Speaking of Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign's recently admitted extramarital affair, another John is back.
Democrat John Edwards of the my-wife's-cancer-was-in-remission-when-I-did-it televised confession has ended his public silence. He says he's not interested in the kind of reputation rehab that other philandering pols try over time. (Think Democratic ex-President Bill Whosit and ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.)
Which no doubt is why Edwards suddenly granted an interview to the Washington Post's Alec MacGillis. With, however, just a couple of caveats:
No questions about his mistress Rielle Hunter.
No questions about her baby and whether he is the father.
No questions about terminally ill wife Elizabeth Edwards' recent memoir that prompted so much public attention and sent the ex-senator off to Central America to do good things out of sight.
And no questions about the federal investigation into whether his presidential campaign illegally spent political funds on Hunter.
Other than that, fire away.
Edwards claims that there are only two reasons for him to be on the planet now: "to take care of the people I love and to take care of people who cannot take care of themselves." Edwards says he spends time in their mansion with his wife and two younger children and will return to El Salvador next month to volunteer.
He says he takes pride in having pushed Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama to talk more about poverty issues during the campaign, and he declined to call his presidential bid a mistake despite its high-wire counting on the volatile sexual affair not coming out. Unlike many observers, Edwards does not rule out a return to politics, if only as a policy advocate a la Al Gore, without the melting glacier slides.
And he dismisses cynicism about his failed campaign. "It was real, 100% real," Edwards says. "I want them to be proud of what I stood for, and of what the campaign stood for. The stands were honest and sincere and idealistic. They were what America needed then and needs now."
Arizonans, get your guns ready
Good news for drunk gunmen.
The Arizona state Senate has passed onto the House a bill that would allow people with concealed-weapons permits to carry their firearms into bars and restaurants serving alcohol, unless the establishment posts a sign forbidding it -- but even then the legislation reduces the penalty for ignoring the sign if you're caught, which is unlikely if the gun is truly concealed.
