John Edwards, one of the slimiest people ever to grace the national stage, has dodged the long prison sentence he so richly deserved. Edwards amassed a fortune and single-handedly at least doubled the rate of C-sections in the United States by persuading carefully selected gullible jurors that virtually all birth defects are the fault of the delivering physician. In at least one trial, he channeled the voice of a dead fetus to the jury. Like I said, one of the slimiest.
Edwards parlayed a thousand-dollar haircut and a demagogic populist message into a Senate seat in 1998, the Democratic vice presidential nomination (as John Kerry’s running mate) in 2004, and serious presidential campaigns (complete with fawning media coverage) in 2004 and 2008.
Edwards’ recurring campaign theme was a stump speech about “two Americas.” Like some of his fellow Socialist Democrats (*cough* Obama), he was attempting to incite class warfare (and presaging the Occupy Wall Street movement). Like many others pursuing national office (*cough* Obama), he was clearly a narcissist attempting to acquire power via his personality and charisma.
Like many self-absorbed narcissists, he apparently considered himself exempt from the rules that governed ordinary mortals. So, while his wife was dying from cancer, he carried on an affair with Rielle Hunter and fathered her child. Then he used more than a million dollars from big campaign contributors to pay off Hunter and cover up the affair. He insisted the sums weren’t misused campaign contributions but “gifts.” R-i-i-ght.
Apparently, relying only on testimony of equally sleazy staff members like Andrew Young, and with Hunter and Edwards not taking the stand, the jury couldn’t agree whether this pile of crap was credible or not. So they acquitted on one charge and deadlocked on the others.
Too bad. I can’t think of too many people I’d rather see occupying a federal prison cell for the next two or three decades than John Edwards.
