NEW YORK, Aug. 22, 2007
Elizabeth Edwards: Mincing No Words
Talks About Her Cancer Returning, Campaigning For Her Husband, And About His Rivals
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Play CBS Video Video Edwards' Triumph Over Tragedy John and Elizabeth Edwards have dealt with the loss of their teenage son, presidential campaigns and now Mrs. Edwards' battle with breast cancer. Tracy Smith reports on their incredible bond.
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Video Mrs. Edwards' 'Saving Graces' Elizabeth Edwards sits down with Hannah Storm to discuss her battle with breast cancer and overcoming other tragedies without pity, covered in her book, "Saving Graces," now in paperback.
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Elizabeth Edwards on The Early Show Wednesday (CBS/The Early Show)
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John and Elizabeth Edwards speak to the media about the return of her cancer during a news conference in March in Chapel Hill, N.C. (Getty Images/Sara D. Davis)
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(Broadway Books)
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That alone has raised many eyebrows, but perhaps it's her outspokenness that's grabbed the most attention.
The paperback edition of Elizabeth Edwards' best-selling book, "Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers," has a new chapter about her renewed battle with cancer, and what it's meant to her family.
She spoke with co-anchor Hannah Storm about it on The Early Show Wednesday. She also talked about the election, her willingness to speak out, her criticism of her husband's chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and her intense verbal sparring match with right-wing political pundit Ann Coulter.
In the 30 years they've been married, noted The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith, Elizabeth and John have faced many challenges, and much heartbreak.
Their son, Wade, died in a car crash at 16-years-old, devastating the family, and leaving his sister, Cate, an only child. At 48, with the help of modern medicine, Elizabeth had Emma Claire and, two years later, Jack. They often played sidekicks in the 2004 campaign, when Edwards was John Kerry's running mate after a failed bid for the ticket's top spot.
In the last days of that campaign, Elizabeth learned she had breast cancer. The day after the election, she told the world.
By December 2006, when John announced he was making a second run for the White House, it looked as though Elizabeth was cancer-free.
But, three months later, a broken rib revealed some horrible news: Elizabeth's cancer had returned, and was incurable.
She vowed to stay active in the campaign, and has been doing so ever since, talking issues with crowds, and surprising many with her outspokenness, like when she called in to a cable TV show to confront Coulter.
Asked if that was "a little bit of Elizabeth being unplugged," John responded, "If this is Elizabeth unplugged, she's been unplugged for the 30-plus years that I've known her!"
It's that openness, Smith observes, that's helped make her book "Saving Graces" a chart-topper, and her a model of courage to many people in America.
To read an excerpt of "Saving Graces," click here.
Edwards told Storm she's "gotten a lot of support from Republicans and Democrats about the book."
Edwards said, "I have a lot of energy. I feel great. The trail is actually energizing."
She admitted her decision to keep pounding the pavement for her husband is complicated, but so is running for president complicated. "You have to decide what you're going to do. We've pretty much decided to take the kids with us on the road in the fall, and home-school them. … I didn't want to lose that time with them, whatever time I've got left, I didn't want to lose that. So, they will be on the road with us.
"And honestly, thinking about other people's healthcare problems, and healthcare policy instead of my own, is actually good for me. I don't sit around feeling sorry for myself. It gives me purpose. I'm not sort of waiting, feeling, 'Do I hurt here? Have I got this symptom?' Those things are just never, ever on my mind. Instead, the stories of other people's problems are."
Storm remarked about the "distinct lack of self-pity in your book," and Edwards observed: "Honestly, I see that as I go out, too. Honestly, people come up about health problems, very infrequently their own, usually somebody they care about. People are, I think, pretty good about putting aside their own problems, if they see somebody else who's got a bigger problem. It's a little hard to bellyache. And I see that all the time."
As for the role, in general, of wives in the campaign, Storm noted that, "There are people who, because it's a woman that is running, it might come be up to the wives to come down hard on Hillary Clinton, because their husbands can't. (Some observers feel a man can't criticize a woman in that way."
But Edwards disagreed, saying, "If you're talking about policies and things like that, that there's no problem in anyone criticizing or making the distinctions between their policies and Sen. Clinton's policies. In fact, I think it's an imperative that you do that. … I think the distinctions should be made by anybody — the candidates and surrogates for the candidates, which would include the spouse. "
Storm observed that Edwards seems more outspoken now than ever, but Edwards said, "I think it's because I'm front and center, not because I've changed, but because the coverage of me has changed. I think it's really important to be honest. I don't go out of my way to complain about anybody else, but if I'm asked a direct question, I try the best I can to answer it, particularly if it's about policies, and I think the other things that I was saying had to do with policies, with Sen. Obama's votes for funding of the Iraq war. (He's) very proud of his speech that he gave before the Iraq war vote, but he has voted for funding. And I think just need to be upfront about that. And Sen. Clinton, who was great on health care in the '90s, but doesn't have a health care policy now."
