A dishy new book proposal by a former aide says former Senator John Edwards wasn’t merely cheating on his long-suffering wife Elizabeth Edwards. According to Andrew Young, the senator promised Rielle Hunter he’d marry her after Elizabeth died from cancer in a rooftop ceremony in NYC with the Dave Matthews Band playing.

Urgent memo to Senator Edwards: Making romantic plans for after your wife’s death = tacky! [New York Times]

Maybe I should start reading the National Enquirer more often. They may have been right about John Edwards being the father of Rielle Hunter’s baby. Last August, Edwards confessed that he’d had an affair with Hunter, his campaign videographer, and went on to divulge way too much information on ABC’s “Nightline” about their trysts. But he’s always held fast that he couldn’t be the father of Hunter’s now 18-month-old baby because they were done before the baby was conceived. North Carolina news station WRAL says inside sources have told them that Edwards is close to stepping up to the plate and admitting he’s the baby’s father. Poor Elizabeth Edwards. I’m not sure which is worse—having a husband who cheated and denies having a love child or having a husband who has a love child. [Gawker]

Despite the fact that, like, dozens of politicians have been busted cheating on their wives since, John Edwards is still in the news for his affair with Rielle Hunter. According to the book proposal from former Edwards aide Andrew Young, a sex tape featuring Edwards humping Hunter exists. Young would know—he’s the man who famously took the fall for Edwards when he asserted that Hunter’s child was his not the Senator’s. But in the book proposal he admits that was a lie and that the child is Edwards’. He also says that Hunter told him that she and the Senator discussed getting married once Elizabeth Edwards passed away from cancer and that he actually found and has seen the sex tape the two made. Um, can I?

Elizabeth Edwards is promoting her new book, Resilience, last week on “Oprah” and then on “The Today Show.” By talking openly about her life, she’s opened herself up to criticism. Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown and New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd have attacked Edwards’ decision to write about her husband’s affair with Rielle Hunter when everyone was beginning to forget about it. Is Edwards beating a dead horse? Or is this her chance to speak her mind?

On The Daily Beast, Brown writes:

The hazard of confessional books is how fast the world moves on while they’re written. Hearing about that doggy old “misdemeanor”—as she insists on calling her husband’s infidelity with a campaign videographer while he was running for president and she was fighting terminal cancer—just drags us back into the messy aftermath of the election season at a time when we are now busy trying to get on with a collapsing economy and save our own lives.

Much has been written in the media this week about men cheating on their wives. We have the tale of two Jo(h)ns: John Edwards, whose scorned wife, Elizabeth Edwards, appeared on “Oprah” yesterday to promote her new book, Resilence, in which she addresses her husband’s much publicized affair, and Jon Gosselin, costar of the hit TLC reality show “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” whose rumored affair has become tabloid fodder. The former is a tale as old as journalism itself: a man in power cheats on a wife who, from the outside, seemed a supporting and loving spouse undeserving of her husband’s unfaithfulness. The latter is another familiar tale: a man under an enormous amount of pressure is regularly and publicly emasculated and treated like dirt by his wife and seemingly seeks solace with another woman. In both cases, the men are vilified—but is it possible that maybe, just maybe, at least one of the women had it coming?

Oprah’s interview with Elizabeth Edwards has aired, and Elizabeth came across as poised and loving, especially considering all she has dealt with and is still going through. On the show, Elizabeth told Oprah she found out about John’s affair a few days after he announced his intent to run for the presidency. When he first told her, he said it had happened once. Then, a year and a half later, he told her the rest of the story. The two are still working to redevelop their trust.

Among the other topics Elizabeth and Oprah discussed were her fight against cancer, how women need to respect other, and how John and she are working on their marriage. When Oprah asked whether she’s still in love with John, Elizabeth said, “... I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t in love with him.” After the jump, another clip from the show.

In her new memoir, Resilience, out on May 12, Elizabeth Edwards describes how she found out that husband John Edwards had an affair with Rielle Hunter and why she decided to forgive him. Elizabeth, who is terminally ill with cancer, refers to Hunter as a pathetic “parasite groupie who invaded the Edwardses life,” according to the New York Daily News. Hunter initially hit on Edwards by telling him, “You are so hot,” outside of a hotel. When Edwards finally confessed to his indiscretion—after being busted by the National Enquirer—he continued lying, telling Elizabeth that he had only cheated once, when, in fact, he had had a long affair with Hunter. So, why did Elizabeth forgive him? She writes:

“I lie in bed, circles under my eyes, my sparse hair sticking in too many directions, and he looks at me as if I am the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. It matters.”

Back in August, John Edwards confessed that he’d cheated on his wife. Since then, we’ve heard barely a peep from him or his wife. Elizabeth Edwards finally spoke out about his affair in an exclusive interview with the Detroit Free Press. Though she had known about the affair for a long time before it became public, Elizabeth said that since his admission, she’s been focusing on her children and health care reform. “There’s a lot of adjustment to make,” she said. “When you mention trust, that’s probably the most difficult hurdle.” But she isn’t saying much more than that. When asked whether she’d forgiven her husband, she replied, “I don’t want to feed the monster, if you don’t mind.” She pointed out that if her leg had been amputated—rather than, say, her husband having an affair—people wouldn’t ask her: “Are you over that leg thing yet?” More importantly, she’s battling stage IV breast cancer, which has spread to her bones, although she isn’t wallowing. Instead, she’s testifying before Congress on health care reform and listening to Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem.” You go, girl. [Detroit Free Press]