John Edwards Case

John Edwards Case, If this were a reality show and the question for the participants to decide was whether John Edwards was the most narcissistic man on the planet, the biggest liar, the worst husband and father, a self-absorbed egomaniac who betrayed the trust of his family, his staff and his supporters and was willing to risk his party’s chance at the presidency in service of his own outsized ambition, then no question.

Throw the mud pies. Put the crown of thorns on his head.

But a felon for violating campaign finance laws?

Come again? Is there really so little federal crime in North Carolina that this is the best prosecutors can do with their time?

In case you have been happily in a hole on this one, Edwards is the former presidential and vice-presidential candidate who, while his wife was in remission from cancer, took up with a “videographer” who apparently had trouble keeping the camera focused but was hired anyway and traveled with him on the private plane and then got pregnant after he had promised his wife that the affair was over.

So with his wife dying of a recurrence of cancer, Edwards decided that the best course was to stay in the race, lie to his wife, have his aide claim paternity, and let two of his richest and most loyal supporters come up with the cash to hide the videographer and her baby, along with the putative father and his wife and kids.

Edwards’ victims — and there were plenty — were not Rachel (Bunny) Mellon and the late Fred Baron, whose funds he allegedly misused in violation of the federal laws governing campaign contributions. They knew what they were doing. They didn’t expect to get special benefits in the next Edwards administration that would allow them to make more money or pollute more or whatever. (NewsMax)