Edwards

So, while I was away, John Edwards—erstwhile presidential candidate and my former boss—admitted that he had indeed had an affair with Rielle Hunter, which he claims ended in 2006, but insists that he's not the father of her child. I had a feeling that the story was true, which is why I said two weeks ago that I hoped it wasn't true, but feared that that it was.

I've been having a good, long think about the situation, and, truthfully, I'm still not sure exactly how I feel about it. I stand by my previous assertion that it's no one's bloody business, given that he isn't running for anything at the moment and wasn't running on a Family Values^TM platform when he was.

I also understand the sentiment expressed by a number of people, including Maura Kelly here, that Edwards could have irrevocably damaged the Democrats' chances in November if he'd secured the nomination, only to be revealed as a philanderer who cheated on his terminally ill wife. I understand it, but I'm not sure it matters, or should matter, in terms of anyone else's response. It's accurate—but moot. He didn't get the nomination, and I don't have enough energy to get annoyed about hypotheticals.

The truth is, from a political standpoint, I don't care about this story at all. It's only from a personal perspective that it matters to me—and I'm still sorting through all that. I'm not even sure it's really something fit for public consumption, once I do.

For now, maybe forever, all I'll say is this: I keep coming back to a post I wrote in February of 2006.

Titled "What don't you lousy motherfuckers understand about keeping your noses out of our britches, our beds, and our families?", the post was about the religious right's persistence in trying to legislate morality. It was also one of the primary posts to which Bill Donohue took exception when he turned me into a target to get at John Edwards.

Edwards responded to Donohue's attacks by issuing a statement which began: "The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa McEwan's posts personally offended me. It's not how I talk to people, and it's not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people."

If I'm honest, I've been wondering if he might be inclined these days to reconsider his condemnation of my fierce defense of people's right to live their lives on their own terms, free from the oppressive vicegrip of sanctimonious wankery—or if my use of the f-word still renders me offensive, irrespective of what I'm using it to say…

Well. I suppose I'll never have an answer to that question.

I'm still proud of that post.