Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Anchoress

Home
Catholic
Edwards: We stumble over lots of things

Edwards: We stumble over lots of things

Last updated on: March 16, 2017 at 7:09 pm by Elizabeth Scalia

Edwards: We stumble over lots of things 2017-03-16T19:09:48+00:00 Elizabeth Scalia

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m late to the news, but then I hadn’t been following the Edwards-affair story; I generally don’t pay a lot of attention to these salacious details about a politician, because while they’re sensational, people do tend to forget that there are always hurting spouses and children involved, and it usually goes too far.

I think I did mention somewhere, in passing, that once again, the press has been curiously incurious about the behavior of a Democrat when they would have taken a similarly-behaved Republican to the cleaners. And then they wonder why the press polls lower than the congress, which is standing at an approval figure of 9%

John Edwards’ betrayal of his wife is a private affair – to a point – once it’s out there, though, it’s “out there.” In refusing to report a story once it was “out there” the press committed a kind of betrayal, too – one that breaks the public trust just as surely as Edwards broke a private one. That, to me (and many others) was always the bigger story. Remember, had it not been for Drudge, Newsweek would have spiked Isikoff’s story on Clinton and Monica, too. Another story I didn’t like, but which told us a lot about the press and how they treat different members of different parties.

Instapundit has a thoughtful round-up and another here (Thanks, Glenn, for the link!)

Here is Edwards’ whole statement. I don’t think he did himself much good by it. Nor does Hot Air.

Althouse says Ugh. Go away.

Vanderleun thinks of 1936.

Okie has the story on Edwards, and STACLU says “I guess the press can stop ignoring this.”

In light of John Edwards’ admission, someone wrote that I should repost this piece from March of ’07: The Stumbling Block of Elizabeth Edwards’ Cancer

What is it about Elizabeth Edwards’ battle with cancer that makes so many trip up?

The woman has cancer; it has returned and is sadly incurable but “treatable.” She and her husband have made a decision about how they will live their lives in the face of it. They’re entitled to make that decision without having to justify it to you or to me.

It never occurred to me that the Edwards would be “using” her terrible illness to gain sympathy and support for her husband, and while I am no fan of John Edwards, I still reject that notion and suggest that those who offer it might do well to look inside themselves and see if all they’ve offered up, by making such a charge, is a nasty bit of projection.

We tend to accuse others of precisely the thoughts and motives we harbor in our own hearts. I daresay there may be people in the world who would use a terminal illness to further an ambition, but such people…well…they’ve already lost something vital in their humanity. I don’t think Elizabeth Edwards has. Yes, yes, I know, she’s the one who supposedly loves the leftwing netroot blogs, but I still don’t think that means she is an unfeeling automaton of ambition. So, sue me.

I suspect Elizabeth Edwards is, in dealing with her cancer, simply holding to an old bit of advice: “begin as you mean to continue…” And if that is her choice, I applaud it. Had she and her husband decided that they’d prefer to be a bit more subdued and inward-centered just now, I’d applaud that, too.

But, it does seem that Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer is problematic for others. Katie Couric, in a dreary monotone that relied heavily on her patented “some say [insert a charge perhaps no one but Couric is actually making] technique,” peppered the Edwards with all sorts of questions about their motives in continuing the campaign, and yes, she overdid it. She way overdid it. But in reading the transcripts, one sees that the Edwards comported themselves well and seemed pretty genuine. One reads the transcripts and gets the impression that Couric was not listening to the Edwards’ actual answers – that she was simply waiting for them to stop talking so she could come at them with a different “some say.” That might have worked well in a morning program, on a couch with a cup of coffee…it did not work well in this case.

To be fair to Couric, she endured her husband’s death from cancer and she worked (as did her husband, newsman Jay Monahan) until very nearly the end, and so who knows what sort of interior dynamic was going on inside Katie Couric, coloring her questions. For all we know, she may have been doing the interview on autopilot while remembering how much she had wished she’d worked less (or more) during that experience. Perhaps she was simply the wrong person to do the interview. In any case, Couric stumbled badly on Elizabeth Edwards’ illness. But she’s not the first to. Not too long ago, Hillary also took a tumble over it.

