Fred Baron paid for Edwards' paramour to relocate

[PDittie]

And the hits just keep on comin':

Dallas lawyer Fred Baron told The Dallas Morning News today that he paid relocation and housing expenses for the woman that former presidential candidate John Edwards has confessed to having an affair with.

Mr. Baron, who was chairman of Mr. Edwards’ presidential campaign finance committee, said he paid money for Rielle Hunter to move from North Carolina to another location.

He said she and another campaign aide, Andrew Young, who claimed paternity of Ms. Hunter’s child, were being dogged by tabloid reporters who believed she had an affair with Mr. Edwards and fathered the child.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/080909dnmetbaron.29aa166d.html

[Baby Snooks]

1. And the $3 million house?

Is it in Santa Barbara or Beverly Hills? If she has a house, why is she meeting someone who isn't the father and doesn't love her at the Beverly Hilton Hotel? And who bought the house?

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

[johncoby2]

2. Who really gives a shit?

Its not like he is running for president.

Dumb ass just screwed up his possibility of being Attorney General, although I would still pick him in a New York minute.

[salonghorn70]

3. I Care

I don't want my candidates to lie regardless of whether they are democrats or republicans. I also don't want my candidates cheating on their spouses whether they are Democrats or republicans. As Democrats, we can do better than this.

[sonias]

4. Yep that's the part that really hurts

He would have made one fine Attorney General and he's gutted his chances for that now. Both Spitzer and Edwards would have made great Attorney Generals and they both screwed up.

You're right too. I would rather have a cheating husband Attorney General who will be tough on corporations than any more dumb ass sellouts like Alberto Gonzales and John Ashcroft or a spineless wienie like Mukasey.

Sonia

[salonghorn70]

5. That Is A False Choice

Sonias, we shouldn't have to choose between "a cheating husband Attorney General" and a Republican who is a sellout or spineless. As Democrats, we should stand for candidates and office holders who do not cheat on their spouses AND who stand for the principles of the Democratic Party. It is a matter of trust. If a candidate or office holder is not loyal to their spouse and family, then how can we really trust them in anything. As Democrats, we should strive to do better than "cheating husbands."

[sonias]

8. I agree we should stive for better

The truth however is that lots of people cheat on their spouses. It may be horrible but frankly that's a personal matter between the spouses and the family.

I certainly don't hold to the stance "If a candidate or office holder is not loyal to their spouse and family, then how can we really trust them in anything" because you could probably eliminate more than half of all office holders in the country with that one.


Sonia

[Lisa0825]

6. It's not just the cheating...

It's also the lying and the money. No way I believe he hasn't been involved in paying her to be quiet. It also appears from other reports that he has lied about the timeline as well. When did she get the job offer? Before of after he started screwing her? Did he give her a job just to have an excuse to keep her around? Did he use his supporter's contributions to pay a 6 figure salary to his mistress who didn't even qualify for the job?

Those are not things an ethical person does. I no longer want him in the administration. I won't trust another word that comes out of his mouth.

[Baby Snooks]

11. Why?

Because you think he would represent you? He would represent himself and all the other trial lawyers and between the trial lawyers buying their politicians and the corporations buying their politicians, I would rather have the corporations. At least they are generous with charitable contributions. The trial lawyers only want buildings named for them.

Fred Baron is another example of everything that is wrong with our political system. Thems that can pay get to play. Everyone else, forget it.

[merci_me]

7. IMO, it's about screwing the entire Democratic party

On edit, I meant to put this under Lisa's reply, since it isn't about Fred Barron. Waiting for that story to develop


He knew what he was doing and he knew what would happen when the day came, that the press exposed it. I mean, he's a friggin trial lawyer. He knows how juries think and damn, in this case the American voter is the jury.

I have NEVER supported John Edwards, but a lot of people I know did. They knocked on doors, sometimes traveling the country to do it. They made calls, addressed envelopes, and gave money, often very precious money, for a candidate they had faith in. They deserved a hell of a lot better!!!

Sure he knew when he announced his candidacy, for that matter which candidacy? His run in 2008 or even back in 2004? For how long has he been asking people to gamble on a wreckless gambler?

Suppose someone hadn't gotten to him in late January and caused him to suddenly abandon his run, just one week after he had vowed to take all the way. Had something not hit the fan then, he could have ended up today as the presumptive nominee. Then do you think the National Enquirer would have exposed him in July? Hell no! They'd have sat on that story and continued to quietly build it, then come September, John Edwards would have sunk the entire party and handed the world John McCain.

I adore Elizabeth Edwards and I only hope among his lies, he lied that Elizabeth knew. I hope she didn't know and still encourage him to continue, to encourage us all to walk the plank to September.

[sonias]

9. I think she knew.

Elizabeth Edwards blog post on Daily Kos 8/8/08
(snip)
John made a terrible mistake in 2006. The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done. But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my diagnosis in March of 2007. This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well. Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.

Sonia

[salonghorn70]

10. His Supporters Did Deserve Better

I was not an Edwards supporter either in 2004 or this year. I was a supporter of Gary Hart in 1988 as I had been in 1984. I felt very betrayed by what he did. I was a Henry Cisneros supporter, I was a strong Bill Clinton supporter. I felt betrayed by what they did.
Character does matter. I know that we can go on an on about this: JFK, FDR, etc. But if we as Democrats can should stand for the proposition that character is as important as policies then we can start demanding a higher standard of our candidates.
Republicans talk about family values and the look the other way when their office holders act in a different way. I just think that as Democrats we can be better than that.