John Edwards violated the first rule of mug shots.
Don’t smile. Don’t make any effort to look like something that was not just scraped from the bottom of life’s shoe.
You are not supposed to look good in a mug shot.
Anyone who thinks that you are supposed to smile in a mug shot is missing the whole point of the exercise. Mug shots showcase us at our lowest points, stripped of all the trappings that made us look like kings. They reveal what we in fact are: Flawed, Possibly Drunk Human Beings in Bad Lighting.
...If you achieve fame and glory, the standard arc of the celebrity narrative demands that at some point you will pose for a mug shot. It shows your understanding that in the grand scheme of things we are as flies to wanton boys: routinely killed, humiliated and caught selling meth in White Castle parking lots for the public’s sport.
Learn how to do it right: eyes forward, steely expression, dead eyes.
I don't know why Edwards smiled. Maybe it was a reflex.
Most people don't smile when it's time to pose for a mug shot.
In spite of the toothy smile, Edwards doesn't look happy. He has the "dead eyes" of a person at his lowest. I think the smile makes him look incredibly sleazy. Maybe that's my reaction because I know the truth behind the smile.
Tom DeLay also smiled for his mug shot.
It's goofy looking, but not creepy like the Edwards shot.
TIME: Your smiling mug shot—what made you think of that and what do you think the consequence of that has been?
DeLay: Oh, I don't know. I said a little prayer. First of all, you only get one take. It's a very humiliating thing, to be booked. And I said a little prayer before I actually did the fingerprint thing, and the picture. And my prayer was basically: "Let people see Christ through me. And let me smile." Now, when they took the shot, from my side, I thought it was fakiest smile I'd ever given. But through the camera, it was glowing. I mean, it had the right impact. Poor old left couldn't use it at all. They had all kind of things planned, they'd spent a lot of money. It made me feel kind of good that all those plans went down the toilet.
I've never had a mug shot taken.
If I ever found myself in that position, I can't imagine smiling.
John Edwards, the former Democratic senator from North Carolina, was indicted Friday morning by a grand jury in Raleigh on charges that he conspired to cover up an extramarital affair while running for president in 2008 by “secretly obtaining,” misusing and misreporting certain campaign contributions in violation of federal law.
According to the indictment, Mr. Edwards, 57, knew that word of the affair and the child that it produced would destroy his campaign because, it said, “a centerpiece of Edwards’s candidacy was his public image as a devoted family man.”
Mr. Edwards plans to plead not guilty to the charges at his arraignment at 2:30 Friday in federal court in Winston-Salem, N.C., before Magistrate Judge Patrick Auld.
...The indictment says Mr. Edwards and his co-conspirators solicited $725,000 from Rachel Mellon, the now-century-old heiress to the Mellon banking fortune, and $200,000 from Fred Baron, Mr. Edwards’s campaign finance chairman. Both amounts, it says, were well in excess of the limit of $2,300 that an individual can give. According to the indictment, the money went to hide Rielle Hunter, Mr. Edwards’s mistress and the mother of his child, from the news media and to pay for her medical expenses, travel and accommodations. The grand jury, which has been investigating the case for two years, indicted Mr. Edwards on six counts — one involving conspiracy, four involving illegal payments, and one involving false statements. If he is found guilty, Mr. Edwards faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. “Mr. Edwards is alleged to have accepted more than $900,000 in an effort to conceal from the public facts that he believed would harm his candidacy,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said in a statement. “As this indictment shows, we will not permit candidates for high office to abuse their special ability to access the coffers of their political supporters to circumvent our election laws.”
I suppose DEMOCRAT Anthony Weiner is hoping that the DEMOCRAT John Edwards scandal wipes his scandal off the front page.
I think the country is capable of managing two scandals at once.
Although I disagree with John Edwards when it comes to politics, I defended him when the news first broke back in 2007, that he had cheated on his wife, Elizabeth.
I thought the National Enquirer's story was concocted tabloid trash. I didn't think Edwards would betray his wife.
I gave him way too much credit.
Now, after years of public denials and lies about his affair and his baby with Rielle Hunter, Edwards faces prosecution for criminal wrongdoing.
The United States Department of Justice in Washington has given the go ahead for John Edwards to be prosecuted in connection with a campaign finance investigation.
A source familiar with the case tells the I-Team Edwards now knows that federal prosecutors intend to indict him.
As we have been reporting, the former Senator has been the focus of a federal grand jury investigation in Raleigh for the past two-and-a-half years.
From Chopper11 HD Tuesday evening the Edwards mansion in Orange County appeared to be quiet.
The I-team has learned Edwards is deciding how to proceed now that the Justice Department has given the green light for him to face criminal charges.
...Edwards will have the option of entering a guilty plea and will be able to avoid a costly criminal trial with an uncertain outcome.