It wasn’t a great tumble, mind you, and you didn’t read much about it, because Hillary’s tumble was a silent one. She made the mistake of completely ignoring Edwards when a fuller humanity (and a more fully-human politician) might have rushed out to embrace a moment, and I have long suspected that it was because Hillary did not know what to do with the fact that Elizabeth Edwards was a cancer survivor.

What happened, briefly, was that Edwards – in a magazine interview – dared to opine that she believed she was a more joyful person than Hillary Clinton. Clinton said nothing in response, which made it pregnant with uneasy meaning, and within a news cycle, Edwards was issuing a mealy-mouthed apology toward Don Hillary Clinton and kissing the ring (and blaming the poor publication for “getting it wrong”).

That might sound like Edwards had stumbled, no, it was Hillary’s gaffe, as I wrote here at the time:

…she might have made a thoughtful and, if not self-deprecating, at least gracious statement, herself. Something along these lines:

“Mrs. Edwards has survived treatment for breast cancer, and it is not surprising that, coming out the other side of such an ordeal, she has managed to find real joyfulness in her life. That’s a blessing. I’m both happy for Elizabeth and grateful that she has reminded me – reminded all of us – that every life has its share of gifts and burdens, and that if we must endure the burdens, we ought to try to remember to find the joy in the gifts. Indeed, joyfulness is something I need to work on, myself. And, hey, I can feel some joy coming on…for all of us…on November 8th!”

It’s not really that difficult. It takes a willingness to drop the imperiousness, think a thing through and be a little warm. Instead, Hillary did the silence, then the apology-acceptance, but she left us all with the same sense we’ve always had of her: Joyless, humorless, entitled, Godfather-esque. Kiss the ring and back out. Very good. You can go back to your little life, now, Mrs. Edwards, and when I need you, you’ll be there for me.

I believe had Edwards not just come off a cancer episode, Hillary would have addressed the “joyful” comment. But Hillary is a gallumpher of a politician – a lumbering Tandem 18-wheeler full of heavy and toxic cargo – it makes her too careful and a bit skittish. To answer the charge without some grace could have been dangerous for Hillary, and so she was cowed by Edwards’ cancer. It tripped her up.

I’m sure Elizabeth Edwards is in for one hell of a rough time, as is her family, and my heart goes out to all of them. And who knows, in six months, they may make another decision, a different one than the one they’re currently committed to. But my goodness…professional journalists, professional politicians and others really shouldn’t be handling it all so badly.

Meanwhile – Kathy at Cake-Eater Chronicles has some personal cancer news. She is promising/threatening a Part II. Do go visit her and lend her some support.

And Siggy is trying to think the best of Edwards while remembering all the reasons he is inclined to think the worst. He also links to some useful medical perspectives.

Alternative Media

Dumb Democrat moves

The Fourth Estate

The Perpetual Adolescents

Previous Post

August 8, 2008

Linking around...

