<p>“Newt’s treatment of his wife when she got cancer puts him in a class by himself though when compared to Edwards.”</p>
<p>Don’t forget the SECOND wife. Deserted after her MS diagnosis. In between, Newt at his Clinton-period affair. Yeah, the guiding intellectual light of the Party of Appeasement and Family Values.</p>
<p>I always wondered why the religious right supported Gingrich after the serial adultery and wife abandonment. But the refusal to pay child support explains it. One of the main tenets of Dobson, Falwell, etc., is that women and children are worthless without a man in the household to “tell them what time it is” as Falwell quaintly puts it.</p>
<p>What better way for a rich man to indoctrinate his children into the idea that they’re worthless once he’s lost interest in them, than to refuse to feed or clothe them?</p>
<p>How did a civil discussion about the very sad health situation of Elizabeth Edwards turn into yet another bash of the “religious right?”</p>
<p>Speaking of Edwards…what the heck happened to that perky Katie Couric? In that interview, she was meaner than I am!</p>
<p>Sjmom, you’re developing rather a habit of dropping into threads and making these kind of comments. This is at least the second tonight. Either you complain that the post is off-topic, or you complain that you don’t like the topic and don’t think it should have been started.</p>
<p>Yet maybe a week ago, you were posting that on topic or no, no one but a mod could tell other posters what to post.</p>
<p>I saw clips of Couric’s interview, and she did ask some pointed questions. Perhaps since she lost her husband to cancer, she felt it was more important to spend time with a husband or wife with cancer than to pursue career aspirations.</p>
<p>Where did I say that anyone could or could not post anything on any thread? I asked a simple question in my post above, which you chose to interpret in a particular manner.</p>
<p>I have participated on this thread since its inception. I could counter with the comment that you seem to drop into threads to post comments which only serve to further your particular agenda, and which seem to be decidedly off topic. You are, of course, free to do so. And I am also free to comment on that.</p>
<p>As far as my posts on the zillionth “Bush is evil” thread, I added commentary intended to refute incorrect information. I realize that it’s uncomfortable to have facts presented which counter an insult, but that’s life.</p>
<p>Having lost her husband to cancer and then decided it was more important to pursue a high-powered career than spend time with her grieving children, I think Couric could have been a wee bit less judgemental.</p>
<p>What if Edwards turned it around on her, and asked her how she would respond if “some people” felt she was depriving her bereaved, fatherless children by her relentless and selfish pursuit of her career?</p>
<p>I’m grateful that I haven’t been in either the Edwards’ shoes or those of Katie Couric. However people manage to get through loss and grief is a personal matter, and I really don’t judge them on that. I haven’t walked their walk.</p>
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<p>It’s unfortunate that you’re ignoring the difference between seeking to understand why someone does what he does and insulting him. It takes some of the joy out of seeing you parrot my words so beautifully.</p>
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<p>But you don’t mind making excuses for Katie being judgemental in your stead, I notice.</p>
<p>It is pretty much inevitable that Edwards and his wife would have to deal with this very personal and difficult situation in a very public way. I don’t admire their politics but I do admire this particular grace under pressure. Whatever his politics he seems a very decent fellow. This shouldn’t be an excuse for third parties to bash anyone else. conyat who is positively off his meds when it comes to anything to do with Bush sees the worl in a particularly high contrast manner.</p>
<p>“I saw clips of Couric’s interview, and she did ask some pointed questions. Perhaps since she lost her husband to cancer, she felt it was more important to spend time with a husband or wife with cancer than to pursue career aspirations.”</p>
<p>I think it would have been perfectly acceptable for her to have said so, or to have asked questions with that as the backdrop. “As you know, I lost my husband to cancer, and, looking back at it, I wish I had spent more time with him rather than in pursuing my career aspirations. Do you think you might end up feeling the same?” That would have been a GREAT question.</p>
<p>But the repeated “some people are thinking” was wholly unprofessional, and I was surprised at the grace with which Edwards answered her.</p>
<p>My take was that she was giving them a chance to answer the criticisms which exist (just look at this thread) but that she didn’t necessarily actually agree with them. Though she could have couched the questions in a more focused way than the “some people think” formation.</p>
<p>I do think it would have been appropriate and resonant for her to bring up her own experience, though of course she may not have wanted to.</p>
<p>And I agree wholeheartedly that both Edwards’s showed real grace in their answers.</p>
<p>“Perhaps since she lost her husband to cancer, she felt it was more important to spend time with a husband or wife with cancer than to pursue career aspirations.”</p>
<p>But she’s a journalist. It’s not her place to judge or “feel” anything.</p>
<p>zoosermom, I agree. I was not defending Katie Couric – she really isn’t one of my favorite journalists! I was speculating about her reasons for questioning the Edwards’ the way she did.</p>
<p>“zoosermom, I agree. I was not defending Katie Couric – she really isn’t one of my favorite journalists! I was speculating about her reasons for questioning the Edwards’ the way she did.”</p>
<p>I totally get you and agree, personally. As a celebrity, if she wanted to speak with them, fine, but as a journalist (stop laughing), then she had to make the interview about them and not her. I give Mr. Edwards a lot of credit for not slapping her. He earned new respect from me.</p>