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Edwards: The interview
posted at 2008-08-09 00:55 | Last modified 2008-08-09 18:10
Edwards' interview tonight on ABC made for some great TV, but I'm not sure how much it did to help his case. More below. First, though, a quick roundup.
- Elizabeth Edwards weighs in on Kos. (HT: BlueNC)
- John Edwards tells CBS’s Bob Schieffer he isn’t coming to Denver. That may be for the best, given that Edwards still claims to have been “99% honest” in lying about the affair. He says he denied tabloid accounts because they included “falsities.”
- Obama takes the high road.
- HuffPo's Sam Stein, who broke the Hunter story last year, thinks there's more confessing to come.
- Will blogger Lee Stranahan get his posting rights back at DailyKos now? After this, maybe not.
The Nightline Interview
ABC has some clips up. My unofficial transcript is here - it's an interesting read.
It started off with Edwards thanking ABC's Bob Woodruff for “giving me the chance to talk,” and pointing out the affair "happened during a period after she [Elizabeth] was in remission from cancer. That’s no excuse for anything that happened.” (Which must be why he brought it up.)
It didn't get much better from there, and overall, it's tough to know how much his answers helped him. He fielded some pretty tough questions from Woodruff. Some answers went well, some less so. Update: The N&O's Rob Christensen isn't sure how much good it did Edwards, either.
Here's what I came away with:
1. Despite having been busted by a tabloid, Edwards still disdains them, along with the "paparazzi" he says chase him around all the time.
2. He says he didn't love Rielle Hunter. (If that was supposed to make us all feel better about the affair, I'm not sure it worked.)
3. He says Hunter's baby isn't his, and he's willing to take a paternity test to verify it. But, as he pointed out, he's only "one side" - and Hunter, who's been getting financial support from Edwards' former fundraiser James Baron, might not want to take a test.
4. He didn't ask Elizabeth to join him for the interview.
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5. He doesn't think his political career is over:
"I see no end. I don’t think anything’s ended. My Lord and my wife have forgiven me, so I’m gonna move on."
6. He says he has nothing to do with Baron's payments to Hunter.
"Fred Baron knows both of these people who are involved and has worked with them for years. So he has a relationship with them independent of me. So what he chose to do or not do, I can’t explain."
Did you watch it? If so, what did you think? Drop me a line.
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