Stick a fork in him. John Edwards' political life is done.  Anybody who trusts this two-faced liar again ought to have his or her head examined.  His wife may be sticking with him.  That's her choice. But he has betrayed the public trust, and his political career ought to be over.

His interview with ABC TV's Bob Woodruff Friday night on Nightline may have been an effort to salvage his reputation and a future in politics but instead it merely highlights what oftens happen to people who get bathed in the attention, adoration and power of big-time politics. 

Bill Clinton comes to mind.  (Part of the interview reminds of Clinton's "I did not have sex with that woman" soliloquy.)  Not that everyone who runs for president or achieves power in politics gets involved in a sex scandal, though others have.  Recall Eliot Spizer, Gary Hart. But it's the arrogance and perceived infallibility that have become familiar traits.

Edwards articulated what led to what he termed his "huge mistake in judgment" (an ethical lapse made even worse by his wife's ill health). He talked about achieving success and acclaim as a personal injury lawyer, winning a Senate seat, running for president, becoming a vice-presidential nominee, essentially a national figure.  All of which, he said, "led to a self focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe you can do whatever you want.  You're invincible; there will be no consequences."

Rules applying to everyone else somehow no longer applied to him.  We see this repeatedly in big-time politicians.  As he said, "I'm not the first person to do this."  Which, of course, is no excuse. To be sure, this episode should prove that there are consequences to such actions. This was, after all, a guy who always professed to take the high moral ground. 

He now finds he will have no place at the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and surely he can expect no job in a Barack Obama administration or any future Democratic one.  There can be no pony in this pile of manure.

What brought this sordid chapter in Edwards' life to the front was his recent Beverly Hills hotel room visit with the woman he had the affair with, where the National Enquirer and some papparazzi caught him trying to sneak out of the hotel, even hiding in the men's room.  The Enquirer ultimately published a photo, which Edwards denounced as being in a supermarket tabloid that makes outrageous allegations.  He couldn't account for the photo published by the Enquirer, saying,  "I was not at this meeting holding a child for my picture to be taken."

He explained that he agreed to meet with the woman, Rielle Hunter, after a friend called and said she wanted to talk about the struggle she was going through.  And, he admitted, "I wanted her to not tell the public what had happened."

Still, he claimed that is is "not true" that he fathered Hunter's baby.  That wouldn't be possible because of the "timing of events," he said. And he would be happy to take a paternity test.  He called his wife Elizabeth the morning after the meeting and she was, understandably, upset that her husband was "still having interaction" with the woman.

Edwards says he told his wife about the affair in 2006 but declined to go into details on the Nightline program and said that he previously denied the affair because he considered it "was something personal to my own family." Wrong.

But why didn't the mainstream media pursue this story? Mostly because they could find no "smoking gun." Some pursued, getting the birth certificate of Hunter's baby, which listed no father.  They even obtained evidence that Edwards' political action committee had paid Hunter $100,000 for videos, but there was no proof of the intimate relationship. And Edwards lied about the initial allegations of an affair in the Enquirer. With no proof, the MSM would just have been passing along rumors from what Edwards called "tabloid trash" that could have irreparably harmed Edwards' career.  The media will now be criticized for not pursuing the story more vigorously, leaving it to the Enquirer to hound Edwards into falling on his sword.   MSNBC tackles the question of the media's temerity in a story accompanied by a photo of Edwards with Hunter standing behind him at a Dallas book signing, which accompanies this column.

As MSNBC reports, the press eventually looked for indirect ways to get at the story. The Raleigh News & Observer and others reported this week that the rumors and Edwards' silence about them were affecting plans for him to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The story obviously wasn't going away. So Edwards tried to address his problem during a time slot that might draw the least attention -- opening night of the Summer Olympics.  How many people switched from the dazzling opening night cermonies to Nightline? Probably not many, though some may have tivoed this compelling interview.  Those who saw it couldn't have been too impressed with baby blue eyes' attempt at sincerity.

Now the legitimate press has an opening and information comes to light such as the $50,000 paid by Dallas lawyer and longtime Edwards fundraiser Fred Baron, who told the Dallas Morning News that he paid for Hunter to leave Chapel Hill, N.C., because she was being hounded by tabloids.  Edwards denied knowledge of the $50,000 that Baron gave Hunter to move to California and Baron said he did it out of his own volition.

As for Elizabeth Edwards, to her credit, she was not sitting by her husband's side during the Nightline interview -- ala Hillary and Bill in that infamous 60 Minutes interview or Spitzer's dazed wife, when he resigned as New York governor.  Edwards said she was "furious" when he confessed his transgression in 2006 but that they started to "work on it" as a couple.  She stood by his decision to continue campaigning for president after discovering that she had incurable cancer and even campaigned for him after finding out about the affair.  Edwards said she didn't appear on the Nightline interview because "she didn't do anything wrong. She should not be involved in protecting me from the consequences."

After the interview, Nightline produced a statement from Mrs. Edwards that said: "Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his actions now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him. Admitting one's mistakes is a hard thing for anyone to do and I am proud of the courage John showed by his honesty in the face of shame."

No, Elizabeth is the one who has shown courage.  His family may forgive him.  But he deceived his party and the country. He can't sweet-talk his way out of this, the end of his political career.

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