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Why Slam Elizabeth Edwards?

Mike

Well-known member
By Caryl Rivers

Is Elizabeth Edwards a green-eyed monster savaging her straying husband and his lover in her new book to satisfy her lust for vengeance?

That's the opinion of some prominent critics--especially women--who see Elizabeth, with little sympathy, as a woman scorned and out for payback.

Maureen Dowd wrote in the New York Times, "Now Saint Elizabeth has dragged him [her husband John] back into the public square for a flogging on Oprah and in Time and at bookstores near you." And Dowd speaks of Elizabeth's desire "to prosecute her husband and his former girlfriend now in public, while still taking the marriage "month by month."
In The Daily Beast, Tina Brown says that Edwards' new book, Resilience, "just drags us back into the messy aftermath of the election season at a time when we are now busy trying to get on with a collapsing economy and save our own lives." Guess who captures Brown's sympathy?

"It almost made me feel sorry for the Democratic twinkie John, who was always under the illusion that he was the next JFK," she writes.

But let me offer up another explanation for Elizabeth Edwards' book, in which--though you'd never know it from the media--her husband's affair is a small part of the story of her life.
Edwards, I believe, is seeking something more profound than mere vengeance. It's about who owns her story, and through that narrative, herself.

One of the major themes to emerge from the second wave of the women's movement of the 70s was the desire of women to be, at long last, at the center of their own stories. They no longer wanted to be somebody's mother, somebody's wife, somebody's victim, somebody's muse, or the object of somebody's desire.

In those days, the idea of women as actors in their own right, uncoupled from the Male Gaze, was a radical one. Joseph Campbell, the famous scholar of mythology, was once asked if women could have a quest, a journey of their own. He said no, because women were the objects of quests by men. "Women don't need to make the journey. In the whole mythological journey, the woman is there. All she has to do is realize that she's the place that people are trying to get to."

Elizabeth Edwards wants to present her life on her own terms. She wants to tell us of a life that mattered. She doesn't want history's picture of her to be the one we've seen so often with political wives. They stand beside their straying spouses, mute in support, and then shuffle off into the shadows of politics and history.

Edwards' breast cancer has metastasized into her bones. She knows she is coming prematurely to the end of her life. She doesn't have many years ahead of her, as Hillary Clinton did, to forge her own story and triumph in her own right.

Edwards burst onto the national scene as the best spokesperson for her husband's bid for the presidency. A smart, shrewd lawyer who devoted much of her life to John Edwards' career, she quickly became the darling of the media for her wit, her warmth, and for her life story. The tragic loss of a young son led to her having two more children, and she often advocated for children as she traveled with her handsome husband and shared his crusade against poverty in America,

Of course, if it seemed too good to be true, it was. As John Edwards was using his family story as a selling point for his candidacy, he was playing footsie with a videographer he hired to work for his campaign, and with whom he may have fathered a child. When the affair was discovered, Edwards' political career plunged flaming into the sea like a Kamikaze aircraft.
And his wife suddenly went from courageous, smart political player to that most banal of stereotypes, the Wronged Wife, silent, pitiful and often cruelty mocked. She couldn't hang onto her man, what kind of a woman is she?

This implicit notion rings through the critics' words. Many seem more sympathetic to the mistress, Rielle Hunter, than to Edwards. Maureen Dowd wrote that Edwards book "exposes the ex-girlfriend, who's now trying to raise the baby girl, a dead ringer for John Edwards, in South Orange, N.J."

So Edwards' desire to tell her own story should be curtailed to protect the woman who seduced--or was seduced by--her husband? Everyone loved Elizabeth when she was the loyal wife or brave cancer victim. But when She stepped out of that role, disapproval followed. Tina Brown wrote "There was deep public sympathy over the tragedy of the death of their son Wade and later for her brave, unflinching confrontation with a deadly disease."

But when she abandons the role of all-suffering wife, beware.

Brown again: "Most people I know thought that Elizabeth looked like an overbearing chief of staff and were mystified that her interruptions were tolerated by someone as clearly in love with himself as John."

As the late critic Carolyn Heilbrun pointed out, "above all other prohibitions, what has been forbidden to women is anger, together with the open admission of the desire for power and control over one's life ...Because this has been declared unwomanly, and because many women would prefer (or think they would prefer) a world without evident power or control, women have been deprived of the narratives, or the texts, plots, or examples, by which they might assume power over--take control of--their own lives."

Elizabeth Edwards has taken hold of the one power she has left--being able to tell her own story. She's not thinking of her husband or her children or the other woman or the other woman's child. She's claiming something for herself. Judge her if you will--for being too trusting, too ambitious, too willing to serve her husband's ambition, too smart, too angry, whatever.

But let her have her say.

Boston University Journalism professor Caryl Rivers is the author of "Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scare Women."
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
She needs to either live with it...or leave. :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Why drag out all the dirty laundry AGAIN.....after this long a time??

It serves no purpose, and is starting to turn against her in some areas.


Something is amiss.....stay tuned is all I can say.
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
kolanuraven said:
She needs to either live with it...or leave. :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Why drag out all the dirty laundry AGAIN.....after this long a time??

It serves no purpose, and is starting to turn against her in some areas.


Something is amiss.....stay tuned is all I can say.

