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Mark Sanford vs John Edwards, a study in contrasts
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You can't go anywhere to get political news without hearing about Mark Sanford. When Sanford's affair was first reported, I wrote a tiny blurb about it, including his "hiking the Appalachian trail" line. I included the reporter Gina Smith of The State, who collared Sanford as he came back from Argentina, where said he said he went south for something more "exotic" and he probably laughed inside at his glibness. There wasn't too much else at the time, but now there seems to be Mark Sanford under every stone. What happened?
Just last year, we were all getting lectured for talking too much about Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards. The Huffington Post had Bill Maher defending Eliot Spitzer's unprotected sexcapades at $5,000 an hour. The John Edwards affair was avoided like the plague by all mainstream media outlets. Fox covered it the most, but the others waited until the Opening of the Olympics to broadcast Edwards "confession."
It wasn't really a coming clean, as much as it was damage control for getting trapped in a hotel bathroom by reporters who busted him visiting his love child that he denies fathering. In fact he still denies being the father today.
So what happened on that liberals are so interested again in the sex lives of politicians? There has been talk of a movie being made over this mediocre affair, and it is mediocre. Let's compare these sex scandals and see which has the best movie material.
Mark Sanford met Maria Belen Shapur years ago and cultivated an unwise personal relationship with her. Over time, they grew close as they communicated is secret and finally, last year, they turned on the heat and screwed things up really bad. The juiciest part was Maria's email getting hacked so everyone could read Sanford's waxing poetic about his "soulmate". Mark Sanford never used tax payer money on his paramour and when questions were raised about one particular trip, he paid a sum back so there could be no questions, as he did not want the taxpayers to fund his inequities, unlike Eliot Spitzer. Mark Sanford confessed and stepped down from his position as head of the Republican Governors' Association and is continuing to face calls for his resignation as Governor. His wife, Jenny Sanford, has been a paragon of class and virtue as she says her husband is welcome back home, but he will face consequences for hurting their family. This is a Lifetime flavor of the week movie at best.
Contrast this over-reported Sanford affair to the Edwards salacious bombshell that the media avoided at all costs last fall.
In the opening scene,we have Reille Hunter (Lisa Druck) whose father was a shady lawyer as well, so we have the Freudian daddy thing for our film. Shady daddy Druck raised show horses but was strapped for cash one day and electrocuted Lisa's favorite horse for the insurance money. She was about 17 at the time. Her father's horse murdering enterprise taught Tommy Burns there was big money in horsey hits and Tommy was off to the races, murdering horses for the next decade. If that's not an awesome introduction for our leading lady, I don't know what is.
Fast forward a few years and Rielle Hunter is in New York city during the roaring 80's. She got to play a bit part opposite Denzel Washington in 1991, worked on a play and had several show business ventures that bring us up to 2006, when she was hired by John Edwards as a producer of campaign videos for online consumption. After Hunter produces nothing much, he beds her and continues to pay her "production" fees. The Enquirer stated in October of 2007 that Edward's was having an extra-marital affair. Fearing that being caught would ruin his chances for the Democratic nomination, Edwards gets Andrew Young to conspire with Hunter and announce that the affair was actually theirs. (Young now admits the lie) The Young family and Reille Hunter then pack up and move out to California together. How about that Andrew Young's wife, letting Rielle follow them out west? They even had Rielle over for dinner a few times, they are so enlightened these democrats. Still no interest from the national media.
In February of 2008, Rielle Hunter gave birth to a baby girl, who is said to look like Edwards, but was still supposed to be Andrew Young's baby even though he was not listed on the birth certificate as the father. Real adults were supposed to believe John Edwards was supporting his former mistress who cheated on him with his staffer and Edwards was such a prince, that he paid her bills for her. All of this sleaziness while Elizabeth Edwards was stricken with cancer but said she still wanted John to run, this despite her own knowledge of the affair. This too, was not sexy enough for the media at large.
