My Thoughts on Andrew Young

When I watched Andrew Young on ABC’s 20/20 on Friday night, I was disgusted and that is not a word I use often. What Andrew said about Edwards painted a picture of a monster. But the more I watched Andrew talk, and I watched him smirk and grin, that monster became Andrew Young. That’s not to say that I have any positive regard for what Edward did. I think it is despicable.

Andrew wants us to believe that he was a victim here. He wants to think he was forced to keep a secret and that he had no other choice. Young’s wife, Cheri, even says that she didn’t want to hurt Elizabeth in her dying days as her excuse to go forward with the lies, yet that doesn’t seem to bother her now, does it? We all know that Elizabeth hasn’t found a cure.

The Youngs’ messages are contradictory, and the reality that one sees when you truly listen to their spoken words, paint them as sick and as twisted as the person they are ratting out, but sadly, they don’t seem to think the public will see it. They hope to profit another time from this nightmare. My heart bleeds for Elizabeth and the children in all of this.

Read moreAndrew says early on in the interview, when he talked of first seeing John Edwards, that he fell in love with him. He wanted to work for him, because in his mind, Edwards was going to the top. Young recalls as he got a job with Edwards, “I truly believed that we were going to do great things, and he was my ticket to the top.”

The words resonate in my head: “He was my ticket to the top.” Who thinks that way unless they want to ride on someone else’s coattails, or they want a quick shot at a windfall? Good honest people don’t look for others to carry them. They want to work hard on their own merit.

Andrew talks about how John told Elizabeth about his affair with Rielle, “What he told her was that he had had a one night affair, but that I had started having an affair with her after that.” When Andrew says this, there is a subtle smile on his face. If he feels guilty and victimized, why does he grin when he says this? Why isn’t he mad? Why doesn’t he express any anger over these lies?

Andrew goes on and says,”She (Elizabeth) forced me out of their lives and wouldn’t let me come into the house.” If Andrew wasn’t happy and felt stuck, wasn’t this his chance to vacate this ugly scenario? Why didn’t he? Was the allure of money too great?

Side cast from their lives, reporter Bob Woodruff says that Andrew writes in his book “The knowledge (of the affair) made me the one friend he would open his heart to, and the one person besides Rielle who could hurt him the most.”

Who do you know that thinks in terms of hurting friends, unless they are someone sinister and only out for their own good?

Is this when Young hatched his plan to gather all that he could against Edwards, so he could sell a book and breaking story for big money?? This speaks volumes to me. This identifies a time line and a motive. It appears from this point forward he went along for a free ride, not to do the senator a favor as he claims, but to line his own pockets, doesn’t it?

Andrew continues, “He and Rielle told me way more than I wanted to know about everything and anything.” Andrew wants us to think he is innocent in all of this, a victim forced to do what Edwards says. Yet listen to him as he tells us he called on other people to help cover Edwards secret: “So I called her (billionaire Bunny Melon), and the senator called her, and she said absolutely. I will send any money you need for this non-campaign expense. She didn’t care what it was, as long as it was to help John Edwards.”

Clearly, Andrew is a very willing participant. If he just wanted to keep the secret, he certainly didn’t have to involve others. He was willing to do anything to get to the top.

During the show, ABC’s 20/20 also shows us video of Rielle with the Youngs. When you watch the videos, it is clear the Youngs are enjoying themselves, yet they want to tell us it was not what they wanted to do — that they felt stuck. After you watch their interactions, do you see any supporting evidence they were unhappy or miserable? Do you see any guilt or shame?

Andrew talks about the times that Edwards came to visit Rielle at his house, “It was disgusting. His wife is dying of cancer four or five miles away from our house and we felt dirty, and rightfully so, we did wrong.”

I’m sure he felt dirty. What example was he giving his children? Who wouldn’t feel guilty about that, but obviously this guilt hasn’t stopped him from making an even bigger spectacle by publishing the tell-all details in a book. This man has no shame whatsoever. His actions don’t match his words, and his words aren’t cohesive. What does that spell to you?

Andrew then says he was taken off the campaign payroll, and given another job through an Edwards’ connection. He got a 30% raise he says, but “had no real responsibilities other than the obvious that I was supposed to be the go between…the controller of Rielle.” When you have no job responsibilities and you get a 30% raise, it is clear you will do anything for money, isn’t it? This guy shows us time and time again, he has no morals.

Edwards called Andrew another time, and Andrew says, “He wanted me to make a statement claiming paternity of Rielle’s child. All I could think of (grin) was ‘oh my god’ how am I going to tell Cheri this.”

I think that statement is the truth. Notice, he wasn’t at all concerned about lying. He was more concerned about convincing his wife to let him do it! I think Cheri was upset, angry and not interested, until she saw the potential of financial rewards. Then she happily and willingly joined in. Trips to Aspen, living in a mansion, five star hotels, $23,000 for two weeks, a chef, a masseuse: What’s not to love?

Watch Andrew say with a big grin, “We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into” (part 3, time marker 8:10). Is anyone buy this? He goes on to ramble nonsense, “But I would like, in our small defense…to make the point that John Edwards was one of the most charismatic, persuasive people there were, and was a viable candidate for the leader of the free world.”

