John Edwards' Affair Also Brings John McCain's Marital Split to the Surface

By: E&P Staff Reaction from across the political spectrum has been strong to the news of John Edwards admitting he had an affair in 2006, with many condemning Edwards' actions and denials. But it may also produce an unwanted aftershock for John McCain, reviving references to his own extramarital affairs back in the mid-1970s.

Steve Chapman, the generally conservative Chicago Tribune columnist observed today, "Not that Republicans would be able to make full use of this exposure had Edwards been the nominee. Their prospective nominee, after all, was guilty of the same sin during his first marriage.

"But that was 30 years ago. Good news for Edwards: Come 2038, he may be viable again."

Edwards himself, in his interview on ABC's Nightline, referred to McCain admitting that he had made many mistakes in his first marriage. In his autobiography, McCain wrote, "My marriage's collapse was attributable to my own selfishness and immaturity. The blame was entirely mine." He has also said that he was dating Cindy for nine months while still "cohabiting" with his first wife. The Los Angeles Times recently revealed that McCain had not been fully truthful on the timeline for his divorce and remarriage.

Christopher Beam, the Slate reporter, observes, "In recent weeks, McCain?s ads have taken a turn for the personal, comparing Obama to vapid celebrities like Paris and Britney. Now Obama is coming under increasing pressure to retaliate. The Obama camp has never publicly raised McCain?s marital issues, nor would it. But insinuation, coupled with euphemisms about 'trust' and 'commitment,' can go a long way. In an environment filled with personal attacks on both sides, you can bet McCain?s past will become fair game. The Edwards news even gives McCain?s detractors a convenient pretext to raise the subject. 'So you heard about Edwards ditching his sick wife? Wait till you get a load of McCain....'"

Jane Smiley, the well-known novelist, blogged at Huffington Post that Edwards was a typical "guy" in his cheating ways: "But going out and getting stupidly laid and then coming home and reconciling with the wife is not the same as going out, getting stupidly laid, then divorcing the crippled wife and marrying the pretty young thing (and taking out your marriage license before the divorce is final). One is stupid. The other is cruel. Brutal. Heinous. And well within the moral capacities of our Republican presidential candidate."

Cenk Uygur, in his regular blog at AOL News, observes, "Now that Edwards has admitted to an extramarital affair, everyone will now condemn him and say he has no political career left. I want to ask all of those people, how is Edwards' affair any different John McCain's? If Edwards is disqualified from running for office because of this, isn't McCain as well?"

Tod Roberson, an editorial writer at the Dallas Morning News, blogs at the paper's site that while what Edwards did was wrong, voters should not express selective outrage -- and recall what McCain did back in the 1970s.

An excerpt follows.
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And while we're all feeling holier than thou, maybe we should use this occasion to re-examine the past behavior of John McCain: His first wife, Carol, was beautiful enough to be a swimwear model when he married her in 1965. He went off to fight in the Vietnam war while she stayed home to raise their three children. He was captured and spent five years as a prisoner of war. When he was freed in 1973, he came home to find that his wife had been disfigured in a car wreck three years earlier. So he dumped her and married a much younger woman (who might be our next first lady).

"My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn't the reason for my divorce," Carol McCain told the UK's Daily Mail in June. "My marriage ended because John McCain didn't want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does."

There are people who knew John McCain back then who felt so betrayed and disappointed by him that they won't speak to him today. Maybe that'll happen to John Edwards too. It just amazes me that people can reach such incredibly high ranks in American politics and somehow think their past (or present) misbehavior won't come back to haunt them. It absolutely goes to the character issue. So if we're going to go down that road, let's do it on both sides of the political fence.

I just feel sorry for the wives who have to put up with this nonsense.