Let me first say I’m not trying to be judgmental. Secondly, I heard some of Edward’s interview and have respect for him, admitting his pride and arrogance. That is a very difficulty thing to do. Thirdly, I don’t enjoy beating a man when he’s down – I’ve been there before. But what makes him a winner of this week’s award are two things in particular.
One, his contempt for the people and country, particularly his Democratic party. Edwards hoped that his affair would never become public as he touted himself as best to lead the country. Maybe he was. But did he think that the truth wouldn’t be found out, especially since there had been so many rumors and stories? Had he been the nominee and this news came out in another two months, it would have been devastating for the Democratic party.
Secondly, his contempt for his wife. For goodness sakes, she has CANCER (it was in remission at the time of the affair) and the whole world knows. She says she has forgiven him and she has proven time and again how courageous a person she is – which makes it all the more shameful. Welcome to the hall of shame, John Edwards.
The lyrics of the song on some of the videos that his lover produced for him are indicting:
I thought by now you’d be the president
But after all that was yesterday
But you’ve had time to go out in the world now
But you chose to run away
Well, people ask you what you’re doing now
You don’t even know what to say
Click here for webisode one – Plane Truths
Click here for webisode two – Golden Rule
Click here for webisode three – Plight of Uganda
Click here for webisode three – Plugs
Two Cookies a Day 
“Let me first say I’m not trying to be judgmental.”
You must have been so in the zone that you managed to accomplish a significant feat of judgmentalism without even trying!
From my perspective, if a Christian is going to give out a weekly Shame Award, they should always win it themselves. That’s the point, isn’t it? Let Edwards work out his own shame with God. I imagine you could fill a weekly column with stuff from your life you’re not all that proud of.
I understand what you’re saying and I guess I appear more judgmental than I should have been. I was somewhat hesitant to post this award especially, as I’m not out trying to offend people or be hypocritical. So I apologize if I’ve misrepresented the name of Christ to you – that is not my intention.
There are a few purposes for the shame award. One is to call attention to public figures who essentially abuse the power with which they have been trusted. (An interesting site you might check out is http://www.stopbaptistpredators.org.) Another is to call attention to organizations that take advantage (IMO) of people. A third is calling attention to our human nature and the things we say or do that unfortunately hurt a lot of people, whether in word or deed, hoping we’d be detered from it in the future.
I admit that I’m bothered with the way we, as society, more and more tend to shrug off stuff like it’s no big deal and show no concern for the examples we set, especially for our children, not to mention the rest of the world. Believe it or not, I’ve heard several positive comments about the Shame Award and also how seeing Edwards’ public life has caused some people to take a close look at themselves. If we don’t learn from history, we’re doomed to repeat it, aren’t we?
I’m not giving the award for the affair itself but more for the abuse of his power and status. As I said in the post, I respect Edwards for admitting the things about himself that caused the whole problem – that is huge and very hard and humiliating – I’ve experienced that to a lesser extent. Pride and narcissism have been the downfall of many people. I think there is a lot for us to learn about human nature and ourselves by knowing what others have gone through the hard way.
I agree with you, there are lots of things I’ve done to win the shame award and I think people would probably get tired of seeing my name written down over and over again. I’m neither perfect nor saintly and I’m trying to share some of my experiences as I am developing this blog.
One of my first posts, about how to have a more joyful life is the result of not being joyful and directly based on some hard lessons I had to learn. IMO, it’s the continual glossing over of bad choices that, in part, has led to more mediocrity and inconsistency, individually and nationally.