated on the others).
Or drop big cash at a sporting event where all the athletes are taking performance enhancing drugs.
We the people say we care, but our actions do not follow our words.

 

[aquaknight]

Do we put them up on a pedestool? Sure, but if they can't stand on it, they should, and will fall off of it. I don't think anyone looking to get into the status that these people attain, don't know the cons that come along with the job. There are those that can stand on that pedestool and do the right thing. Those are the people we need to look for.

 

[rylan1]

Originally Posted by AquaKnight
http:///forum/post/2718123
Do we put them up on a pedestool? Sure, but if they can't stand on it, they should, and will fall off of it. I don't think anyone looking to get into the status that these people attain, don't know the cons that come along with the job. There are those that can stand on that pedestool and do the right thing. Those are the people we need to look for.
people like Harvey Dent?

 

[aquaknight]

Exactly, we just got to make sure there aren't any 55gal drums laying around with gasoline in them......

 

[cowfishrule]

Originally Posted by Rylan1
http:///forum/post/2718110
They are human just like the rest of us... and if you look at the statistics of infidelity and divorce... it is not suprising.
One other thing is their "celebrity", power, and money make them even more susciptible to this stuff. Those things magnify opportunity and temptation...
The problem is that we put these people on pedestools, and its the same people that participating in similar activities who are reporting the story IMO...
What these people do in their own homes shouldn't be as big of an issue as we like to make it. They should have a reasonable right to privacy as long as they are not breaking laws... I just think its our fancination about the lives of celebrities... which includes politicians.
Its more important to me that they represent my interests, and not so much what they do in their bedroom.

for once, my friend, i have to agree with you.
what one does off the clock is none of my bidness as long as it does not affect their "on-the-clock" performance.
It never bothered me that Bubba was sleeping with Monica. That was between him and his wife, not the rest of the country (except for the fact that it happened in the oval office). It never bothered me that Jim ManGravy was "a gay american", or whatever spin he put on it.
One can make that "well, he's lied to his wife, whats to say he's not lying to us" argument, axe yourself this. Have you ever lied to your wife/husband, regardless of how small it is? Really, what makes you any different.

 

[oscardeuce]

Originally Posted by COWFISHRULE
http:///forum/post/2718140
for once, my friend, i have to agree with you.
what one does off the clock is none of my bidness as long as it does not affect their "on-the-clock" performance.
It never bothered me that Bubba was sleeping with Monica. That was between him and his wife, not the rest of the country (except for the fact that it happened in the oval office). It never bothered me that Jim ManGravy was "a gay american", or whatever spin he put on it.
One can make that "well, he's lied to his wife, whats to say he's not lying to us" argument, axe yourself this. Have you ever lied to your wife/husband, regardless of how small it is? Really, what makes you any different.
Does not infidelity leave the leader open to blackmail/power brokering in order to keep them quiet?
Do they not take an oath of office similar to their wedding vows?
If it is not working, then fine, get a divorce. Don't lie and break your oath.
What makes me different is I am not leading people after taking an oath to them.

 

[nacl freak]

"To whom much is given, much is expected"
Wikipedia : A leader is someone who
1. Affects human behavior to accomplish a mission
2. Influences people towards a unified goal or achievment.
Unfortunatly, I have not seen any true leaders in the last 50 years.

 

[t316]

Personally, I find his marriage oath to be of much more value than his political oath. Human, he is, and open to error as we all are. But if we are going to try to seperate his duties in office from his "personal matters", I differ with some of you as to which is of more importance when looking at the true worth of a man....

 

[reefraff]

CHeating on your spouse is a character flaw. Not that it should disqualify them from consideration for public office but the idea that someone who is famous is somehow more tempted than someone else is absurd.
In Edward's case continuing to fool around with his wife's situation AND while he was running for president. well he is too selfish and stupid to be trusted in public office.

 

[tizzo]

Personally...
I don't care that he cheated on his wife. Not my business. Have a little sympathy for her, but again, I don't really care.
BUT...
The fact that he still put himself in the position of political power, I have to question his...strength.
He wasn't strong enough to be faithful to one, (should be) the most important one, that leads me to believe that he wouldn't be faithful to his public when temptation arises. And from what I hear "temptation" is pretty prevalent in politics.
Your either weak, or your not...period.
Sadly, he was weak, he KNEW he was weak, and was AGAIN to weak to turn down the opportunity for political fame.

Sad. I liked the guy. Admired his wife and her perspectives. But he's just not qualified, knowing now what we know.

 

[bang guy]

The infidelity doesn't affect my view of his politics nor my view of his ability.
His lie about it affects my view of his ability to be trusted.
Asking his wife to lie for him about his affair makes him one sick puppy in my opinion. I don't think such a person should even be a County Clerk let alone a Senator {shudder}.
Ok show of hands - Statistics tell the story that about 50% of married people have affairs. Pretend you are in this group (should be easy for half of you) and vote on if you could ask your spouse to lie about an affair they know you had so you could get a job.
Me - No, I couldn't ask my wife to lie about anything no matter how minor.

 

[hlcroghan]

I have to agree with the perspective that I don't care who these politicians are sleeping with. I am a firm believer that humans make mistakes and there are a lot of wives out there who turn a blind eye to infidelity because of the perks of who they are married to. Politicians and famous people do certainly have more chances to cheat. Let me know the next time you have hot women (or men) climbing through your window to get to you. Then I will alter my statement. I am pretty certain the only difference between today's politicans and those of years gone by is who got caught and who didn't. JFK was one of the most beloved presidents we have ever had and it is widely known that he was unfaithful. Of course that may be because he was assasinated. Who knows? Clinton was one of our best presidents in a long time and he was unfaithful. I would take him being unfaithful and running our country well over our current president running it badly and being faithful for the rest of his life. I don't necessarily believe your ethics in politics and your ethics in your marriage go hand in hand.

 

[salty blues]

Just gives me another reason not to like him.

 

[tizzo]

Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/2718253
Ok show of hands - Statistics tell the story that about 50% of married people have affairs. Pretend you are in this group (should be easy for half of you) and vote on if you could ask your spouse to lie about an affair they know you had so you could get a job.
Me - No, I couldn't ask my wife to lie about anything no matter how minor.
Well.. I'd be single if I got busted doing that,

BUT, hypothetically, if I were in his shoes, there's no way on this planet I could ask my spouse to lie about it.
OMG, that is so wrong on so many levels.

 

[t316]

This might have been mentioned, but I'm just now reading an article where Edwards was being questioned about this ordeal. He stated that he had been "99% honest about everything".

That's like being 1% pregnant.

 

[bang guy]

So it's on record by his own admission that out of every 100 statements he makes, one of them is a lie.
That probably pretty good for a politician but the problem is which ones are the lies?
If one of my employees had the same statistics I would fire them on the spot. If one of my peers had the same statistics I would refuse to work with them. If my boss had the same statistics I would immediately quit.