Best New Rules I've seen in a long time, maybe ever. And I completely agree with him about Edwards not being a the convention, with one caveat: it's more important to elect Obama than it is to teach America, at this moment, that politicians are as prone to misdeeds as the rest of us. If anyone could have pulled it off, Obama could have. Edwards has important things to say, in spite of his moral lapse. I still loathe him for running while knowing that this revelation would have sunk his candidacy if he had won the nomination. But I'd have liked to see the Dems be able to say to America "We do not condone his action, but he is still one of us, he has important things to say, and we want him here. Get over it." But I'm pretty sure America isn't ready to grow up that much yet.

Phidippides -

You got it all right. But the Dems didn't even have to go that far. There is no reason that Dems couldn't have it both ways: 'airbrush' Edwards out of the convention and still put out his message. It is sad that being against poverty is a position that has such a narrow base of concern that it should be seen as owned by John Edwards.

Loved the "Fuel me once" bit! (living in Iowa here).

Phidippedes and Tim, I agree with both of you. Edwards did show bad judgment, and at least he admitted to it. Unfortunately, this isn't Europe of Asia where the population is more concerned about what the leader will do for the country when elected, not what he does to get off. Since that is the case, those running for office are going to have to be more saintly until things change. Edwards jeopardized the election - had he been the nominee, it'd be over and JoAnn would be able to sing her sad President McCain refrain. As long as it's legal, it should be a matter for spouses to work out, but that IS a long time from happening.

Obama touched briefly on poverty, but not enough. If our former contender is to poverty what Gore is to the environment, then Edwards can rebound as a statesman for that in the coming years. Oh, wait, he's already doing that with his Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity in Chapel Hill.

Since when does Bill Maher care about poverty? When he did "Politically Incorrect", he used to complain about welfare queens.

Edwards isn't just a guy who had an affair. He's a guy who had an affair right after his wife was recovering from cancer, and then after she found out about he had her trot around the country doing the Better Homes and Gardens routine, using their fake perfect marriage as a prop for the campaign. It's as bad as the guys who make their wives stand next to them at the podium while they ask for forgiveness.

I don't like how it is now, where politicians are supposed to have perfect families in order to get elected. But I don't think it was so great in the era of FDR, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, where the presidents had affairs because they were president. JFK had an intern whose only job was giving a sexual release to the president. It was a pretty sexist situation. The reason Bill Clinton and Edwards can't get "high quality tail" is because we've grown up and don't believe anymore that free sex is a perk of power.

"Edwards did show bad judgment, and at least he admitted to it."

He admitted to it when he knew it was coming out anyway. That's after denying it for a year.

"Unfortunately, this isn't Europe or Asia where the population is more concerned about what the leader will do for the country when elected, not what he does to get off."

This is kind of a liberal American myth. When John Major's infidelity was revealed in the UK, one of the first questions I heard on the BBC was how an adulterer culd be trusted by the public. Not every French president has a mistress. Some politicians in the U.S. mess around, and to a large extent get away with it, unless they're Democrats at the highest level.

Edwards deserves a comeback, he just deserves it next year.

I agree with RedSeven - let's keep the story, but we need to be focused on putting a democrat in the White House and Edwards is a distraction right now.

So Edwards can cheat on his wife and everything is hunky dory? Palin's daughter gets pregnant, and we can attack that? I don't get it... Wait.. I get it.. Partisan bullshit