Wolfson: Edwards’ cover-up cost Clinton the nomination
Do her people really want to go there? If so they’ll incite comments like mine: It appears Hillary is repeatedly doomed by men who can’t keep their pants zipped.
From ABC News, today:
Sen. Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee if John Edwards had been caught in his lie about an extramarital affair and forced out of the race last year, insists a top Clinton campaign aide, making a charge that could exacerbate previously existing tensions between the camps of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama….
“I believe we would have won Iowa, and Clinton today would therefore have been the nominee,” former Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson told ABCNews.com.
Clinton finished third in the Iowa caucuses barely behind Edwards in second place and Obama in first. The momentum of the insurgent Obama campaign beating two better-known candidates – not to mention an African-American winning in such an overwhelmingly white state – changed the dynamics of the race forever.
Obama won 37.6% of the vote. Edwards won 29.7% and Clinton won 29.5%….
“Our voters and Edwards’ voters were the same people,” Wolfson said the Clinton polls showed. “They were older, pro-union. Not all, but maybe two-thirds of them would have been for us and we would have barely beaten Obama.”
Read my previous posts on the Edwards-adultery-love-child scandal here and here.
Speaking of, according to the Wall Street Journal today:
For most of the 10 months since allegations of former Sen. John Edwards’s extramarital affair appeared in the National Enquirer, the story was marginalized….
They ignored the story at their peril….
“New media really helped keep this story alive,” the Enquirer’s Editor in Chief David Perel said.
[Photos courtesy of ABC News]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
McCain, anyone? Anyone have anything positive to say about McCain? (crickets)
Edwards voters would have gone to Obama, like they later did anyway. Edwards’ supporters are much more like Obama then Hillary.
“I believe we would have won Iowa, and Clinton today would therefore have been the nominee…”
hmmm….sour grapes or the widening crack in the Democratic Party?
More likely, Obama would have won Iowa by a larger margin with Edwards out of the picture.
More sour grapes out of the Clinton camp.
iowaindependent.com has an article of today by John Deeth disputing Wolfson’s assertion, citing a caucus night survey showing Edwards supporters breaking 51% to Obama and 32% to Clinton.
Lets not forget Edward’s timing of his endorsement of his good buddy Barack who had said Edwards would make a good Attorney General. The timing of the announcement was calculated to draw attention from Hillary’s smashing primary victories. This obviously would not have occured had Edwards been sidelined with his little infidelity scandal. Hmmmmm. Maybe Hil’s momentum would have continued had it not been for that distraction. It is certainly understandable that some in Hil’s camp are livid. In the wake if the scandal are Edward’s delegates committed to anyone?
One other thing that is remarkable about this story is Barack’s uncanny ability to be the beneficiary of scandal. In his U.S. Senate race, his main primary opponent fell out of favor among women when it was revealed he was rather nasty to his ex, and then his Republican opponent had to resign when it his divorice papers were unsealed and some “interesting” facts were revealed.
The last thing that stands out here is Barack once again having extremely poor judgment. Recall that not only was Edwards was being considered as an AG possibility, but his name was also in the VP sweepstakes. We can now add Edwards as another in a cast of characters Obama has been associated with, beginning with the convict Tony Rezko, the bombastic racist Jeremiah Wright, and the bomber William Ayers. Barack–what a guy!
oh no, you’re not going to trash Obama with Edwards’ infidality are you? It’s not like he picked him for AG or VP, and it’s not like Obama or anyone else knew about this before the article came out.
Jerry, since McCain cheated on his wife after she was badly injured in a car wreck, and then traded her in for a newer and much richer model, I assume that you would agree that McCain is morally unfit to be president?
Or maybe you have a double standard depending on the political party?
Clearly, Obama forced Edwards to have an affair and then covered it up. With his Anti-Christ powers. Or something; I can’t even keep track of the paranoid theories out there anymore.
Posted by: Ray at August 11, 2008 3:15 PM
Yes; McCain served his country in the military, suffered admirably as a POW, again served his country and his state as a Senator for a number of years, and MOST importantly is pro-life. He’s got my vote.
Yes; McCain served his country in the military, suffered admirably as a POW, again served his country and his state as a Senator for a number of years, and MOST importantly is pro-life. He’s got my vote.
Posted by: Kristen at August 11, 2008 6:09 PM
….And now, in his sunset years entertains delusions of the Presidency.
This is absoultely Hallaryous.
Kristin and HisMan, I still don’t see how McCain’s suffering as a POW qualifies him to be POTUS. Enduring torture and solitary confinement are neither part of the job description nor evidence of strong character. His decision to remain in his cell and endure more torture because he was concerned that his release would be used by his captors for propaganda purposes seems like very poor judgement to me–he could have used his freedom to counter their propaganda and it would have called more public attention to the remaining POWs which would have been more likely to have a real effect (like getting them home sooner) than a merely symbolic effect. It’s like his desire to say “f*ck you” to his captors outweighed his practical reason. I’m not saying I blame him. It’s not at all unusual for prisoners approaching the ends of long incarcerations to do something to prolong them. Restoration of long-absent freedom is terrifying. Brooks is the most realistic character in THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. There is very good reason to believe McCain has a martyr complex which is still unresolved. His compulsion for picking fights is NOT just part of his way of dealing with people; it is sub-rational and it DOES affect his professional judgement–an example is unfolding right now: for the past decade he has gone out of his way to pick a fight with Russia/Putin, visiting Georgia and loudly advocating for Her admittance into NATO and encouraging Her to escalate the ongoing tit-for-tat with Russia and doing everything he can to identify himself with Her. Now Georgians are asking “When is the USA going to rescue us?” yeah right. Russia’s army is more than thirty times bigger than Georgia’s. The outcome is as certain as it was in the war against Saddam. And it’s partly because of McCain’s compulsion to pick/escalate fights. Only a small part but still a part.
Now he is being completely dishonest about the fact that there’s not a goddamn thing we can do about it except all the things the Russians have already anticipated and decided they don’t care about like getting them condemned by the UN. Oh and having Bush speak “very firmly” to Putin.
In order to avoid being bankrupted by entitlement laws the next president will have to be inclined toward cooperation, not picking fights. This is one time in history when gridlock would be deadly.
I’ll tell you what else: I would not be surprised if McCain betrayed the RTLs at the crucial time like GHWBush with David Souter. In GHWBush’s case it was a favor to a friend (Former Senator Warren Rudman (R-NH)) but I could see McCain doing it just out of crazy spite.
A Russian’s question about Georgia joining NATO: If there’s no Soviet Empire, why is there NATO?
I’m not trying to justify what’s going on now but it’s not so easy to answer, is it.
Another thing: it’s very wrong to compare this to Hitler. OK, I have said any two things can be compared and there is a superficial resemblence between the trigger event (Abxasia and South Ossetia) and the Sudetendeutch but what I mean is even if let’s suppose the worst happens and Russia colonizes Georgia in the most brutal possible way that would be very bad but it would not be an indicator of Russian ambitions for global dominance. Russia and Georgia have had let’s say a special relationship for much longer than the USA has existed. It is also probably true that that special relationship has much more to do with Georgia’s embrace of USA Values than any universal human desire for Freedom and Democracy.
The PARTY BOSSES/OLD BOYS CLUB in the Democratic party fixed the nomination so they could select someone they could control. They shook down the banking industry and diverted the money to the Obama campaign.
McCain/Clinton 08
Death watch?
The John Edwards affair with Rielle Hunter grows ever more sordid. On Hannity and Colmes last week a National Enquirer spokesperson said his understanding is Hunter still loves Edwards and is waiting in the background for Elizabeth, who has terminal…