Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards took another tentative step into the public spotlight tonight, speaking at Brown University about extreme poverty around the world and urging Americans to get involved in what he called a “fundamental moral issue.â€
I think I’m on record as having said that I applaud Edwards and that wack-job Rielle Hunter for having the baby, as there must have been lots of pressure to go a different direction. But I still hold that former US Senator and presidential candidate John Edwards can’t possibly speak to morality until he owns up to having knocked this woman up while his wife was in remission from cancer.
How does one go about telling the truth? Stacy’s post, linked below, is a pretty good primer.
Voluntary commitment ceremony.
The bigger question is why a university is giving this discredited third-string bounder a forum to hold forth on people’s moral obligations in the first place. Let him get a blog like the rest of us discredited third-string bounders.
Jules makes a good point, and if Edwards gets a decent backing band together, I’ll see what I can do to get him a spot in the line-up at the Vermont State Fair.
Hey, look! Another moral equivalence opportunity!
Comment by Rob Crawford on 3/11 @ 9:31 am #
But, Dan, what possible connection could there be between out-of-wedlock babies and poverty?!
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 9:33 am #
Not sure, but I guess Rielle is living reasonably large somewhere in the Caribbean.
Comment by Joe on 3/11 @ 9:34 am #
Well, when daddy has 30 million dollars+ and can pay substantial sums to mom and junior to keep matters out of court, there is no connection at all.
Comment by Amy on 3/11 @ 9:47 am #
If you are going to condemn all of the people who have cheated on their spouses and claim that they cannot speak to morality, then I’m sad to say that I think that there are darn few people out there that CAN speak of morality!
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 9:48 am #
Amy, did they own up completely, or did they lie to everybody and try to explain away their guilt?
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 9:49 am #
That’s all right. I’m sure we’ll get the unvarnished truth in Mrs. Edwards’s book.
Comment by scooter (still not libby) on 3/11 @ 9:51 am #
Amy, I agree.
Where were you during the Bill Bennett/gambling dustup, I wonder?
Also please note that John Edwards is a scumbag. Actually, he’s the scum that still sticks to the bag when the scumbag is emptied to put in fresh scum.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 3/11 @ 9:54 am #
Well, Amy, the problem isn’t so much his speaking about it, as his lecturing about it while failing to confront his own history. Besides his using his sick wife as a campaign prop while screwing around behind her back, he lied about it long after it was obvious. Then toss in his gall at whining about poverty while living a lifestyle that blows away even the upper middle-class…
Oh, and let’s not forget exactly how he got rich. If he had really been about seeking justice, he could have taken a lot smaller cut, still been incredibly wealthy, and done better for his clients.
Nope. The man’s a scum-sucking leech. He gets attention because he’s got TV hair and tells the left what they want to hear. Honestly, the American body politic would be vastly healthier if he were pariah.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 3/11 @ 9:56 am #
Ya know, I still don’t get the point of that. What was Bennet doing that was so bad?
Comment by solitary knight on 3/11 @ 9:58 am #
Comment by Rob Crawford on 3/11@9:31 am #
I would pay good money to see you pose that question to John Edwards at his speech at Brown University tonight.
Would the eminent former Senator even pick up on the nuance?
Comment by Big E on 3/11 @ 9:59 am #
“I think I’m on record as having said that I applaud Edwards and that wack-job Rielle Hunter for having the baby, as there must have been lots of pressure to go a different direction.”
How impossibly naive. If you believe that John Edwards did not try everything to get her to abort that baby you have a very different perspective on human nature than I. And if you think that the “wack job” didn’t keep the baby as an early retirment account then, frankly, I’d love to shed my cynicism and see the world how you see it but I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible (I’ll bet she’s had multiple abortions with less potentially lucrative daddies). Also to call Hunter a “wack job” but not Edwards is pretty unfair. He’s just as crazy as she is just in a different way.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 3/11 @ 10:02 am #
Democrats can not be scum bags because they have good “intentions”. Kinda like how when Obama promised to take public financing but then decided not to and cited how he was doing so for his good intentions of cleaning up the system. Also like how when Obama said he would get rid of earmarks and then goes about signing bills with 9000 of them while holding conferences on how to get rid of earmarks. They just have good intentions for people you know so it is ok. They are good people while we are very bad and we do not have good intentions only evil ones.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 3/11 @ 10:03 am #
I also think I am evil because I am a huge fan of the Angry Whopper.
