John Edwards' confession: Why now?

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has admitted he is the father of the 2-year-old daughter of his onetime campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter, NBC News reported. "I am Quinn's father," he said. Edwards had insisted for months that the child was not his, even after admitting to an affair with her mother. Friends say Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, who is fighting terminal cancer, are now separated. Why has Edwards finally decided to come clean after so many denials? (Watch an NBC report about John Edwards' confession)

Maybe Edwards is finally doing what's best for the child: It's safe to assume that this late confession has something to do with the "damaging" revelations that came out in the book Game Change, says Glynnis MacNichol in Mediaite, which painted Edwards as a self-destructive egomaniac. But even if this is partly damage control, one would hope that Edwards is finally trying "to protect his family from further scrutiny" and "do what’s best for the child."

"John Edwards admits fathering Rielle Hunter's daughter"

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Edwards is only looking out for himself: "As usual, the confession is as calculated as an algebra exam," says conservative commentator Michelle Malkin in her blog. With the sting from the Game Change revelations still fresh, Edwards is bracing for a tell-all book by longtime aide Andrew Young due out next month, in which Young is expected to dispel the "ruse" that he, not Edwards, was the father of Rielle Hunter's baby. Edwards' new bombshell is merely a sleezy attempt to preempt the coming "publicity wave."

"The soap opera of John Edwards"

Whatever Edwards' motive, his family should embrace his love child: It's not news to anybody that John Edwards "is a skunk" and "a weasel," says Cynthia Tucker in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Still, the child did nothing to deserve being the object of scorn or derision." No matter how hard it is for Elizabeth Edwards, the child deserves to have her father and her siblings in her life.

"The Edwards children have a sister. They should get to know her"