John Edwards thinks you're an idiot

When the National Enquirer broke the story of John Edwards' and Rielle Hunter's midnight rendezvous at the Beverly Hilton, his fans on the left started performing mental gymnastics in a vain attempt to salvage the Silky Pony's dubious standing as a future Democratic standard-bearer. This weekend, Edwards sent out the following message to those fans and defenders: "You are all a bunch of idiots."

On Friday, Edwards copped to the relationship with Hunter, but insisted he wasn't the father of Hunter's baby, Frances Quinn. He also insisted he was unaware of the fact that his close friend and political ally Fred Baron has been providing huge financial support to Hunter. For his part, Baron insists that the money and multi-million-dollar housing he is lavishing on Hunter and Edwards aide Andrew Young are simply his modest way of helping out a couple of friends and "former colleagues" in need. This from the same loyal and generous guy who recently sued his own son to collect on an $800,000 loan used to fund a start-up company the kid was involved in.

It seems highly unlikely Fred Baron has any genuine relationship to either Hunter or Young other than his role as their benefactor. If anyone should be ladling out tens of thousands of dollars to help give those cute kids, Rielle and Andrew, a start in life, it would be Edwards himself, who was much closer to them than Baron was and nearly as wealthy. But of course, that would look bad.

For those inclined to accept the veracity of Edwards' explanations on Friday, Saturday must have been a tough day. For it was then that his purported willingness to take a paternity test was hammered successively from two opposing sides. First, Rielle's younger sister, seemingly speaking on behalf of sane and intelligent people everywhere, demanded that the DNA testing proceed forthwith and predicted it would not turn out the way Edwards would have us all believe. Then, on Saturday evening, it was revealed through an attorney for Rielle that she would not be agreeing to the paternity test, her sister's opinion on the matter notwithstanding. Rielle supposedly ruled out DNA testing out of concern for her privacy. Of course, that's tantamount to an admission that Edwards is the father. If the testing indicated that Edwards was not the father, the story would presumably die and Rielle could immediately go back to being a nobody.

It would be inappropriate to speculate as to whether Ms. Hunter is being paid off in exchange for letting Edwards maintain his claim of non-paternity. It would be inappropriate to speculate because we already know she is being paid off, to the tune of $15,000 a month. The idea that Fred Baron would continue supporting her in this fashion even if she were to blow the cover off Edwards' "I-can't-be-the-father" shtick is simply absurd.

All of this would be funny if it weren't so downright disturbing. The fact is, there's a level of personal corruption here almost too staggering to put into words. It obviously goes well beyond Edwards' mere carrying on of an extramarital relationship. He has used his wealth and connections, and played on the good will of his credulous supporters, to orchestrate a campaign of deception involving not only himself and Ms. Hunter, but also Mrs. Edwards, Andrew Young, and the entire Young family. In order to try to salvage some small part of his meager public reputation, he has pulled who knows how many others down to the gutter with him. And, perhaps worst of all, he has done this in order to be able to say to his own flesh and blood in years to come, "I am not your father." What kind of man does this?

I was never an admirer of John Edwards. Prior to this, however, I merely saw him as a phony and a lightweight. Now, he seems positively evil to me. I hope his supporters come to see him brought down -- all the way down -- so they can realize what fools he made of them.