Comment by scooter (still not libby) on 3/11 @ 10:08 am #
Bennett had the audacity to write books about morality while he spent his own money gambling in casinos, apparently. Since gamblis is AMORAL, he’s a HYPOCRITE, see. Which, according to people who hate being judged by other people, puts you between Dog Fighters and Scrooge McDuck on the continuum of evil. All of which are punishable by torture, except that it’s against Geneva conventions and we don’t want the Swiss to hate us any more.
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 10:09 am #
Big E, I’m not saying it on their account, but on the child’s.
Comment by scooter (still not libby) on 3/11 @ 10:09 am #
Gambling, damn my clicky fingers.
Pure digression – Angry Whopper beats the Volcano Taco. But the Volcano Taco was good while it lasted.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 10:11 am #
i’m a fan of mildly upset hash…er…browns
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 10:12 am #
I think Volcano Taco should feel honored to be spoken of in the same utterance as Angry Whopper.
Comment by MarkD on 3/11 @ 10:12 am #
I think the problem here, and with the Bennet dustup was the hypocrisy. Have we forgotten the lectures on global warming from the other America, the one with a mansion the size of the town my dad grew up in?
I won’t be lectured to by frauds. I won’t be telling you how to live your lives, either.
I thought I was perfect, but Mrs D tells me otherwise, so on the chance she’s correct, you are spared.
Comment by scooter (still not libby) on 3/11 @ 10:12 am #
Also, Rob, I estimate your intelligence at 15-20% greater than mine, so my apologies if my earnest explanation was a recitation of facts you already knew; I suppose it’s possible to know what I typed but still wonder “WTF?” since stuff Dems do make very little sense, very often.
Comment by dicentra on 3/11 @ 10:12 am #
I just listened to Laura Ingraham interview Peter “Infanticide is Kosher” Singer as he lectured the U.S. on its selfish ways. Because we don’t give enough to the poor in Africa — those we COULD save, see, because their parents want them.
But no, we buy yachts and lavish living quarters while Pete Singer says that if the kid is born “icky,” we should be able to off it legally.
Comment by scooter (still not libby) on 3/11 @ 10:15 am #
You know, Wendy’s had a pretty good jalapeno burger they trotted out a year or so ago, but their marketing department really needs to work on product names. I mean, who could’ve forgotten a burger called (for example) “Your Ass Will Remember Tomorrow”, for example? Certainly not me.
Comment by Bob Reed on 3/11 @ 10:15 am #
John Edwards and truth telling are inherently mutually exclusive…
Comment by Carin on 3/11 @ 10:15 am #
If you are going to condemn all of the people who have cheated on their spouses and claim that they cannot speak to morality, then I’m sad to say that I think that there are darn few people out there that CAN speak of morality!
Exactly how many folks out there have cheated on their spouses? Well, let me assure you that I’m one of those darn few people out there. Now that I have been made aware that I’m in a class by myself … you guys can refer to me from now one when you need someone who can speak with the voice of authoritay.
Comment by MarkD on 3/11 @ 10:16 am #
Where’s the definitive Japanese-English dictionary when you need it. She said stubborn, but she probably meant correct.
Comment by MarkD on 3/11 @ 10:22 am #
I’m in Carin’s club as well.
Not that I am a paragon of virtue, but I was never seriously tempted by anyone who was interested in me. My epitaph will be good, but boring.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 10:23 am #
i tried to order a specific fast food item
i couldn’t speak that fast food spanish language
there was a lot of pointing involved
i think they spit in my sandwich
aye carumba!
Pingback by Spieler | The Best of the Web on 3/11 @ 10:25 am #
[...] Dan Collins on John Edwards: Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards took another tentative step into the public spotlight tonight, speaking at Brown University about extreme poverty around the world and urging Americans to get involved in what he called a “fundamental moral issue.†[...]
Comment by Joe on 3/11 @ 10:28 am #
I blame John Edwards for having exceedingly bad taste in the women he cheats with. At least find someone a slight bit classier and who knows how to use birth control.