Next Post

August 8, 2008 Oh Unhappy and Biscuitless World!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "Remaking" Ourselves 'Remaking' America 9/10 Mindset 9/11 trials Abortion ACORN Adoration Advent Advent 2008 Advent 2009 Advent 2010 Alternative Energy Alternative Media America American Catholic Church American Church American Genius Ameridolatry ANCHORESS BOOKSHELF Anglican-Roman Reconciliation Answers & Questions Anti_Semitism Archbishop Hilarion Ayn Rand Bad Mass Barack Obama Baseball Benedict Benedict & Islam Benedict in UK Benedict XVI Benedictine Bill Whittle Birth Control Blogs and Blogging Blogs and Blogging Bloodless Coup Bobby Jindal Bookchat Breitbart Bride at every wedding... Bride at every wedding... Buckley Bullies Bush Bad? Bush Good Buster Capitalism Catholic Fiction Catholic Vocations Catholicism Celibacy Chaput Charitable Stuff Chesterton Chile Chris Christie Christians in Exile Christine O' Donnell Christmas Christmas Gift Ideas Church Hates Science? Church hates women Communion of Saints Compline Conclave 2013 Confession Constitutional Stuff Conversion Crisis & Opportunity Critical Thinking Crooks and Liars Crucible of Faith Cuba Culture of Life Culture of Life/Death Culture of Treason? Dancing Death Dialogue re Islam Dick Meyer Divorce and Remarriage DOJ Domestic Terrorism Dominican Order Don't try me too high Dowd Dumb Democrat moves Dumb GOP moves Economic woe Education Egregious Harry Reid Elder Son Elder Son's Sweet Girlfriend Elderly Election '10 Election '12 Election '16 Election 2004 Election 2006 Election 2008 Election 2010 Election 2016 Elena Kagan Elitism Embryonic Stem Cell Research End Times? English language Enhanced Interrogation Erosion of Rights Eucharist Euthanasia Exorcism Extraordinary Synod Facebook Faith Faith and Reason Faith Friday Faith Perspective Faithful Friday Fascism Again Fascism in America Fatima FCC Feminism Film First Things Forgiveness Fr. James Martin Francis and Islam Francis in America Frassati Fred Thompson Free Speech? Freedom of Worship FutureChurch Global Pandemic GOP Congress Haiti Head Covering Health Care Here and Queer Hermits Heroes Hitchens Holy Spirit Holy Week '09 Holy Week '10 Hoo-Hah & BS Hoo-Hah & BS Icons Illegal Immigration In The Arena Interviews Interwebz Iran Uprising Iraqi Christians ISIL ISIS Islamic State Islamification/Islamofascism Islamification/Islamofascism Isra-El It's all about me! Me! ME! James Burke Jerry Lewis Jesus Christ Joblessness John Boehner John McCain John Paul II John XXIII Juan Williams Just Words Katrina/Rita King is a Fink Latin Mass Leadership Lectio Divina Lent Lent '08 Lent '09 Lent 2010 Lent 2011 Limbaugh Listen to Lizzie Litigious Society Liturgy Liturgy of the Hours Mainstream Media Manliness Marriage Mary Media Excess Medical Merton Michelle Obama Mighty John O' Connor Misc. Miss Ella Missionaries Mitt Romney Monasticism My brother S My Irish Aunties Mystic Monks Nanny Statism Nature NEA Neri New Media Newman Noonan Notre Dame NPR Stuff Nun News Obama Bad? Obama Good? Obama White House Oil Spill Online Retreat '08 Online Retreat Days Oratory Orthodoxy Our Hillary! Parenting Passionists Patheos Patheos Book Club Patrons Paul Ryan Penance Penn Jillette Philosophy PJTV Podcasts Poetry Politics-free zone Pop Culture Pope Emeritus Pope Francis Prayer Predictions Priesthood Pro-Life Public Sector Unions Purgatory Questions about Catholicism Quotes of the Day Quoting the News Race in America rants Recipes Remarried Catholics Reposts by request Retreat thoughts Rome Rudy Giuliani Russia Saints Sarah Palin Scandal Scott Brown SCOTUS Scriptural stuff Secularism Send in the clowns Serving up hot links Sexuality Sherrod Shroud of Turin Sisters and Nuns Social Entrepreneurship Social Media Social Security Socialism doesn't work Sports and Faith Stem Cells Strange Gods Suffering Synod Tea Parties Tea Party Terri Schiavo The 9/11 Commission The Catholic Answer The Constitution The Desert The Fourth Estate The Pelosi The Perpetual Adolescents The Rosary Third Party? Timothy Dolan Touch of evil TSA Tsunami TV/Pop Culture/Music TV/Pop Culture/Music Twitter Uncategorized Unemployment Unintended Consequences US Military Vaginal Musings Vatican Vespers video faves Vile Joe Biden Voter Fraud War by Litigation War on Terror War, What it good for? Why can't weeee be ... World Youth Days Year of Faith Year of the Priest

Select a Month August 2016 July 2016 April 2016 March 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Job's wife suggest he do during his suffering?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rebuke his friends Flee to Egypt Curse God and die Burn offerings