That is why I subscribe to the National Enquirer. :wink: :)
 

Steve

Well-known member
why is it about the time a woman stands up for herself, someone (usually a bunch of feminists types) says she is wrong and should go back to being the dutiful wife??

I disagree,.. the scum bucket, cheated.. while his wife battled cancer.. and then ran for the office of president against her wishes while she battled cancer.. I hope Elizabeth bitch slaps cheating Johnny in public and ends her books last chapter with a copy of the divorce papers.. or even better sticks with him out of spite, like Hillary did..
 

Yanuck

Well-known member
Steve said:
why is it about the time a woman stands up for herself, someone (usually a bunch of feminists types) says she is wrong and should go back to being the dutiful wife??

I disagree,.. the scum bucket, cheated.. while his wife battled cancer.. and then ran for the office of president against her wishes while she battled cancer.. I hope Elizabeth bitch slaps cheating Johnny in public and ends her books last chapter with a copy of the divorce papers.. or even better sticks with him out of spite, like Hillary did..


:clap: :clap: :clap: :agree:

this is the post that has made the most sense all day
 

Mrs.Greg

Well-known member
Steve said:
why is it about the time a woman stands up for herself, someone (usually a bunch of feminists types) says she is wrong and should go back to being the dutiful wife??

I disagree,.. the scum bucket, cheated.. while his wife battled cancer.. and then ran for the office of president against her wishes while she battled cancer.. I hope Elizabeth bitch slaps cheating Johnny in public and ends her books last chapter with a copy of the divorce papers.. or even better sticks with him out of spite, like Hillary did..
I SOOOOO Agree!!!!!!
 

alice

Well-known member
Yanuck said:
Steve said:
why is it about the time a woman stands up for herself, someone (usually a bunch of feminists types) says she is wrong and should go back to being the dutiful wife??

I disagree,.. the scum bucket, cheated.. while his wife battled cancer.. and then ran for the office of president against her wishes while she battled cancer.. I hope Elizabeth bitch slaps cheating Johnny in public and ends her books last chapter with a copy of the divorce papers.. or even better sticks with him out of spite, like Hillary did..


:clap: :clap: :clap: :agree:

this is the post that has made the most sense all day

Yup!

Alice
 

Texan

Well-known member
I think this might be a pride thing for Mrs. Edwards. She was ashamed to show her face for a long time and now she's trying to regain her pride and self-respect.

It's a shame that she finds herself in this position. She never had a reason to be ashamed - she's not the one who did anything wrong. So I say whatever she needs to do to heal is a good thing - more power to her.
 

Mike

Well-known member
Wonder if that "Rielle" girl has any remorse?

Prolly not with the amount of money funneled her way.............. 8)
 

alice

Well-known member
hypocritexposer said:
I respect her, at least all women don't judge themselves by what some Gay pageant judge tells them how to act.

That was dumb...and I think the extremely intelligent Mrs. Edwards would agree...

Alice
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
I agree, it's dumb to associate what women think of themselves with what a gay pageant judge or designers think.

Duh, maybe it's because gay fashion designers have controlled the image of the female body for the past 40 years so that the ideal female now is a 6'3" Slav with broad shoulders, no breasts, no hips, weighing 110 lbs
 

alice

Well-known member
hypocritexposer said:
I agree, it's dumb to associate what women think of themselves with what a gay pageant judge thinks.

Duh, maybe it's because gay fashion designers have controlled the image of the female body for the past 40 years so that the ideal female now is a 6'3" Slav with broad shoulders, no breasts, no hips, weighing 110 lbs

I doubt that Mrs. Edward gives a thought one to what any pageant judge thinks. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Alice
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
So you are telling us that she did not worry about how the press/public would attack her and her husband for her story and decision?

I'm not attacking her, I'm attacking those that would attack her for her personal life.

As with Carrie Prejean, those people are usually liberals, trying to score political points. They use emotional arguments to do it, not facts.

We don't know the facts behind her situation, why is the liberal press writing about it?
 

alice

Well-known member
hypocritexposer said:
So you are telling us that she did not worry about how the press/public would attack her and her husband for her story and decision?

I'm not attacking her, I'm attacking those that would attack her for her personal life.

As with Carrie Prejean, those people are usually liberals, trying to score political points. They use emotional arguments to do it, not facts.

We don't know the facts behind her situation, why is the liberal press writing about it?

It's the "press" that thinks it can make money off of it...liberal, conservative...Perez Hilton. Money and recognition are the name of this game.

Again, leave the woman alone...she's got more than she can say grace over now. I applaud her for writing her book...I applaud her for living the life she's led...I applaud her for being a thinking woman who makes her own decisions. AND, I applaud her for using the outlet she chose to make peace with the crap that got thrown her direction.

Alice
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Texan said:
I think this might be a pride thing for Mrs. Edwards. She was ashamed to show her face for a long time and now she's trying to regain her pride and self-respect.

It's a shame that she finds herself in this position. She never had a reason to be ashamed - she's not the one who did anything wrong. So I say whatever she needs to do to heal is a good thing - more power to her.

Texan, why would she have been made to feel ashamed? Why do people hide their beliefs and experiences? Why would she have not spoken about this sooner, if that's what she thought she should do?

Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
 

alice

Well-known member
hypocritexposer said:
right over your head, Alice!

Uhhh huhhhh....can't come up with anything else, so it's over my head. Whatever... :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Alice :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
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