*or wants to…
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Dear Friend and Reader:
DUTY REQUIRES me to comment on the occasion of today’s stunning news that John Edwards had sex. Those Democrats; they just can’t help themselves. Or is it always a bigger deal when a donkey does the deed?
Now, you’re probably saying, this wasn’t about Edwards having sex. It was about him lying. That’s fine, as long as we remember that there’s a rule in American politics that you have to lie about sex.
Then you have to get caught. If you’re a Democrat such as Bill Clinton, of whom this naturally reminds us, it has to be a heterosexual affair, and you have to get impeached, quit office or drop out of the campaign. If you’re a Republican, you can only get in trouble for having gay sex in a public place or with a child, and you get to keep your job to prove that you’ve redeemed yourself. Then everyone forgets because nobody wants to think about a distinguished senator looking for love in an airport men’s room stall.
Let’s look at John Edwards’ natal chart. Astrodatabank rates this as C status, which means the time is iffy (like so many ’08 candidates before him), but we know where his planets are: most of them are in Gemini, Cancer and Libra. Cancer is the soft, cozy exterior this man presents – the perfect dad, the ultimate hubby. He has just enough woman in him not to track up the kitchen floor, and to spend whole Saturdays traipsing around town with his kids. He’s the kind of guy who takes care of America.
But the fact of the matter is Gemini. He has the Sun, Moon, Mars and Jupiter in this sign, most of them lingering in the 12th house. He is well-spoken. He is multifaceted. He is slightly delusional. He is a little kinky (Geminis get the whole twinning thing, one reason why they make hot lovers). A former Edwards’ staffer sent me the silk scarves he allegedly used to tie his illicit partner, purported femme fatale and filmmaker Rielle Hunter, to the bedposts. After experimenting with them for several days, we are now attempting to match the perfume found in the scarves with Rielle’s at the Planet Waves Sciences Center in Raleigh.
Geminis like diversity. So does everyone else, but what good is astrology if we can’t blame things on it?
Even though this chart’s birth time is dodgy, this revelation fits well with a 12th house stellium. The 12th is where we keep all our most delicate secrets, particularly if they involve sex, such as illicit affairs on the campaign trail or wanting to have sex with the entire church choir, the choir director and his wife.
Now if you really want to blame something, look at his Saturn/Neptune conjunction (has difficulty assessing reality, and it often seems to be made of a sand-castle-like substance) square Uranus in the ascendant. This is clearly a person who feels he can make up the rules as he goes along. Of course, that’s how he got to be a presidential candidate in the first place. What good is a national leader if he’s not a warlock?
He has Chiron in the mix (square Neptune and and Saturn), in the 7th house (relationships). This makes him more charming to the ladies than a bleeding tourist is to a shark. It also means his relationships could have that quality of one disaster after the next, which would be true as long as you don’t notice how much he’s learning, or the level of authenticity he strives to bring to the people he’s involved with, or how deeply they touch him. Apparently he was truthful with his wife Elizabeth, and she would have preferred to keep the matter private.
That may be part of the problem. A writer for the Telegraph (UK) today reported that there may have been hush money involved – that is, a bribe to keep Hunter quiet. Here is his report on that.
It would have been very bad for America had he (for example) had got nominated president or been chosen as running mate. Had he been the candidate right now, it would have strengthened or guaranteed the possibility of a McCain presidency. It shows some off-key judgment that he didn’t think of that; that he didn’t allow his love for his country to trump his need to be its president.
But the deeper issue is the requirement in American politics to hide and/or obfuscate anything having to do with sex. Deeper still is that some people think you have to be sexually pure to lead the nation into war. We have come a long way since Caligula.
The issue is honesty, but lies are part of the political process. Why do we turn a blind eye to all the other lies, then gawk at an affair? Why, because we like it!
Yours & truly,
hi Carecare. Me? My post didn’t address Cheney and Bush either way. I would and do apply the exact same standards to their lies and deceit, absolutely.
Blueberrymoon, you said:
“It is not what he did, it is that he capitalized — hugely, nearly all the way to the White House — on an image he had created of himself that was the exact opposite of who he turns out to be. He presented himself as the family man of all family men, in love for 30 years, the supportive, adoring and faithful rock of a family that has been through so much.
It is the massive deceit, and that he was using it for very high level gains for himself, that has left people disgusted. Especially, it seems, the men who put their careers and beliefs on the line for him.”
::::shaking head::::
This always makes me laugh. Your statement can just as easily be said of Bush and Cheney, they gave us lies and hypocrisy to get into the White house. The only difference was that their lies led to hundreds of thousands of deaths. Who died as a result of Edwards’ affair and lies about it? The problem with your thinking is that you villify Edwards without seeing that Bush and others like him did far worse.
Oh but I forgot, in America, it is OK to lie and cause countless murders and torture, but it is never ok to lie about SEX. That little word, SEX is the biggest Baddie there is in the American psyche. We need to grow up in this country and stop thinking our leaders are our parents…no kid ever likes to think of their parents having sex yanno. Well our leaders DO have SEX, lots of SEX and in very different ways, often with MANY different people and often better than we get. BIG DEAL.
By your statements, you are expecting deceit in US politics and, lo and behold, that’s what you are getting. You must “present yourself?” Lots of people just “are,” and rise to power for who they “are.”
What if your assumption were that to be in politics, people had to be utterly honest? Like Obama is trying to be? Then perhaps we would see many more gay politicians and perhaps more honesty. If you expect integrity, just maybe you will get it. Raise your expectations. Raise your standards. If everyone did, things would change. In fact, it is the only way things will change.
would anyone buy Heinz ketchup were it not red? in the us of a you have to present yourself as normal normal normal or you can’t get into the political game. of course he capitalized on that, to a point – the benefits never arrived. and since nearly every couple goes through an affair, I think we need to view that as just more normal. we don’t take well to people admitting they are different, that their sexuality is different, but David Patterson (NY gov) did just fine coming out with an affair before the newspapers got hold of it. however, he’s not a national figure, he’s a New Yorker. and sorry to say that what plays in NY does not play in Peoria. and yes I do agree that this is a matter of collective shadow. entirely so. that is a very old story, but anyone queer knows that until recently (circa 1970-1980 and some places even to the current day), you would be considered a child molester in the united states if you were gay.
Not everyone is a hypocrite. We, ideally, will choose our leaders from among those who are not.
hmm. what is in the chart of America that its people has this issue with its leaders?? Here in Australia (which btw Eric, is not OZ – that would be an American invented place, involving munchkins, witches and a phoney baloney wizard) we tend not to give a rats arse what our ‘pollies’ do behind closed doors as long as they aren’t spending too much of the hardworking tax payer’s money.
Some kind of collective shadow thing going on, wouldn’t you say?
It is not what he did, it is that he capitalized — hugely, nearly all the way to the White House — on an image he had created of himself that was the exact opposite of who he turns out to be. He presented himself as the family man of all family men, in love for 30 years, the supportive, adoring and faithful rock of a family that has been through so much.
It is the massive deceit, and that he was using it for very high level gains for himself, that has left people disgusted. Especially, it seems, the men who put their careers and beliefs on the line for him.
Eric, Do you think that the recent total solar eclipse in Leo which fell in John Edwards’ 1st house (at least based the chart we have available to us) would have anything to do with him going public finally (or being forced to go public due to mounting, indisputable evidence) with this matter after months of speculation,denials & under the radar reporting? Thanks.