For all its revelations about Sarah Palin, when “Game Change” first came out, perhaps the biggest bubble it burst was that of Elizabeth Edwards' reputation as an angelic, courageous heroine.
In the book, Edwards’s behavior outdid even her husband’s infatuation with video maker Rielle Hunter, a relationship that was the ultimate downfall of his campaign. Heilemann and Halperin write that John Edwards’s aides “regarded [Elizabeth Edwards] as a badgering, often irrational presence on the campaign,” writes The New York Times.
“The nearly universal assessment among them,” Halperin and Heilemann write of the Edwards’s aides, “was that there was no one on the national stage for whom the disparity between public image and private reality was vaster or more disturbing. What the world saw in Elizabeth: a valiant, determined, heroic everywoman. What the Edwards insiders saw: an abusive, intrusive, paranoid, condescending crazywoman.”
[Considering the audacity of the book’s assertions, we should point out that Halperin and Heilemann rely heavily on unnamed sources, deep background, and in some cases, speculation.]
