How can you tell when John Edwards is lying?
In surveying the morning news coverage of the John Edwards debacle, the only sympathetic figure I saw was my longtime friend and sometimes competitor, public relations pro Joyce Fitzpatrick. Joyce ended up being a spokesperson for Edwards.
In Friday's News & Observer: "I don't have any plans to return to public life," Edwards said through spokeswoman Joyce Fitzpatrick late Wednesday. "I just hope that I can find another way to serve."
And then, later in the same article: Edwards said through Fitzpatrick, the spokeswoman, that he had lied so long, in part, out of concern for his wife, Elizabeth, who has an incurable cancer, and their children.
Oh, brother. For those of us in the communications world, a client like Edwards is a nightmare. It brings to mind the old joke, "How can you tell when (in this case) John Edwards is lying?" Answer: "His mouth is moving."
It is hard to be a spokesperson or an advisor for anyone in a position of power or authority - even when they're telling the truth. Mainstream media and much of the blogosphere view it as their mission to reduce them from larger than life to smaller than life. As Finley Peter Dunne, the Chicago humorist, once wrote, "My business is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted."
Not only does John Edwards fall comfortably into the comforted class, so do CEOs of most U.S. corporations, university presidents and heads of nonprofit organizations.
So my dear friend Joyce Fitzpatrick surely knows that being a spokesman for John Edwards is as precarious as being a landmine sweeper. For better or worse, when you become a spokesman for someone, you put your credibility on the line, too.
You always hope that clients will be honest with you if you're their public relations adviser. After all, you can't give them your best advice if they don't level with you. But some people - apparently Edwards is one of them - become separated from the ability to even know the truth, much less tell it on an ongoing basis.
Having known Joyce for as long as I have, I know her advice to Edward was: Tell the truth. Tell it all. Don't shade it. Get it all out and keep on keeping on." If only for Joyce's sake, I hope he takes it.
Comments
Unfortunately, I seriously doubt he will learn. I think it's just part of his nature. Ironically, the same traits that probably served him well as a trial lawyer led to his downfall as a national politician.
I have to agree with David. I doubt Edwards will ever learn. And really, I doubt this has anything to do with learning anyways. This has more to do with arrogance.
Where have you all been for the past six years....on another planet???? I guess you didn't try to reach him in DC. He was unreachable....a despicable egomaniac.
Fair comments all. What's missing in all the Edwards coverage, in my humble opinion, now that there's no doubt among anyone what kind of man he is, is that many (but surely not enough) NC residents saw through him as far back as 1998. Yet Democrats eagerly propped him up to the point of VP candidate and among the final 3 for the Dem nomination in 2008. Why? Because he looked good and was from a region critical to Dem national success. Consider that for a few moments, knowing what you do now. And then understand, John Edwards did not change. He's the same individual he has been for decades.
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