After roughly two weeks of virtually ignoring the National Enquirer’s breaking news of former presidential candidate John Edwards leaving a hotel after reportedly meeting with former employee Rielle Hunter– whom the magazine had previously claimed was having an affair with Edwards–the media outlets are now covering the story of the now admitted-to affair from practically every angle you can think of. One of the more interesting ones is featured in a current Newsweek article in which reporter Jonathan Darman, who had interviewed Hunter back in 2006 when the affair was still hush-hush, paints an unflattering portrait of Hunter as a new Age flirt who openly discussed her past lives and John Edwards’s special energy, while also dissing his cancer-stricken wife’s aura.

Though Daman had several conversations with Hunter because she was chatting him up to write a story on Edwards, little of his conversations with her made it into the original article he wrote on Edwards. But now that her relationship with Edwards is in the spotlight, Daman is revealing the worst of the private comments she made to him.
Among Daman’s claims, Hunter– who referred to herself as an actress and spiritual adviser– told him Elizabeth Edwards had “bad energy,” that John Edwards had the energy to be a “transformational leader” like Ghandi. She also told Daman at a later meeting that she was working with someone on a television show concept where women help men leave their marriages by having affairs with the men. Such sensational comments are made all the more sensational by the fact that Edwards has said that it was just an affair–not a love connection– and has denied being the father of Hunter’s child.
I have no doubt that there are far more secrets and lies about Hunter and Edwards that will come to light in the coming weeks. However, I will say that I appreciated Edward’s analysis of the reasons behind the affair in a statement he made last Friday–far more than Hunter’s eccentric spiritual musings. Edwards’s said in his statement that “In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic.”
That bit of his truthful–and I am sure painful–confession may be the first step to restoring a now failed political career and an obviously broken family.