Edwards' book tells more than anyone needs to know, and why?

I wish they'd just go away.

John and Elizabeth

Edwards, America's most gothic couple.

The former senator should for swear all public appearances and promise weary Americans that they'll never again have to gaze upon his blow-dried countenance.

And his wife? Well, she ought to try to recover her dignity.

Look, we all have - or had - tremendous sympathy for Elizabeth Edwards. It must be terrible to have inoperable cancer when you have very young children. And it's salt-in-the-wound time if that's when you discover your spouse is a philanderer.

But, hey, she married him. Last I heard, they were still co-habiting the same 28,000-square-foot house. That's fine. Couples handle infidelity differently.

Problem is, Elizabeth Edwards is publicly slamming the Other Woman.

Look, there's a word for women who sleep with married men. We can't print it in the paper.

Still, Edwards should stop.

Am I being unfair to a cancer victim? No. She doesn't get a pass just because she's ill.

Let's remember something. Two years ago in North Carolina, Elizabeth Edwards gave an Academy Award-worthy performance. Her cancer had returned and yet her ambition-crazed husband insisted he still wanted to be the leader of the Free World. Looking radiant and smiling broadly, Elizabeth - who already knew about the affair - stood by his side, supporting his decision to stay in the race.

In other words, she tried to foist this bum on the rest of us.

Let's all pause and give thanks that his White House bid was spectacularly unsuccessful. The last thing we need is a president who's vulnerable to blackmail.

I was fooled by the Edwards' act on that sunny day in 2007. I wrote a column comparing their apparent devotion to that of my parents, who stayed together for 51 years, through sickness and health.

Sorry, Mom and Dad.

Like others in my profession, I set aside my natural skepticism when it came to the senator and his wife. Perhaps we all wanted to believe that there were honorable, decent people in politics.

So why write about these phonies now? Elizabeth Edwards has penned a memoir and hit the talk-show circuit, trying to sell her story to gullible Americans.

Sorry. Not buying the book - or her story.

There isn't one other thing I want to know about her unfortunate excuse for a mate. Frankly, I'm suspicious of her version of the truth, especially after stumbling upon excerpts from the book and a television interview.

In them, Edwards claimed the Other Woman seduced her husband by saying, "You are so hot." (Yep, apparently that's all it took to get the candidate in the sack while his wife was suffering from cancer. Who knew?)

I am very sorry Elizabeth Edwards is so ill. Sorrier still that she decided to join the army of egomaniacs churning out tell-too-much memoirs.

There was a time when most people retreated from public life after a scandal. They wanted to spare their children additional pain, and they recoiled from the idea of marketing bad behavior.

That was called dignity. It's in short supply now.

Kerry Dougherty, (757) 446-2306,

kerry.dougherty@cox.net