Comment by McGehee on 3/11 @ 10:28 am #
If anybody wants me, I’ll be at Burger King trying out this Angry Whopper of which you all speak so highly.
But for real gustatory heat, there was this canteen truck that used to come around to the place where I worked years ago, with something called the Overdrive Burrito. I think it was equal parts hamburger and jalapeno pepper seeds. Not even the peppers, just the seeds.
The company I was working for asked the truck to stop coming around because the pipes in the men’s room kept melting.
Comment by Roland THTG on 3/11 @ 10:30 am #
Hmmm,
Why the hell not?
He will convince many people to vote for him.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 3/11 @ 10:31 am #
Bennet wasn’t being hypocritical.
Bennet’s a Catholic, and the Catholic church says gambling’s OK, so long as you don’t deprive your family. In other words, “don’t do it to excess”. So far as I know, he’s also never told anyone else to never gamble.
As far as I can tell, a bunch of people who were looking to attack Bennet attacked him for no real reason. They ginned up the attack on the basis of what would seem immoral, and completely ignored what he actually believed.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 10:35 am #
could someone track angry whopper sales?
cuz i’m getting one today
does PW have any effect on fast food sales?
hey-I [we] just saved or created jobs~!
Pingback by Jules Crittenden » Moral Standing on 3/11 @ 10:36 am #
[...] Dan Collins at Protein Wisdom posits John Edwards, bloviating last night on our moral obligations re global poverty at Brown University, doesn’t have any. Moral standing, that is. I’m confused by the part where the News & Observer calls Edwards a “two-time candidate.” I thought the problem was he was a “two-timing candidate.” Edwards also addressed that, sort of: A student who said she organized for Edwards on campus and knocked on doors for him in New Hampshire asked whether politicians should be held to higher moral standards than the rest of the public. [...]
Comment by scooter (still not libby) on 3/11 @ 10:42 am #
Don’t expect the sort of people who would feel compelled to attack Bill Bennett to have very accurate knowledge of Catholic dogma. “As far as you can tell” seems spot-on to me.
Comment by Carin on 3/11 @ 10:46 am #
I resist the angry whopper and its 880 calories. 55 grams of fat. OMG, PUT THE BURGER DOWN!
Comment by Carin on 3/11 @ 10:46 am #
They should rename it the death whopper.
Comment by cranky-d on 3/11 @ 10:48 am #
Just ride the bicycle a few more minutes and you’ve worked off that 880 calories, no problem.
Comment by SarahW on 3/11 @ 10:50 am #
John Edwards isn’t merely flawed or fallen, as we all are ( though I’m in Carin’s freak club), he’s a wicked narcissist who is prey to new age notions he’s some kind of chosen demi-god and therefore has a right to cheat his children out their own kin to preserve his image. He’s a vain preening dupe and a blowhard. I hope he fails.
Comment by SarahW on 3/11 @ 10:51 am #
I can never bring myself to eat hamburger buns. It’s a sickness. What it on the angry whopper that turns it to a days worth of food?
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 10:51 am #
Wish granted, Sarah.
Comment by SarahW on 3/11 @ 10:51 am #
what is it on the burger, that is.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 10:51 am #
i’d rather eat lettuce that illegal immigrants
pissed on
moderation…
u deny my right to have angry whopper babies/fascist!
tax my runny ass bitch!
Comment by Mr. Pink on 3/11 @ 10:52 am #
The Angry Whopper laughs in the face of death.
Comment by SarahW on 3/11 @ 10:52 am #
Long live Jamdanbi.
Comment by happyfeet on 3/11 @ 10:56 am #
2 swiss cake rolls only have 270 calories and 12 grams of fat, only 5 of which are saturated. So a Whopper is more nutritious than 6 swiss cake rolls! That’s value is what that is.
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 10:59 am #
Think of the value once you deep fry that sucker, hf!
Comment by N. O'Brain on 3/11 @ 10:59 am #
“Ya know, I still don’t get the point of that. What was Bennet doing that was so bad?”
He’s a conservative for goodness sakes.
Comment by happyfeet on 3/11 @ 11:01 am #
Here, SarahW…
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 11:02 am #
no one ever said i wished i spent more time at the office
w/ angry whopper juice running down my face
i’d rather have a heart “moment” chasing kids off my lawn
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 11:06 am #
Carin, maybe you could do “My Beef with Angry Whopper”?
