Until today, I had never heard of Sam Myers Sr. Apparently he worked on the John Edwards for President Campaign and was very close to John Edwards during the campaign. So does Sam Myers know all about the Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter? I am sure he does, but he will never tell if he wants anyone to hire him in the future.
I am taking the position at this time that all of the misdeeds of John Edwards are morally wrong, but that he did not break any laws, campaign or otherwise. While having his tryst with Ms. Hunter he apparently left behind enough of his DNA to produce an offspring, it is just another potential heir to the vast Edwards' fortune. This may or may not be his undoing in future political pursuits. Bill Clinton had an issue with DNA and he went on to serve out two terms in the Oval Office, where he had that DNA issue.
For now let us focus on Sam Myers and his job. Maybe some of my readers can sympathize with his situation. Have you ever had a job in which you handled confidential information? I have and the fact that I did not always agree with decisions, or actions of those for whom I worked, I did have the obligation to keep confidential information in confidence.
It is fair to restate here that I am taking a position that John Edwards is a scumbag in the eyes of many, but he did not do anything for which he can be prosecuted. So, as his campaign strategist, what should Sam Myers have done with any information about Rielle Hunter and the illegitimate offspring of his employer?
The answer is very simple. He had the obligation to keep that information to himself, and apparently he did. Now Mr. Myers has moved onto bigger and better things in signing on with the Joe Biden for Vice President Campaign. Joe Biden should feel good about having Sam Myers on his team. The man is proven to be loyal to his boss and keeps things in confidence.
Sam, please do not burst my bubble and claim that you knew nothing of the Edwards' affair. I am one who would prefer to believe you are not so naïve as to be glued to the hip with Edwards during his campaign and not know what was going on with respect to Hunter. I would like to believe that you were totally aware of what was going on around you and continued to focus on your job, getting your candidate elected. Granted, you failed to get him elected, but not because you kept the Hunter secret. Electing Edwards was a losing proposition from the start, but you gave it your best effort.
If you were aware of the John Edwards extracurricular activities and were aware that the Senator apparently forgot to use birth control, you had to know that you were fighting an uphill battle with respect to seeing your man through to the big house on Pennsylvania Avenue. Nevertheless, you did fight for him and you did keep the confidence.
Since the news of the Edwards's affair came to light after he dropped out of the 2008 Presidential race, Mr. Myers and other staffers did not get the opportunity to lie to the public about the affair. That saves the integrity of Myers and others as far as I am concerned, with respect to that item. They may have known, but did not lie to the public on behalf of their candidate. If you lie for your candidate client and do not get him elected, that lie is very hard to overcome in the future. For some reason, lies that are told about a candidate client who is elected are just called aggressive campaign strategies.
As a nation we are results oriented. If you got your man elected the political world sees you as a hero and are congratulated for the aggressive campaign strategies someone else used in the past and was called a liar for using… go figure. Campaign surrogates who lie in a losing effort are the very first to be thrown under the bus and their candidate is usually the bus driver.
My advice to Sam Myers; work hard for Joe Biden, keep his confidence as you did for John Edwards, never lie for him and never support his lie because you cannot know for sure that he is going to win. Beyond that, you have a job to do; go out there and be the hard nosed campaign manager you know you have to be. Fight for the win!
