Maybe justice really is blind. Despite one poll rating his favorability at 3 percent, a jury Thursday set two-time presidential candidate and scandal magnet John Edwards free.
Edwards was tried on six charges related to the accusation that he used campaign funds — more specifically, obscene piles of cash handed over by wealthy donors — to conceal a secret love affair.
The jury acquitted Edwards on one charge and deadlocked on five others.
The titillating details of Edwards’ affair, aired over a six-week period, generated much public interest. Unfortunately, the fact that he fathered a baby out of wedlock stirred more outrage than the $200,000 check written to Edwards by a wealthy heiress. In politics, sex is always more interesting than fundraising.
Edwards’ reaction to the verdict, as relayed by The New York Times, is reprinted below. — PZS
New York Times:
For just a moment, the man whose most intimate sexual details, lies and bare political ambition had been aired for nearly six weeks in a federal trial, looked as if he might cry.
Yes, he said as he left the courtroom, he had sinned.
“I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong,” he said. “I am responsible. I don’t have to go any further than the mirror. It’s me and me alone.”