Jezebel 
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New York, 5:10 PM
Sun Nov 22
23 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/13/09
I just watched a movie called "Forbidden" made by Frank Capra with Barbara Stanwyck. A pre-code film made in 1932 about a woman who falls for a man, only to find out after she's knocked up that he's married and a prominent politician.
It was very interesting and kind of similar to this whole Edwards situation. I suggest tracking down a copy of it. The movie made all three people (and the child caught in the middle) all very sympathetic- including the wife he couldn't leave out of guilt due to her being sick.
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08/13/09
i'm sure i'm projecting, but he strikes me as exceedingly passive-aggressive. he is perfect for everyone, doesn't express any anger, says and does the right things, and then goes ahead and does whatever he wants and says afterwards, "i'm so sorry, i didn't mean to hurt you, you're perfect and i'm so terrible".
you can't have a dialogue with that. i wonder if its one of the reasons that elizabeth chose to work this out publicly - i can't imagine john is much help in trying to construct a cohesive narrative of her life and marriage.
i adore elizabeth edwards. she isn't to blame for her husband being a systematic asshole with rielle hunter. but the story here is that john made one mistake one time and it doesn't retroactively recast their marriage, and the dissonance there would be overwhelming to me.
08/13/09
I think it was probably a sustained affair between him and Hunter, but it's intereseting that Hitchens says this was his only affair. My bias is to assume that when a politician has cheated once, it's been a pattern (maybe I learned this from Clinton?). But I wonder if Hitchens is right.
08/13/09
I agree with you. Certainly the affair with Hunter as long-standing, and I would suspect not the first time.
It seems at least publicly though Edwards is sticking to his one mistake, one time in the marriage, i feel terrible mantra. The message seems to be that it's the end of the discussion and an isolated event, but this stuff doesn't exist in a vacuum. It seems infuriating to deal with someone like him who refuses to discuss what his motivations were and what led up to his actions.
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He definitely cheated, and he clearly didn't use protection (or use it properly), but I'm not sure we can accuse him of exposing his wife to possible disease without knowing if they were still sexually active.
08/13/09
It is consistently amazing how much loathing and contempt Christopher Hitchens has for religion. I don't object to the quote you pulled about overwhelmingly female congregations in male-dominated religions, though. "The menfolk" is a troubling phrase, sure, but the question is a valid one and I don't think his explanation is bogus. The issue of women-majority congregations is one that's hotly debated and researched in religious studies communities and Hitchens' explanation isn't really out of line.
08/13/09
Why is it women who keep up the congregations in male-dominated places of worship?
I wish Hitchens gave it more than a smug, cursory faux-explanation. I'd like to see this question treated by thinkers who would give it the analysis it deserves.
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08/13/09
I suppose I'm just inherently a little distrusting of the bias of traditional religious sources. Of course, I'm not at all distrusting of the biases of fellow feminists ;)
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08/13/09
I have a friend who owes me $50 now. I always said that kid must be John Edwards's. The fact that they didn't do a DNA test right away to dis-prove the rumors was as good as a positive test, IMO.
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