Some journalists caught up with Edwards late last summer at a hotel in L.A. and they asked him about his philandering:
- "Shocked to see a reporter, and without saying anything, Edwards ran up the stairs leading from the hotel basement to the lobby. But, spotting a photographer, he doubled back into the basement. As he emerged from the stairwell, reporter Butterfield questioned him about his hookup with Rielle.
- Edwards did not answer and then ran into a nearby restroom. He stayed inside for about 15 minutes, refusing to answer questions from the NATIONAL ENQUIRER about what he was doing in the hotel."
Some security guards rescued Edwards from the bathroom and the former VP contender was able to slip out into the early L.A. morning. He was also able to avoid being run down by cable news shows, as they weren't very interested in the bathroom barricade that much either.
It took until August for Edwards to sort of admit what we already knew. Edwards admitted to the affair, yet he still denied the baby.
Edwards said he was 99% honest about denying the story of the affair and the baby. He must be using this new "jobs created or saved" stimulus math. Rielle Hunter has refused to have a paternity test according to her sister Roxanne Druck Marshall She also said Rielle is still living off the Edwards fortune. Once the prospect of a film or book sales eclipse John Edwards' hush money, I expect her to bust out with something spectacular, so this is probably not over yet.
The media at large completely enabled Edwards to pursue his Presidential ambitions for over a year because they refused to do their job while the Enquirer did it for them. Their lack of effort let Edwards con hundreds of people into sacrificing time and money on a campaign that was doomed since October 2007 when the story surfaced. They allowed so many to be disappointed and even handed the Iowa caucus win to Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. Hillary was just on more woman Edwards hurt that year.
So we have the vanilla love affair of Mark Sanford, whose wife threw him out and is making him face the music up against the Presidential candidate John Edwards, cavorting around with a party girl who's lawyer father launched a horse murdering racket. Now her new lover Edwards, another shady lawyer, is paying her around $160,000 a year to keep quiet all the while Edward's wife languishes at home, stricken with cancer. Or does she?
Elizabeth Edwards, while aiding John in lying to the entire world, has cashed in mightily with an Oprah appearance to sell her book as well as the lesser talk show circuit. Elizabeth blames Rielle Hunter for the affair, saying Hunter was a stalker. Unfortunately most people reading the news don't fall for such sophomoric fantasies. John Edwards made Reille early, he saw her vulnerability and her took her "hiking the Appalachian trail."
Maureen Dowd was right on about Elizabeth Edwards and she didn't go far enough in my opinion. Elizabeth's book is a naked play to voyeurism for cash. Nobody, who stood by and aided the greatest political lie of the last few decades,while deceiving millions on purpose and stealing Hillary Clinton's chances at the nomination. Elizabeth Edwards doesn't have anything to offer anyone else about how to deal with adversity honorably. She could teach them how to exploit it, but it you want a teacher, wait for Jenny Sanford's book.
The contrast could not be more stark. A well-to-do all-American couple have a lull in their marriage, an affair ensues and a Governor is disgraced. His wife stands up to him publicly, but remains devoted to the prospect of reconciliation and the salvation of the family as a whole. Put this up against the fast talking trail lawyer with the $50 million net worth, who plays on his wife's illness while he makes babies in two Americas. He covers it up with hush money payments and his wife and staffers are complicit in a conspiracy of deceit that they keep running just long enough to thwart the chances Hillary Clinton. If there's talk about a movie, it's pretty obvious which one would be an affair to remember.
In fact, holding Mark Sanford up against Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards is something worth doing. Bill Clinton committed perjury and had Monica Lewinsky's character attacked. Eliot Spitzer raised taxes while employing $4500 dollar an hour hookers. Both went far beyond the "affair" territory and broke some serious laws. John Edwards lead his wife and followers on a futile crusade of vanity and self preservation and still to this day is calling the plays to extract the most dollars he can from his "experiences." Having 28,000 square feet isn't enough.
Compared to these guys, Mark Sanford is a knight in shining armor.
