Walter Shapiro, disappointed

Nearly 40 years in journalism, and he still accepts Democrats at face value?

Five days after Edwards flat-lined on "Nightline," I am still embarrassed by how badly I misjudged him both in print and in my personal feelings. . . .
My wife (a magazine writer who developed her own friendship with Elizabeth) and I had several off-the-record dinners with the Edwardses. . . .
I naively believed that I knew Edwards as well as I understood anyone in the political center ring. Yet I never saw this sex scandal coming -- partly because I accepted the mythology that surrounded the Edwards' marriage and partly because I assumed that any hint of a wandering eye would have come out during the 2004 campaign.

Shapiro then draws this "moral to the story":

If we stopped expecting would-be presidents to be paragons of marital fidelity and shining examples of religious faith in the public sphere, we would not set ourselves up for constant disappointment at human frailty.

No, the real lesson is far more simple: Don't trust politicians . . . especially millionaire lawyer politicians.

(Cross-posted at AmSpecBlog.)