The Last Words

Today, I have been watching the funeral service for Elizabeth Edwards.

I don't really have much to add to what I've already written this week, just some observations.

• I can empathize with Edwards' children and their loss. I, too, lost my mother, as regular readers of this blog know, and I think it is a pain that never goes away.
  
  But neither do the lessons that your mother teaches you. They will stay with her children for the rest of their lives, just as the lessons my mother taught me remain with me today.
  
  And for that, they will be grateful. Perhaps not today, because there is still much pain, much heartache today, but someday. Someday ...


• Regular readers of this blog also don't need to be reminded that, initially, I was a supporter of John Edwards' presidential bid in 2008.
  
  I publicly apologized for that in January.
  
  In recent days, though, I have been reminded of something that Spencer Tracy (as Henry Drummond) said of Florence Eldridge (as Sarah Brady) in the 1960 movie "Inherit the Wind," when Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady found themselves on opposing sides.
  
  Drummond, of course, was based on Clarence Darrow. Brady, who was played by Fredric March, was based on William Jennings Bryan, a three–time presidential nominee.
  
  In hindsight, the Drummond character told Mrs. Brady, he didn't think Brady would have made a good president.
  
  "But I would have voted for him for king," he said, "just to have you for queen."

I don't know if that particular exchange really took place. So much of the dialogue in "Inherit the Wind" was invented, anyway. The play was merely based on the story of the Scopes trial, not a faithful telling of the events.

But I guess that exchange sums up how I feel about Elizabeth Edwards. In hindsight, I don't think her husband would have been a good president.

But I'm sorry we couldn't have Elizabeth Edwards as our queen.

It Is Neither the Time Nor the Place

I really don't think the Westboro Baptist Church needs any more notoriety.

Based in Kansas, the church — the congregation of which appears to be largely members of the founder's family — has earned a reputation over the years as a hate group, taking part in pickets against gays, Jews and other groups.

The reputation is well deserved. By the group's own count, it has sponsored more than 30,000 protests in more than 500 cities and towns located in every state.

The group has been particularly active in protesting the funerals of gays, gaining national attention in the late 1990s when it picketed at the funeral of a gay man who was beaten to death in Wyoming. The church spends approximately $250,000 a year on picketing.

As I say, its activities have earned the Westboro Baptist Church a reputation as a hate group.

And I really think you have to be hateful to plan to picket the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards in Raleigh, N.C., this Saturday.

As we all know, Mrs. Edwards was estranged from her husband. But it was not because either one came out of the closet. In short, she wasn't gay.

However, she was an advocate of gay marriage, and I presume it is because of that that the protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church will bring their traveling road show to North Carolina this weekend.

I think you've got to be pretty hateful to attempt to disrupt a woman's funeral because of her political views.

Especially when that woman left behind two young children who she (apparently) tried to prepare for her death but must, nevertheless, be emotionally wounded by her death.

Children do seem to grow up faster these days than they did when I was a child, but I think it is probably safe to say that a 12–year–old girl and a 10–year–old boy know comparatively little about homosexuality.

This particular girl and boy do know that their mother is gone — and the last thing they need to deal with on a day when they will be mourning her loss is the anger and hysteria of homophobes.

This funeral is neither the time nor the place for this protest. In the name of all that is decent and humane, I hope the Westboro Baptist Church will reconsider.

Obviously, this is a fight the members of this church believe they must fight. They have already done so repeatedly.

Fight it somewhere else. There is nothing to be gained from fighting it in North Carolina — except enmity.

Elizabeth Edwards

In 2004, I voted for the Kerry–Edwards ticket.

And, knowing what I now know, I would still vote for Kerry over Bush — in spite of John Edwards' presence on the ticket.

But I don't want to think about John Edwards today. I think I made my feelings about him pretty clear in this post nearly a year ago.

At that time, I acknowledged that I had been one of Edwards' supporters in 2008. If I had the chance to make that choice again, I would choose someone else. I don't know if I would have supported Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the primaries, but I wouldn't have supported John Edwards.

And I feel that, if he had the opportunity to make that decision all over again, John Kerry would choose someone else to be his running mate.

On the surface, of course, North Carolinian Edwards failed to deliver any Southern states for the Democratic ticket. If he had, he might be vice president today.

And, as we have all learned in recent years, Edwards simply lacked the moral fiber that Americans expect from their leaders.

I have heard of presidential tickets in which voters complained that the nominees should have been reversed, that the nominee for vice president should have been the nominee for president and vice versa.

In hindsight, that doesn't really seem to be the problem with the Kerry–Edwards ticket.

The problem may have been that the wrong Edwards was nominated for vice president. His spouse possessed all the qualities — with the exception of a political resume — presidents want from their vice presidents.

But we will never know if she might have been up to the job.

Edwards' wife, Elizabeth Edwards, died of cancer today at the age of 61. She first learned she had breast cancer on Election Day 2004.

For awhile, it seemed Edwards had beaten the cancer. But then I heard it had returned and had spread to her bones.

Then, yesterday, we were told that she had halted her cancer treatments. Medical science had done all it could, we were told, and her prognosis appeared grim.

But her death did not appear imminent.

I always admired how she dealt with the ordeals she had to live through — which included her husband's infidelity, the loss of her oldest child, her cancer diagnosis.

And the only thing I have left to say, besides "Rest in peace," is to remind you of something you've probably heard before.

It isn't too early to start screening for breast cancer, especially if there is a history of breast cancer in your family. Early detection can save your life.