Comment by happyfeet on 3/11 @ 11:07 am #
I’m not frying anymore. It’s a dark road to go down I think and I’m just lucky I caught myself in time. Sure there’s stuff what you can fry responsibly but I can’t be trusted with fry powers. I know this about myself now, and I am humbled.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 3/11 @ 11:10 am #
I do not get mayo on mine I hate mayo. You can write an Angry-Gram on that same website though which is pretty cool.
http://www.angry-gram.com/index.php
Maybe I can send an Angry-Gram to Edwards to tell him to stay the hell outa public and tend to his wife who is dying of cancer. That should be his priority not people he does not know.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 11:11 am #
can you fry coffee?
cuz that would be awesome!
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 11:11 am #
It is a good thing for one to recognize one’s limits, hf.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 11:13 am #
ron paul is angry whopper
Comment by happyfeet on 3/11 @ 11:13 am #
Just ride the bicycle a few more minutes and you’ve worked off that 880 calories, no problem.
notsomuch. For the regular whopper what’s placid it takes 117 minutes of cycling to burn off. So it’s more for the angry one and that’s not counting fries with it or a tasty swiss cake roll for dessert.
Comment by Pablo on 3/11 @ 11:15 am #
There is the distinct possibility that Hunter is in Cinderella fantasyland with Edwards, but instead of waiting for someone to show up and fit her with a glass slipper, she’s waiting for Elizabeth to drop dead. Then she can finally be with Prince Charming for all of eternity. His cash would certainly be part of his charm, but not necessarily all of it.
I love me some spicy food, but if I’m gonna eat something angry, I feel like I ought to kill it first.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 3/11 @ 11:16 am #
HF you ever try putting the Ho-Ho’s in the freeze for an hour or two before you eat them? Very good trust me.
Comment by Pablo on 3/11 @ 11:16 am #
How long does it take to burn a Happy Meal?
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 11:18 am #
take an angry ride/ run over puppies/tear down mailboxes
smash windows w/kerry-edward bumper stickers on them
obey the law and be a pain in the ass to motorist
wear spandex/bike helmets/madonna gloves
it ain’t a drive thru if u run out of ethanol
rock on rockers!
Comment by Joe on 3/11 @ 11:19 am #
And if you think that the “wack job†didn’t keep the baby as an early retirment account then, frankly, I’d love to shed my cynicism and see the world how you see it but I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible
My guess her compounding of the deposit John Edwards made in her “early retirement account” paid off a lot beter than any 401k would have.
Comment by McGehee on 3/11 @ 11:38 am #
I’m glad I hadn’t gone to BK yet before I saw they put mayo on the Angry Whopper. That would turn me into the Angry Angry Whopper Buyer, if they put mayonnaise on the thing.
Don’t they know mayonnaise dilutes the fiery goodness that is jalapeno? It’s like bragging about how fast your computer is, but you’ve loaded it up with Vista and about 12 brazillion different start-up programs that all have to load before your cursor even appears on the screen, and all together they eat up about 75% of your available RAM. You turn on your super-fast computer and then go out to Burger King for an Angry Whopper and it still hasn’t finished booting up by the time you get back, and you’re already pissed off about that when you discover mayonnaise on your Angry Whopper!
At least it’s not misnamed.
Comment by SarahW on 3/11 @ 11:39 am #
Mr. Pink, how can you pull them to pieces if they are frozen?
I saw where Allahpundit wasn’t touchiing the Palin gossipy story. Why should he. All that grief he’d get to no good purpose. Young folks make mistakes, at least they are not going to double down on that.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 11:43 am #
’tis not an angry whopper unless you frown when u
order it
exhaled sighs as you fish for the exact change
sigh alot
look at the poor burger-microwaver like libs look at
conservatives..
Comment by Mr. Pink on 3/11 @ 11:50 am #
I don’t pull Ho’Ho’s apart. After you take them out of the freezer they taste like one of those money cakes you get out of the freezer section at Baskin Robbins. Just try it once and if you do not like it at least somewhat, feel free to come back and slap me.
Comment by alppuccino on 3/11 @ 11:50 am #
If you are going to condemn all of the people who have cheated on their spouses and claim that they cannot speak to morality, then I’m sad to say that I think that there are darn few people out there that CAN speak of morality!
