He cheated on his wife. He may have a love-kid. Normally, I wouldn’t care.Except…It should be noted that Mr. Edwards was the token fundy Christian for the Democrat party. He supported moments of silence, and did not express any substantial support for the separation of church and state.Just pointing that out. Carry on.
John Edwards is a low life liar scumbag politician…and he is practically my neighbour.
I am not sure why I bother, but someone called a politician a lowlife scumbag, and somehow if felt obligated to explain to him (alexatheist) why all politicians are scumbags.
Let me begin by qualifying that it would really be rough for me to betray the partner of my life while she was dying of cancer, and even more so if I was trying to get myself in the mental mode to lead the most powerful military and economic force on the planet in a responsible way. But, if I was doing that, I would be ignoring the fact that those who came before me had already sold our culture down the river. While American businesses have to keep their smokestacks clean for the EPA, keep their workplace safe for OSHA, and keep wages and retirement benefits for labor unions which makes manufacturing work, they are competing with China which pollutes at will, has no safety standards for workers, and no labor unions.
Now US corporations are shipping our research and developement to China, Singapore, anyplace where there is no EPA, OSHA, and no labor unions, so they can set up their own sweat shops to produce items with our manufacturing technology to the expense of our jobs at home.
And the worst thing that YOU can come up with about our politicians is one of them put his probe in the wrong hole????? You are way out of touch.
NeoWolfe
There will always be an xian doing something awful. Pointing out the fallibility of xian morality will only get us so far. What is the future of atheism?
What strikes me is the lack of judgement. If you are trying to get in the White House, or if are already in the White House, and you risk so much on a personal level, isn’t it fair then to ask if that person might not take foolish risks on behalf of the nation?
If he is a religious or devoted xian then, why are we so surprised? It is becoming ‘normal’ (or perhaps it was since long ago) for xians and jews and muslims to accept and live well within their own corruption.
“It shall be written, it shall be done” (a line from ‘The Ten Condiments’)
Yes, being a deist and proscribing to the belief in a parent-like God figure does not make you a more moral person. I think that’s been pointed out enough. Sure, its fun to point and laugh when some particularly nutty right-winger screws up (just thinking about Ted Haggard still leaves me in stitches) but doing it each and every time for people who never made their christian faith a real matter of public record is just going over the top. John Edwards screwed up, and he lied about it. Oh well, he’s human and a politician, he already had two strikes against him anyway. Being an Xian had nothing to do with it, unless you want to continue to preach to the choir about things we already know. We already know Xians have no greater moral authority than anyone else, I’d much rather see this blog start to go beyond that and begin to talk about constructive strategies to broaden our base. Sitting back and chucking stones at the christian establishment is fun for a while, but eventually even that gets boring and we need to start being more constructive.
Anyway, I’ll get off my soap box now.
honzipe:
I agree. Too often we are seen as negative and not much constructive. We need to improve our own image first and foremost.
While I sympathise with your stance of fairness and comaradary, I have questions about the unanimity of atheists.
I have also noticed a wish to be kind and respectful of Fundies, as if there were any hope of turning them; one need only review the past two years of comments. I suppose some lurkers have been affected in some minor way but I have to think that this blog has little influence on theists.
Personally, I have no need to convert any of them and while it is admirable that some engage xians in polite discussion, I find their posts incredibly stupid. As a consequence I slip very quickly into ridicule. They have a right to believe in whatever they want but I have a right to mock statements of profound absurdity.
Please forgive my future snark; just can’t stop myself. I prefer active venting to activist argument.
Honzipe,
I agree, it gets boring,then something different happens that makes it fun all over again.
Okay, Edwards is a selfish creep, he lied, then covered up his lie.
Now, let’s look at John McCain, who I used to really admire as a centrist. One of the things that really impressed me was, as a Republican, he came out and stated that television evangelists like Oral Roberts, Ted Haggard, and Jerry Falwell were the devisive, “voice of intolerance”. But, as soon as he decided he was going to run for president, he appeared on Falwell’s tv show dressed like the pope, trying to convince all the evangelicals that he was wrong and so sorry.
Being weak and horny and selfish is an undesirable part of the human condition, and John Edwards seems to exhibit all those traits, but, John McCain sold us all down the river before the Republican primaries even began. Where are the posts and the threads about him?
NeoWolfe
I remain optomistic as xians across the socioeconomic spectrum continue to sin and lie about it only to confess. I have no desire to convert xians here. Yes, their arguments are petty and it is they who don’t realize their ideology is falling apart. The new History channel show, “Evolve” , is just another tool cutting into the corpse of Christianity.