Last weekend, The New York Times reported on its front page that former Senator, vice presidential candidate and presidential candidate John Edwards was considering "publicly" acknowledging paternity of his mistress's baby, but had not yet brought his wife around to the idea. With his mistress, baby in arms, testifying before a grand jury about the payments she received from Edwards' associates, and the campaign aide he had pushed to claim paternity now shopping a book about the deceit, Edwards is reportedly considering a public affirmation of paternity as a way to spin the story in his direction -- make it look like he is standing up to take responsibility, doing the "right thing." \
I have a very simple answer for him, one I think most women my age -- Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative -- would agree with:
Just. Shut. Up.
Message to John Edwards: We know it's your baby. Everyone knows that. You want to do the right thing? Do it privately. Do penance for the next 20 years. Wash your wife's feet and help the poor. But don't make public pronouncements or expect public forgiveness.
Nothing John Edwards can do will change the judgment we have reached about him. World-class scumbag doesn't begin to describe it. I can think of no one in recent political history whose betrayal matches his.
A lot of politicians have affairs. I know this. I will be reminded in a matter of seconds, if I don't say it right here, that I spent years defending one of them, whose taste wasn't much better than Edwards'.
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