George W Bush.
But he’s probably too moral and him speaking of morality wouldn’t work for that very reason. So it’s like Chinese handcuffs or something.
Comment by Gulermo on 3/11 @ 11:53 am #
“i think they spit in my sandwich” That’s called salsa de englesa, or english sauce. Or salsa Lizano. We like to call it “leftover snuff”.
“I’m not frying anymore. It’s a dark road to go down I think and I’m just lucky I caught myself in time. Sure there’s stuff what you can fry responsibly but I can’t be trusted with fry powers. I know this about myself now, and I am humbled.” My may I humbly suggest changing to sunflower oil?
Comment by cranky-d on 3/11 @ 11:58 am #
Sarcasm is lost on the young.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 12:01 pm #
mr pink/u rule
freezer wise
does that apply to most moist cakes?
ie funny-bones/ring dings etc?
i put snickers bars in deep freeze
but they be too hard
cakes be good?
thanks
Comment by McGehee on 3/11 @ 12:07 pm #
Good point, but what if I ordered it specifically without mayo, and theygave it to me without mayo?
That would make me happy, and they’d have to rename the burger.
Which I suppose would make BK’s marketing department angry, so maybe it still works.
Comment by Dan Collins on 3/11 @ 12:09 pm #
What if they put angry mayo on it, McGehee? I think that’s what David Brooks would like to see.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 3/11 @ 12:09 pm #
#Comment by happyfeet on 3/11 @ 11:07 am #
With great deep fryers comes great responsibility.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 3/11 @ 12:13 pm #
“Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?”
“I think so Brain, but if they called them Sad Meals kids wouldn’t buy
them.”
Comment by MarkD on 3/11 @ 12:15 pm #
Bush is disqualified because of his DWI. You need to be a saint, or have a “D” after your name.
Comment by McGehee on 3/11 @ 12:26 pm #
“Angry Mayo” is in fact the name of an Irish thrash band. Little known fact.
And if it isn’t true, it ought to be.
Comment by Big D on 3/11 @ 12:32 pm #
“For the regular whopper what’s placid it takes 117 minutes of cycling to burn off”
I used to worry about this stuff. Then one day I just said screw it, I’ll buy bigger pants.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 1:49 pm #
angry whopper update
just went and bought one
four dollars and 19 cents
i had the bills/ but i just put new pants on and was change-less
it made me angry
it was-eh’
a lil after hot taste
chemicals…is there anything they can’t do?
Comment by Carin on 3/11 @ 1:55 pm #
For the regular whopper what’s placid it takes 117 minutes of cycling to burn offâ€.
You should try an elliptical. I can get 500 calories in under 45 minuets.
Still – no whopper is worth time in the gym. I’d rather be burning of a good glass of wine, or a home made cookie.
I used to worry about this stuff. Then one day I just said screw it, I’ll buy bigger pants.
I don’t look good in bigger pants.
Comment by Carin on 3/11 @ 1:57 pm #
burning off. I meant.
Actually, it’s also really easy for me to pass on fast food. I learned back when I was bartending that fast food didn’t something bad to me. I’d eat it on the way to work (sometimes) and about forty five minutes later I’d be in the worst mood. And, not feeling 100% physically. I haven’t really eaten it much since I was about 23.
Comment by rrpjr on 3/11 @ 2:19 pm #
“If you are going to condemn all of the people who have cheated on their spouses and claim that they cannot speak to morality…”
That’s right. Condemn. All of them. Every one.
“…then I’m sad to say that I think that there are darn few people out there that CAN speak of morality!”
Good. The fewer the better.
Comment by pdbuttons on 3/11 @ 5:33 pm #
where would the Tall Ships be
matey?
big pants are the engine that hid my intention
for 6 generations!
ruben-esque is my distress
if she don’t like mash potatoes/or buttered scones
she’s gonna look like skin and bones
a fatwa on sheryll crow
Pingback by Compare and Contrast [Dan Collins] on 3/12 @ 7:40 am #
[...] have called off their engagement. That breaks on the same day that it’s reported that John Edwards has reared his silky little head to lecture the nation on poverty at Brown University. One of these babies has a father and was born [...]