Larisa Alexandrovna: "An Open Letter" Glass Houses & Stones

[kpete]

Larisa Alexandrovna
The passengers gossip as the ship sinks: An Open Letter

Posted August 9, 2008 | 11:53 AM (EST)

Well, it seems that the ONLY news anywhere and everywhere is that John Edwards had an affair two years ago. Why is this news? I understand why it is of interest to the far-right, as they have an unhealthy obsession with sexuality and are also looking for a distraction - any distraction - to shift the conversation away from the obvious: The Republican party has imploded under the weight of corruption and crime, leading directly to the White House.

................

Glass Houses and Stones

Did this man break the law in some way that I am not aware of? Did this man demand to know what you did in your bedroom or insist that private sexual acts are for the government to know? No. That kind of sexual, obsessive deviancy is how the right-wing functions.

John Edwards ran as a Presidential candidate not on the platform of his bed, but on real and serious issues. Only people with little intelligence, moral insufficiency, and/or no ability to discuss anything of value would see this tabloid story as worthy of attention given the Constitutional crisis this country is drowning in.

Edwards was concerned about American jobs being shipped overseas, about health-care access for all Americans, about the right of American workers to be treated like human beings. That has not changed.

Under the best of circumstances, a marriage - any marriage - goes through difficulties. Throw in the death of a child and the cancer of a spouse and people get overwhelmed. Do I condone his affair? I have no right to even ask this question, let alone answer it.

more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/the-passengers-gossip-as_b_117904.html

I approve this message, kp

[Overseas]

1. Kick !

[sazemisery]

2. k&r

I, too, approve this message.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. K&R!

:applause:

[patrice]

4. I respect John and Elizabeth Edwards.

[Overseas]

5. And recommended, because as you said so well

The Republican party is imploding in crime and corruption. We've had years of war profiteering and international war crimes committed by the Cheney administration in our name.

Thanks for posting Larisa's article.

Here's another part I like. Wish the TV commentators would comply:

Do you condone his affair? Because if you attempt to even answer this question, I think it only appropriate that you share with us your own sexual history, including slips such as this if you have any. You want to publicly demolish a man because of something private, legal, and something his wife had agreed to forgive him for? Then I want your sexual resume on the table.

I have no right to demand of someone that they share with me, or answer to me, issues that are private and legal for the same reason I would think it inappropriate for anyone to demand that of me. So if you are going to demand such answers and dig through someone's life for such private information, you better be able to defend your own life and behavior and you better be ready to make it public.

[TexasObserver]

6. "Did this man break the law in some way that I am not aware of?"

Yes, he did.

Perhaps when she comprehends that, she'll write a column that isn't rationalizations.

However, she's not particularly bright, so I won't be expecting it.

[Th1onein]

13. He broke the law? Pray tell, how?

And while you're telling us that, please attach a list of your private sexual escapades.

And, by the way, Texas Observer, why do you use ad hominem attacks all of the time? I thought that was strictly a Republican strategy in debates.

[marylanddem]

7. I liked him a lot - but he could have done in the Democratic

party if he'd won in the primaries. I think this is the real issue, not glass houses.

[kestrel91316]

9. You've made your feelings abundantly clear with your ENDLESS

obsessive posts harping about Edwards' personal life.

[MorningGlow]

8. Exactly

Well put. K&R.

[peacetalksforall]

10. I remember what I wrote during the three trials and one hanging* of Clinton.

Republicans demand Dems to be saint and god like.
Republicans demand intolerance of Dem sex from other Republicans.
Republicans demand thorough media coverage of Dem sex.

* (Three trials: House, Senate, Southeast Lawyers Assn. Hanging: Corporate Media and Reverends)

[FormerOstrich]

11. Very well said....

Thank you, kpete.

I do not believe I will ever understand how something like this seems to supersede all else. Bush lies us into a war....barely a 2nd glance. Cheney arranges forged Intel....ho hum.

Sadly, even the place which at times has seemed the only place where I was not alone, is as guilty of becoming what as a rule they profess to detest. A distraction.

Let's face it...if something doesn't sell then it won't be sold. If Americans wanted things like an affair put into proper context, they themselves would put it in proper context. They would resist commenting on any existing thread and they certainly wouldn't start another. If we collectively gave this affair 2 seconds or less then it would fade away quickly. The next time something similarly "not our business" would be given less resource from the get go.

But if it sells...then it will be sold. Over and Over and Over. The capitalists will get all the mileage they can.

Look at the threads at DU. I'd say this one is a block buster, grand slam, a hot commodity. We have no one to blame but the consumers...I mean ourselves.

[trashcanistanista]

12. This will be the only Edwards' thread I will respond to.

I will even go so far as to say the Edwards's risked the security and comfort of their own lives, Elizabeth's health and their children's lives to bring the issue of healthcare, poverty and workers' rights to the forefront. No one else was doing it. They knowingly put themselves in the line of fire. How many of us could do that and endure the ugly media spotlight, day after day? They will be able to deal with this, I'm certain. It is a risk that paid off in that Obama has embraced some of these issues and as a nation we are now forced to reckon with them. Their contribution was important to many democrats and will not dissapear. The greater good was his stance and bringng out great democratic issues during the campaign that would have otherwise been ignored. I will always respect both John and Elizabeth for that as well as the Edwards' supporters who stood behind them and made conveying this message possible.

John did the right thing by dropping out before super Tuesday. The powers that be in the party did the right thing by getting this out now so we can collectively get over it. I supported Edwards and am STILL proud of it. I am dissapointed with his admission and his intent to leave politics. In all honesty, early on it did occur to me that it was either a death threat or a scandal that lead him to drop out when he did. It was common sense, so it is not as "shocking" to me as it is to most. That's how politics works, sadly. I can understand the outrage of some who consider the Edward's as traitors or worse, and I respect your opinions but don't share them. I'ld like to believe I am not the only one and all I ask is for you to respect mine.

The Democratic party will not be harmed by John's fall from grace to the extent that it was enriched by Edwards' message and it's eventual inclusion into our party platform. That is the greater good here. For Christ's sake, we have 47 million without healthcare, people unable to keep their homes, people starving and dying in this country, losing jobs by the thousands, and millions dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's time to move on and see to it that the Democratic platform is installed permanently.

[Ghost Dog]

14. Ah, so that's what the "Edwards News" is about.

Um. Betrayal is never nice. But we're only human, kpete/larisa. Let's be honest.

I prefer the French, private, attitude myself.

"Get it while you can", as Janis sang.

--> Correction. I meant this track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0FlTjvQLgw

Um, let me add this (version of this) one, too, if you don't mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8npK1q6LY9Q