Saint Elizabeth and the Ego Monster (Edwards and his wife)

New York Magazine ^ | 01/09/10 | John Heilemann & Mark Halperin

[TigerLikesRooster]

Saint Elizabeth and the Ego Monster

A candidate whose aides were prepared to block him from becoming president. A wife whose virtuous image was a mirage. A mistress with a video camera. In an excerpt from the new book Game Change—their sweeping account of the 2008 campaign—the authors reveal that, inside the Edwards triangle, nothing was too crazy to be true.

By John Heilemann & Mark Halperin

Published Jan 9, 2010

One early evening in February 2006, John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator then gearing up to launch his second presidential campaign, was hanging out in the bar of the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue with one of his donors and his young traveling aide, Josh Brumberger. A woman sitting at a nearby table with some friends walked over and introduced herself.

“My friends insist you’re John Edwards,” Rielle Hunter said. “I tell them no way—you’re way too handsome.”

“No, ma’am. I’m John Edwards,” the candidate replied.

“No way! I don’t believe you!”

Brumberger saw this kind of thing all the time. Women were always hitting on his boss. He and Edwards had a well-oiled system in place for dealing with these situations tactfully and politely.

“He is John Edwards,” Brumberger interjected, “and I’m sorry, but we’re in the middle of something. Thank you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Hunter said, and retreated to her table.

Brumberger thought that she was trouble from the get-go. She looked like a hybrid of Stevie Nicks and Lucinda Williams, in an outfit more suitable for a Grateful Dead concert than an evening at the Regency. A few minutes later, after Edwards departed for a dinner around the corner, Hunter came back over to Brumberger and started quizzing him about his job.

[KosmicKitty]

Read this when the link was posted on FR yesterday.

Sort of confirmed what I had thought all along.

Screaming banshee & smarmy creepy poof.

[Enchante]

sounds like TWO “ego monsters”

both such repulsive human beings

St. Elizabeth my ###

at least she reads books -— I’m sooooo impressed!!

[Dr. Ursus]

Shows how far this country has fallen,when a lightweight
like Edwards can run for President. My lasting memory of
Edwards is having his clock cleaned by Cheney in a VP
debate!

[silverleaf]

Poor baby Frances Quinn Hunter Edwards :-(

(Boy oh boy, how many years will it take to get a book like this about the true obama/soetero’s?)

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The Edwards’ stupidity and egomania aside, the real lesson here is don’t piss off your staff.

[Alberta's Child]

She looked like a hybrid of Stevie Nicks and Lucinda Williams, in an outfit more suitable for a Grateful Dead concert than an evening at the Regency.

Aside from the content of the article, I must give kudos to the writer for some awesome descriptive imagery here. LOL.

[pepsi_junkie]

After his turn as John Kerry’s running mate in 2004, Edwards was among a small handful of politicians with a credible shot at occupying the Oval Office. He was popular and charming, with serious rhetorical skills, a wife beloved by the public, and the same basic profile—a white, southern, moderate male—as the previous three Democrats who’d proved capable of winning the White House.

John Edwards, a moderate? They think mister "I see two Americas" class warrior was a moderate? Oh come on.

[bgill]

I never understood why people gushed all over her just because she had cancer. An illness isn’t an excuse.

[TankerKC]

And, anyway, he had always seemed … well, sorta asexual, at least to his staff.

LOL! Asexual. OK.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Funny coincidence;
“Big Love” is advertised above the John Edwards story.

[PilotDave]

“And next month Andrew Young will publish a tell-all book that promises to give new definition to the term sordid.”

Well there’s something to look forward to...

[panthermom]

I read the article, felt like I just read a Danielle Steele novel. It makes me ill that people such as this are in government.

[TankerKC]

Confronted then with the Enquirer photo of her husband cuddling Hunter’s baby, she insisted to Palmieri that she still believed he was not the father. “I have to believe it,” Elizabeth said. “Because if I don’t, it means I’m married to a monster.”

Well, then. You are married to a monster.

[Alberta's Child]

LOL. Another classic line in a great article.

[mono]

I had Edwards nailed as a sleazebag from the get-go. It was not that difficult was it?

[outinyellowdogcountry]

“The Edwards’ stupidity and egomania aside, the real lesson here is don’t piss off your staff.”

I am amazed at staffers who buy the BS these politicians sell. These staffers at first seemed to believe Edwards was humble, blah, blah, blah. He never seemed genuine to me and I never spent much time listening to him.

[dusttoyou]

It makes me ill that people such as this are in government.

Actually in Edward’s case, the system worked. He was only able to get one term in the Senate. Other than this short Senate time, his trial Lawyer money got him only as fas a running.

[Enchante]

exactly -— I’m a survivor of a very severe carcinoma, and I was absolutely nauseated at how they exploited her illness for political ends!!!

I didn’t expect any extra sympathy or assistance or advancement or accolades from strangers or even from people who were not already very very close to me and neither do most *decent* people battling cancer..... the idea of turning one’s illness into a public campaign spectacle for political gain is disgusting, and that’s what “Saint Elizabeth” and her coterie did!