Asked about her comment that, "We can't make John (Edwards) black and we can't make him a woman," Elizabeth Edwards responded: "I do hate to use that. It's taken out of context. I was talking about the Internet and trying to break through on mainstream media, and how, when the mainstream media are enamored, and frankly, if I were a journalist, I might be, too, with this extremely interesting fight between an African-American and a woman. It's a little hard to get into the mix of that, even if you have great policies and a lot of support around the country, (it's) still hard to get into that mix. So we have turned — because we can't do anything about that dynamic, we've turned to try to communicate directly with people through the Internet and — no offense — not allowed the mainstream media to be a sieve that blocks John's message."
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I don''t know if I''m the person from North Carolina that you were asking what they thought of Edwards, but I''ll be glad to offer my opinion.
We know pretty much the same things about him as you do. He does recieve more favorable press here, and I think evryone in the state loves his wife and daughter, I know I do.
I think the greatest misconception about him is that his concern for the poor isn''t genuine. I think it is. It''s easy for people to call him an ambulance chaser, but the fact is he made his fortune by effectively representing common people who didn''t have the resources of the large corporations they were facing in court I admire him for that and I think he deserves every dime he has.
What North Carolinians have an issue with is his ambition and the fact that he only ran for the Senate as a stepping stone to the White House. I''d have to say to that though, let the first Presidential candidate without that sin cast the first stone.
If he''s nominated I''ll vote for him but I prefer Obama on the issues raised so far.
Some moms put off childrearing til late in life. Stuff comes up. But she was 48 when she had a child after Wade died. That means that her youngest is 7. If I had her diagnosis, I would B spending private time w/my kids. Even if she lived to be 85, her kids will be 34 and 36 when she dies. I''m 38, and can''t imagine parting w/my mom now. She decided to have them late. There are consequences to decisions like that, whatever side U R on. One person''s opinion.
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global_chick;
Our words and actions bespeak or character more clearly than we realize, and that fact applies to everyone including the posters you mentioned.
TDoff says: Under the heading of ''''What goes around comes around'''', the cancer in Tony Snow is removing the cancer of Tony Snow from the national scene.OMG, could there be a god?
TDoff says: A pox on all the pious putzes who protest the expressions of those who wish Snow a fond adieu.Cancer has nothing to do with it, whether it was an eighteen-wheeler driven by a doped-up dealer, a tree felled by a naked beaver, a dose of arsenic-laced ***, whichever of the ''''mysterious ways'''' caught up with this faker, he should be wished a hearty ''''Godspeed'''', and soon. To paraphrase the Boxer, ''''Lying has consequences'''', or should.
lyleblog says: Tell The Lying Sack of *** To Suck It Up and Live With It. This medically proves that when you talk out your ***, it''''s a matter of garbage out/garbage in. There are women and men receiving rectal exams from Rocket Propelled Grenades, IED''''s, suicide bombers and mines for no reason. When they come home they have to fight for treatment and rehab. I think the OutHouse could shut up already and quit trying to score political points.
Pelagius says: @zkemeny: Yeah, he looks pretty bad there. Almost like someone without a colon.
Posted by at 07:00 PM : Aug 22, 2007
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global_chick;
I will consider you in the "can''t see category.
Other readers will make their own judgments.
Posted by GretaGreen at 06:17 PM : Aug 22, 2007
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GretaGreen;
It really has nothing to do with what Mrs. Edwards said.
Attack dogs like global chick, Xlib, xzavierbrown, infidel_us, mudrose, et al, couldn%u2019t care less about facts or truth. Their intent is to smear and degrade any candidate not of their party.
It was called %u201Cswift-boating%u201D during the 2004 election cycle and they have never stopped.
It is a shame they can%u2019t see, or simply don%u2019t care, that their insults and name calling shows the level of their own characters.
Every reader of these comments, whether or not said readers post comments of their own, can clearly see the type of person they are, and judge their comments accordingly.
Let''s base our vote on fear or hair cuts.
But, frankly, if that''s the only bad thing we can say about him, he''s doing great.
To the poster from NC (if you see this), I''d like to know what you think of Edwards for president. You probably know more about him than the rest of us.
Do we want to let someone like that near the bilions involved in the federal budget?
I know I don''t.
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