Edwards denies being aware of wife's support of same-sex marriage

John Edwards appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno last night with wife Elizabeth and, according to the Associated Press, said that he did not know she supports same-sex marriage. Indeed, the presidential candidate said, he was surprised to learn of her position when he read news reports of her remarks just before San Francisco’s pride parade on Sunday.

Really? The Edwards campaign deployed Elizabeth Edwards, arguably as much a star now as John himself, to one of the premier gay events of the year, and the two did not discuss, let alone strategize about, what she would say there?

Just after kicking off his campaign, John Edwards discussed same-sex marriage in a joint appearance with his wife on December 31 on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Edwards acknowledged that marriage equality is “the single hardest” issue for him because of his small-town upbringing and that he backs civil unions as a path to providing rights to gay couples.

When Stephanopoulos asked Elizabeth Edwards whether she favors same-sex marriage, she responded, “Well, it's not particularly important whether I am, but I guess I come from a more eclectic background and so it’s less problematic, I think, probably for me.”

This Week then ran a clip of John Edwards stumping in New Hampshire: “My daughter who is 24 and goes to school in Cambridge—her generation and all of her friends believe this issue will completely disappear with their generation.”

Elizabeth Edwards, with John seated next to her, reflected on the views of her daughter: “And I have to say she’s talked to children on both sides of the aisle who are her age—the children of our senators and politicians on both sides of the aisle—and people who are her age, regardless of the political affiliation of their parents, all believe exactly the same thing. This issue will not exist when they are the people who are sitting in these seats.”

Does this sound like a family that doesn’t discuss the issue of gay rights and, more specifically, same-sex marriage?

This is not the first issue on which Edwards’s sincerity could be legitimately called into question. His “Two Americas” campaign is beginning to reveal two Edwards: one who seems genuinely impassioned about the plight of poor Americans yet builds a multimillion-dollar mansion and gets famously expensive haircuts. He’s the candidate who won awards ranging from $6 to $60 million as a trial lawyer filing cases against doctors and hospitals. Yet he is concerned about the vast number of Americans who lack health care insurance because they can’t afford sky-high rates and was the first Democratic presidential candidate to offer a detailed plan for universal health care.

As one prominent blogger recently noted at an Edwards event, he’s the one candidate who seems to have lost control of his public image. This is ironic, since Edwards has also made a point of doing away with all those fancy consultants who he believes stifled the candidacy of John Kerry by turning him into Mr. Bland (not that he was Mr. Charisma to begin with).

Later in the This Week interview, Edwards said of his wife, “She is my most trusted adviser and always has been, always will be, and I care what she says about things. We disagree, you know.”

Stephanopoulos challenged Edwards to name “one issue” on which they disagreed.

“Not on camera, I’m not going there,” responded Edwards. “But we know what they are and she is a strong-willed woman.” Apparently, John Edwards did not know same-sex marriage was an issue they differed on even though, thankfully, Elizabeth Edwards is not shy about speaking her mind. (Kerry Eleveld, The Advocate)