Andrew thinks we are gullible enough to believe he was persuaded into doing this–that he didn’t have a backbone. Do you know how much guts it takes to claim paternity of someone else’s child, knowing that if it comes out it will be a huge scandal? Andrew is no mousy, tail-whipped dog. If Young was honest, he’d confess he was greedy and would do anything to get his money however he had to.

Listen to Andrew’s wife, Cheri, when she says on video while they are on the lam with Rielle, “Christmas in Aspen!!!” She sounds really distraught and sad, doesn’t she? Listen to her a few minutes later when she says, “Let me zoom in on that belly!!” as she pans the camera into a close-up of Rielle Hunter’s very pregnant stomach. It sure sounds like that belly was their “cash cow”, doesn’t it? There doesn’t seem to be any tension at all. If they felt so wrong, why doesn’t it show? I think it feels wrong now only because they couldn’t sell their book any other way!

Even if Edwards didn’t become president, I suspect Andrew figured if Edwards got into the White House in another high paying and powerful position, that he could use all of this “info” he was collecting against Edwards to land a juicy job there. And when all else failed , he could always write a book. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any other options. It was his only option to get rich quick in his eyes!

Bob Woodruff says, “Why didn’t you say, ‘this is enough? This is too much, I’m out of here.'” Andrew replies, “We were going to setup a foundation, where I would be the executive director…” Woodruff says that foundation would have secured Young’s future. If Young truly wanted to start a foundation, why isn’t he using the proceeds of this book? Why isn’t he doing the right thing now and donating these proceeds?

Cheri says when watching Edwards in a taped interview, “I was completely disgusted. The lies, his facial expressions. He was lying about everything in that interview…” I believe Cheri means what she says here, yet isn’t it ironic how she can completely remove herself from the liars? What does she think she was doing in all of this? Does she discount her affect on the Elizabeth Edwards and her children?

I wish we could see more of Andrew talking about the sex tape he claims to have found. He is only seen saying, “There is one tape that was marked special.” Cheri, however, says, “It was cut and pulled down, I mean, pulled out, like we…he really…like real… taped it… back together… (head shake no) and we played it.”

Rielle claims Andrew stole the tape from her closet in a hat box, and while they are all untrustworthy to me, I tend to put more credence into Rielle’s statement than I do Cheri and Andrew’s statement. Rielle had no reason whatsoever to discard this tape as trash. It was equally as powerful in her hands to use against Edwards as it was in Andrew’s hands. It makes no sense she would throw it out and more than that, I suspect being in the video business, before she would discard something like this, she knew how to properly destroy it.

Listen to what Andrew says, “To leave it (the tape) in a house for sale, where realtors are going to be coming through it, and leave it there for 8 months, is unbelievable.”

I’d sure like to know more details here…What house did Rielle supposedly leave this as trash? I can’t find anywhere where Andrew gives us these details. Was it a rental? If it was, and she or they vacated it, how did he get back in 8 months later? Or was it his house that he claims this happened? How does he come up with the time frame of 8 months? Usually when people find trash, they don’t know how long it sat there.

I wonder if Rielle made the fateful mistake of trusting the Youngs, like she trusted Edwards, and potentially bragging she had a sex tape to the Youngs and they took advantage of that knowledge, and hence that is how the sex tape got into the hands it did. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me.

Bob Woodruff continues, “In your book, you say this (sex tape) is a bargaining chip.”

Did Andrew confessed by accident? Watch him backtrack in the interview realizing it doesn’t sound good. Andrew says, “I don’t know that we thought it was a bargain chip, we finally had something that corroborated what we said and it gave us something.” Isn’t that called smooth talking? Isn’t that the same thing?

Andrew says he told Edward at their last private meeting, “You know, Senator, after you asked me to do this, I’d seen the way you treated a number of other people, and I started saving voice mails, emails, text messages that corroborate my story.”

That’s just shy of blackmail, isn’t it? Was he waiting for Edwards to change his mind and give him another corrupt job? Why else would he put Edwards on notice? What other reason would he have to do so?

Then Andrew, as Bob Woodruff says, “Upped the anti” by revealing to Edward that he found the sex tape. Hmmm…..

The Youngs tell us they are sorry they lied. Cheri says, “I’m sorry…that we helped…a person that…we found out was not the person that we devoted ourselves too.” Does that make any sense? They knew he was a liar when they devoted themselves to him. Did she mean to say that he didn’t pay out like they had hoped he would?

Andrew says, “For myself, I am so sorry (smiling) for my part in this. I am so sorry for what I did to my family. This is going to be on my tombstone.”

While we know some of what Andrew is saying here is true, because he did corroborate things with evidence, I think this man can look you straight in the face, tell you a bald face lie and never wince, outside of an occasional grin–much like John Edwards. It’s people like this who are the most arrogant and smug who scare me the most. They are capable of causing others great harm because they lie without shame, remorse or guilt. Both Edwards and Young have left a wake of destruction behind them to attest to their selfish ways. If you think being selfish is harmless, think again.