"All known copies" of John Edwards / Rielle Hunter sex tape to be destroyed

[JDPriestly]

23. The middle class has been decimated.

John Edwards made that point. The Two Americas was not about dividing the US into two equal halves as some seem to think. It was dividing Americans into the group that wins no matter how awful they are -- the 1% -- and the group that always takes the losses no matter how well they perform or how great they are -- the 99%. John Edwards, for all his human failing, saw what was going on.

John Edwards was not a Romney. His father was not a wealthy governor of a then flourishing state.

John Edwards was not a Hillary Clinton -- daughter of a middle class businessman.

John Edwards was not a Barack Obama -- son of a mother who loaned money to small businesses in Indonesia (at least that is what I understand that she did) or the grandson of a manager or executive in a small bank.

John Edwards was the son of factory workers. I believe his father eventually moved into supervision in the factory where he worked. His mother, I think, worked for the Post Office. John Edwards made his money the hard way -- fighting for plaintiffs in courts. He did not inherit it as some of the others did. He was the real thing when it comes to understanding the problems of little people.

By the way, much as I admire Dean, his family was quite wealthy.

Nothing wrong with coming from wealth. But John Edwards was the real deal when it comes to talking about the problems of people who were not born and did not achieve wealth.

On edit, it isn't that I am so lax about people's sexual indiscretions. I think they are very unfortunate. They destroy trust. They destroy families. But I think that a person's mistakes in the area of sex are just one factor to be considered among a number of factors -- and depending on the situation -- probably not the most important factor.

If you judged men of the generations before women's liberation by their sex lives, we would probably have to discredit most of our presidents and certainly almost every European monarch or other man of great achievement.

Women's liberation has changed our attitudes towards women's sexual freedom but even more toward men's sexual license.

Lucky is the couple who truly have a relationship that is trusting and honest. It happens, but it is a lot of work, and a lot of bad luck can ruin it. Let's don't be so quick to judge in this area.