What did Elizabeth Edwards know and when did she know it?

Well, it looks like we're going to be hearing plenty more in the near future from E2 -- Elizabeth Edwards. We've had her on "Oprah." On Monday comes the "Today Show." and Tuesday she drops in on good ol' Larry King. (FYI, one condition of these TV interviews seems to be that no one says the mistress' name.)

Mrs. Edwards might have hoped that media attention would focus on the new book's title and theme -- "Resilience" -- or how to successfully handle difficult personal times.

Dream on.

Of course, most attention has skipped the prose of the terminally ill mother to focus on one of her other difficult times -- her husband's oft-lied-about-and-now-admitted affair with someone we'll call Rielle Hunter. She was an Edwards campaign videographer who reportedly lured the wannabe president of the United States off the path of marital fidelity by telling him he was "hot."

When he confessed to the affair on TV last summer, the Democratic former senator, former Democratic VP nominee and former Democratic POTUS candidate noted, for some reason, that at the time of the affair, first exposed by the National Enquirer, his wife's cancer was in remission.

E2 has said her husband confessed to the affair shortly after announcing his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination. And that this caused her to cry, scream and vomit.

Today, ABC's George Stephanopoulos blogs that he interviewed the couple shortly after Edwards' announcement and noticed no tension between the husband and wife. He asked her on the video if she had a say in his campaign decision.

"I probably could have vetoed it," Mrs. Edwards replied, "but I didn't. Part of it was my health, which is good now, and the other is whether or not we would support him and, of course, I have to say he was beside me every step of the way during my fight against cancer."

Stephanopoulos then notes she looks healthy.

"Thanks, I appreciate that. And that's what a marriage is about. I'm with him in the fights that he has to undertake.... The way I've always described it is that I'm a window, I mean, in a sense, another surrogate, somebody who believes in him and believes in what he's saying and if I can reach out and talk to people."

The unanswered question tonight: Did she know in this video and was just being a super actress sitting by her man's side? Or was her husband sitting there by her side just about to sandbag her with the disturbing news? Either way, she kept the secret and kept on campaigning for him until he dropped out.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[Cleo2u]

If she stays with him, she deserves whatever she gets.

She was in on duping every person in the US while he was campaigning and wouldn't have said a word if by some chance he'd won the election. She was wanting to take the lie as far as she could....and now that he's been found out, feed him to the wolves.

Can't say as I blame her for doing that! BUT I don't feel sorry for her either.

[Victoria]

Bad move by Elizabeth, calling Rielle Hunter "pathetic" and branding her a groupie and a stalker. It's odd how she puts all the blame on her and very little on her husband. John Edwards had far more power than Hunter and way more to lose. He was careless and reckless and playing with fire.

Watch for Ms. Hunter to get a DNA test now. John Edwards should have prevented Elizabeth from trashing her in the book. Too late now. It's war between Hunter and the Edwards.

[Pom Pom Girl]

She knew, all women know. The fact that she did and almost foisted here scuzzy husband on us as President or VP, let alone that she could have screwed over Obamas chances had he selected him and had it blow up is unconscionable. Shame on her.

[Alison]

I find it interesting that Elizabeth Edwards went blonde here, right about when she found out about Rielle Hunter.

[TruthTracker]

Edwards said he told Elizabeth before he announced his campaign, after which she was roundly condemned for letting him proceed. Now she says she found out after he announced. So which liar is lying? Either way, it doesn't exonerate her from jeopardizing the Democratics presidential campaign efforts and the country's future. She could have demanded he drop out. She could have exposed, or threaten to expose, the truth. Or she could have simply sat it all out, refused to be an active partner in his national deceptions. (After all it's not like she didn't have anything better to do, like spend as much time as possible with her soon-to-be-motherless kids.) But no, she's just as narcissistic and complicit as her husband. No wonder they've stayed together: they were made for each other.

[kpc]

On the question of whether she knew during the Stephanopolis interview, it is very possible that JRE had not yet told her. In the excerpt of the book in Time, she says he told her on December 30th, when he returned to NC after his announcement tour.

The Stephanopolis interview was broadcast on December 31. There is reason to think that it was recorded on the morning of December 30th though, because the first question was on Saddam Hussein being executed "hours before". I looked to see when Saddam was executed and it would have still been very late in the evening of December 29 in the US. That wording makes more sense if it were December 30, the day she said she learned of the affair.

The Stephanopolis interview had a more jarring exchange - Stephanopolis spoke of the Hunter produced webcasts and played a segment of one with Edwards commenting about not wanting to be seen as a "Ken doll" and JRE and EE laughing as they saw it.

[Richard Anderson]

What did EE know? Does anyone ever stop to think, it's really none of our business, unless she and John Edwards choose to talk about it.

Chronic illness in a marriage creates problems for both partners. Think about that.