Is Elizabeth Edwards Sabotaging Her Husband's Campaign?

When Elizabeth Edwards' cancer returned I had the same reaction as most of you. I wished her well, and figured John Edwards would be dropping out of the presidential campaign. That was the buzz question the day we heard the news of Elizabeth's illness until we were told otherwise. Like many of you ... I was stunned to hear that John Edwards would continue his push for the presidency. This may just be the newlywed in me, but if my wife had cancer there would be no way in hell I would run for president. Even if I were the front runner for the presidency, something John Edwards is not, I couldn't stand to leave my wife's side while she was dealing with such circumstances.

The Edwards campaign has been a sinking ship filled with scandal, and stupid statements since its outset. He never really had a chance against Obama or Hillary in the first place, and he has kept digging himself into hole after hole. So why would he then choose to chase his dream, and leave his wife's side? Not only will he be preoccupied with campaigning to give, what most would consider, proper spousal attention, but if he were to win he would be able to give even less attention to his wife than before.

This is not the course of action I would have chosen, but to each his own. Given the field of candidates, the circumstances, and John Edwards' young age ... I can't understand his decision even if his wife did tell him to continue his campaign for the White House. CNN reported that Elizabeth would not let John abandon his race. At least, that's according to a friend of the Edwards family. John Edwards himself said:

"From our perspective, there was no reason to stop. I don't think we seriously thought about it."

Again ... as a husband I couldn't feel good about myself having not, at least, seriously considered ending my campaign to enjoy my wife, and I assume my wife would have been hurt by such a statement.

I did have a call into my show one night in which the caller suggested that maybe this was a win, win situation for Elizabeth Edwards. On one hand her husband loses, and they can spend more quality time together. On the other hand Elizabeth may die as the first lady, and will surely be remembered for all time. A little grim, I know, but an interesting point. Maybe Elizabeth Edwards didn't want her husband to end his quest for the White House because she wants it just as bad. We'll never really know what discussion the Edwards family has had in the back room, and I'm certain the idea of quiting at least came up. The question is ... who won? Was the press conference just a show to demonstrate that Elizabeth is strong, and will support her man even if she wanted him to quit?

There is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that maybe Elizabeth Edwards really did want her husband to end his campaign, but he refused. Mrs. Edwards has always conducted herself with great class, and hasn't had a serious controversy or blunder that I can think of ... until now. Usually blunders happen the first time around running for the presidency ... not the second. When I say blunder ... I mean stupid actions that have no purpose but to destroy your campaign. I'm not talking about misspeaking during a live interview. We're talking really stupid behavior not staged by campaign advisers. That's where Mrs. Edwards' actions fit right now ... stupid.

Think about this for just a minute before you get mad at me for fabricating a story to hurt the Edwards campaign (as if Mr. Edwards isn't doing enough himself). A woman who has always conducted herself with great class all of a sudden starts attacking people verbally, and personally, after she announces her cancer has returned, and her husband says that he didn't even think about quiting? Sounds like a recipe for a scorned wife if I ever saw one, and I have.

Remember the neighbor of the Edwards family who put up the Rudy Giuliani sign? At best this was a politically active neighbor who might have wanted to take a jab at Edwards. At worst this was a neighbor trying to bait Edwards into a fight to embarrass him publicly. Surely the Edwards campaign met with the family to address how to handle the neighbor's sign, and I'm betting that publicly assaulting said neighbor was not in the playbook. I assume the Edwards family was told to ignore the sign, and if asked, express their support for their neighbor's political activism. For two months ... it worked.

Two months went by with no problems between the Edwards family and their neighbor. Almost two months after the sign surfaced ... Elizabeth's cancer returned. Then a couple of weeks after that Elizabeth lost control, and said this:

Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the "rabid, rabid Republican" who owns property across the street from her Orange County home -- and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor.

Whoa! That's a pretty drastic change from the Elizabeth Edwards we've all known the past few years. Kerry's wife would be expected to make a statement like that, but not Elizabeth Edwards. Name calling of such a personal nature usually loses you a campaign, and maybe that was Mrs. Edwards' goal. Not only is it not positive politically, but it doesn't paint the Edwards family as very good neighbors. Surely as neighbors the Edwards family could at least be cordial to the Republican across the street.

"I wouldn't be nice to him, anyway," Edwards said in an interview. "I don't want my kids anywhere near some guy who, when he doesn't like somebody, the first thing he does is pull a gun out. It scares the business out of me."

Well, maybe not. Mrs. Edwards wasn't quite done yet, however. She said her neighbor:

Refuses to clean up his "slummy" property just to spite her family.

Just to put this all in perspective ... we have Elizabeth Edwards calling her neighbor rabid (2x), slummy, and she said she wouldn't be nice to him. Did I forget to mention that she has never met Monty Johnson, the neighbor. Those are some pretty vicious things to say about someone you've never met before. The Edwards family has been disrespecting Mr. Johnson's property rights since before they even bought their land.

The day they looked at their property, the couple and several Secret Service agents parked on his land and walked across the street into the woods.

Johnson approached the agents and asked what they were doing on his property. "The Secret Service let me know it wasn't my concern," he said.

Given the start to their relationship, or lack there of, I would assume that it would be Mr. Johnson who wouldn't be nice to the Edwards family ... not the other way around.

So is Elizabeth Edwards a woman scorned? Is she trying to derail her husband's campaign? I don't know, but it would make sense to me, and I wouldn't blame her one bit. Mrs. Edwards' unusual, mean-spirited behavior can not be attributed to her cancer, and I'm not going to go there ... I'm not HuffPo. If you sit back and think about it you might just find yourself pondering the possibility that she is trying to bring the Edwards campaign down. Let's face it, John Edwards has little chance of winning the Democrat nomination, and he's young so he will have a chance to run in the future. If, and I stress if, Mrs. Edwards wanted her husband to end his campaign, but he said no ... this would be a perfect way for her to sabotage him without calling attention to marital problems.

There is also one little bit of information that is very important in this story. Mr. Johnson has demanded an apology, but Mrs. Edwards hasn't issued one at the time this was written. If someone is really concerned about the public's perception of them for a campaign ... they always apologize. Yet none from either Mr. or Mrs. Edwards to date ... very suspicious indeed.