DNA 证据面前，终于承认自己是竞选期间的婚外恋情人所生孩子的父亲， 并已经和妻子伊丽莎白分居(据说伊丽莎白的确努力试图原谅爱得华，甚至在圣诞节期间邀请这位自己孩子的half sister 来家共度节日，还给她 挑选礼物，但大概最后实在“忍无可忍”了，提出离婚)。目前他的竞选助手 Andrew Young关于竞选期间一些内幕的书“政客”("The Politician")即将出版，将披露更多背后的“黑幕”. 此书可能会和前不久出版的那本 一样，成为揭露竞选中不为人知的一些内幕的 bombshell (A couple of quotes: Edward once complained during a campaign trip: "I hate it when those fat redneck shovel food on my face. I dont even like to be there..."; and something in the line of "neither the black man or white woman has a chance. Im the only possible winner" -line -- talk about arrogance and politically incorrect language!).
关于这个事情本身，以前在相关的一篇文章中已经讨论过
(见下面链接)，这里不再多说。不过，还是想表达一下对这个newest development的愤怒。我愤怒，不仅仅因为这位一贯以“顾家好男人”形象自居的政治人物在一直对自己无私奉献的妻子最艰难的时刻(身患癌症)在外偷欢，更因为事发之后他为了遮掩事实真相而进行的一系列令人不齿的行径。除了一再否认自己和那位摄影师有染之外，他甚至要求自己的竞选助手(就是这位出书的Andrew Young)“大包大揽”，挺身而出承认自己是那位私生子的父亲，企图以此瞒天过海；而这位助手，不管出于什么考虑，居然还真答应了(真是大义凛然啊，不知爱德华许了他什么好处；而现在看到纸包不住火了，干脆来个反戈一击， 可见这些政治交易都是不堪一击的勾当)。当然如果此事仅仅限于此，还不至于引得高法介入，但有证据表明，爱德华阵营为了堵住这位情人的嘴，曾经动用竞选资金，付给她一笔钱(more than $1 million, according to Andrew Young)，而这正是目前高等法院调查的主要内容。
Thanks for the follow up. I see your point. As in many situations, just saying "it's the law" does not end the discussion, but in this case, there's also the commonly held social norm, or the morality that most people accept. If there's need to change the norm, then there has to be strong enough force behind the alternative lifestyle. This is beyond the scope of this article and I'm not an expert in sociology, so I can't really comment further.
I do understand anyone can make the mistake that Edwards made in his marriage, but that's not what this article is focused on. I'm more appauled by his cover-up and his hypocritic behaviors, than the infedility itself. You are right, everyone has his or her weaknesses, and he might have needs that cannot be fulfilled by his marriage. But it does not give him permission to look outside of his marriage for answers, as long as he's still married. At least that's my understanding of the vows one makes in marriage. Of course, some people say that the stresses of his campaign and his wife's diseases were exactly the reasons behind his missteps, but I just don't buy it. This is the same "double standard" applied to men and women - if a man betrays his wife when he's pregnant, because his "sexual and emotional needs" are not satisfied when his wife is devoting all her energy and attention to the unborn child, why are women called "sluts" if they engage in the simular behavior in their weak moments? I'm no feminist, I just think we are giving men too much slacks and excuses in this society, which is unforutnate regression.
About this, I have a lot of discussion in the previous article about this, in case you didn't read it, here's the link again:
I was not seeking answer to my question. But I guess it might be worthwhile to put forward this question, or simply ask ourselves . We are alwasy taught not to do something, due to the law or other ethical reasons. Do we understand why or do we always ask why ? We hold some ideas only becasue we are taught in that way ?
We are criticizing Edwards for his betryal. Can we do better if we were in his circumstance ? He may just need some care from somebody else when he was stressed caused by his family issue and also his campaign. Remember we are all weak in some aspects of our life. I would not criticize him as if I could do a better job than him.
Just one question. Why one man can only marry one woman , and one woman can only marry one man ? Intuively, I do not see anything terribly wrong with it.
