John Edwardsibilia:
August 18, 2008
Edwards to editor on Hunter story last year: Did I mention my wife has cancer?
AllahPundit's wrath is a sight to behold. AP relates a story from John Edwards' hometown newspaper, The Raleigh News & Observer.
"Via Byron York, who calls it “breathtaking” when it’s really just par for the course."
By the time Edwards called, we had decided not to publish the story in the Friday paper. But Edwards didn’t know that. I wanted to hear what he had to say. We still could have reversed our decision. Edwards told me that the allegations were not true. He said The N&O was the paper that arrived on his doorstep every day, the one read by friends of him and his wife, Elizabeth. He said he’d never called before to complain or state his case. Given Elizabeth’s health — she has cancer — he said it was especially important to him that the story not run in The N&O. He was calling from an airport, and we spoke only a few minutes. I made no promises. Edwards’ comments were off the record. Because he has acknowledged he lied, I feel free to report them. |
Allah hits a couple nails on the head with the same hammer in the following paragraph.
Anything wrong with a guilty husband doing what little he can to protect his sick wife after the fact? Nope — except that, as we now know by Edwards’s own admission, Elizabeth Edwards had already learned about the affair by that point. He claims he told her in 2006; HuffPo’s timeline says it was April 2007 at the latest, fully six months before the Enquirer story broke. Which makes what he told the N&O a lie, and a bad lie at that. Was he seriously suggesting that she wouldn’t have found out about the story if their hometown paper hadn’t mentioned it when it was already screaming from every checkout counter in America?
Questions are being asked--and unlike December 2007, a horde of MSM reporters are not only on the story: they're upset that they swallowed John Edwards et.al.'s lies "hook, line and stinker", as LBG pointed out.
Deceiver has its daily dose of John Edwardsibilia, including these interesting finds:
- First things first: According to no less an authority than Pigeon O’Brien, Rielle is pronounced “Ree-elle.” Not “Riley” or “Real” or “Cosmic Babymaker McGee” or anything else. So that’s one unanswered question down, a zillion to go…
- When you’re campaigning for president and you think your hometown newspaper is about to run with a story about your infidelity — and, inevitably, the intricate and expensive coverup of that infidelity — you know what’s a good weapon to have in your arsenal? Your wife’s cancer.
- McSweeney’s presents: Edwards! The Musical.
Also, Deceiver has the answer to all those who write that "Nobody in the general public actually cares about John Edwards or his unsavory behavior. Edwards became ancient history the first five minutes after this thing broke."
From CNN RELIABLE SOURCES: John, Elizabeth Edwards Speak Out on Tawdry Affair; Hillary Clinton's Paper Trail
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: So, are journalists going to keep chasing this story even though Edwards is out of politics, perhaps forever?
Joining us now in New York, Lola Ogunnaike, entertainment correspondent for CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING"; Mark Feldstein, former CNN investigative correspondent who now teaches journalism at The George Washington University"; and Lois Romano, "Washington Post" reporter who has been covering this story.
Lois, John Edwards gave a heartfelt performance on "Nightline," said he was lying before but he's telling the truth now.
Do most journalists believe he's telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
LOIS ROMANO, "THE WASHINGTON POST": No. Most journalists do not. And basically, we're seeing kind of death by a thousand cuts now.
Or maybe even Death by 1000 Papercuts?
[hat tip: Dossier]
Dossier adds in another comment to the same story [John Edwards Cover-up: Press Releases a Carefully-Orchestrated Affair? ]
Could the biggest story of the whole John Edwards Lovechild story be the exposé that Trial Lawyers have covertly purchased control of the Democratic Party?
Barack Obama may be extremely vulnerable on the issue of Tort Reform in this election.
Is there a top secret ATLA agenda? Have the tinfoil hat guys been right all along?
As a Democrat, I am outraged that I have been sold this bill of goods under the false assumption that factors other than the highest bidder were planning my society!!!
That would be too bad: trial lawyers reined in?
No more 24/7 commercials on daytime television with the not-so-subliminal meme that everyone in America has been wronged and needs to consult the talking head ambulance chaser sponsoring the come-on?
That's not the America I knew...
by Mondoreb
Lawyers on Lawyers, Closing Statement, MSM Cooties, Birds of a Feather and Clear-Eyed Liberals
John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, Fred Baron: Items of interest, gleaned over the weekend concerning the John Edwards scandal, not to be addressed in any of the stories DBKP has in the works for the next 36 hours.
The Closer
Doug Ross sums up John Edwards' Closing Statement to the public. Doug sprinkles serious comments and questions couched in droll commentary. A sample:
And I certainly had no idea that my friend and patron Fred Baron had relocated Ms. Hunter from North Carolina to California. And paid for Andrew Young to move too.
Or that he paid her $14 grand for her video footage after the campaign had already paid her $100,000 for the same videotapes.
[Background information: Access over 90 DBKP stories from December on the John Edwards scandal: DBKP John Edwards Love Child Scandal Library.]
Questions from lawyers (Overlawyered) to lawyers (John Edwards & Fred Baron)
Overlawyered's Walter Olsen does the useful service of Coordinating the Edwards Story.
Overlawyered's been asking questions that the MSM should have been asking of lawyers--not associated with the Edwards' campaign--for the last nine months and longer. One such article: Fred Baron’s version of the Rielle Hunter payments
. In it, Ted Frank asks two reasonable questions:
* When did Andrew Young stop working for Edwards, and why?
* How did Young and Hunter afford those nice homes in North Carolina to begin with?
There's ever so much more: just go to Overlawyered and search under "John Edwards" and "Fred Baron". That will be enough to keep readers occupied for awhile.
And while we're on the subject, here's a question for Overlawyered; it comes from DBKP reader, liamd:
Lawyers for Hunter and Young both claimed Young was the father. If it turns out …. surely it will…that Edwards is the dad, any consequence for the lying lawyers? Or can they just lie as long as they are not under oath? Anyone know?
Interesting question, liamd.
Enquirer Gave the MSM "Cooties"
Now that it's okay for the MSM to discuss the John Edwards scandal, Kelly Corbiella, of CBS News, asks, "How Did A Supermarket Paper Beat Other News Media To The Biggest Political Scandal Of The Day?"
"...Cobiella asked, if this is such scoop, and this was first out several [ED NOTE: nine] months ago, why didn't others pick up on it?"
Kurt Anderson, a media analyst and contributing editor at New York Magazine, said, "That is the sixty-four thousand million dollar question, isn't it?
"The National Enquirer gives the story cooties for all the Times and Boston Globes, the Washington Posts of the world. That is partly because thirty years, forty, fifty years ago, the National Enquirer was very different than today. It is this low-brow celebrity scandal-mongering thing."
Corbiella also quotes David Perel, of the Enquirer, on Elizabeth Edwards' involvement:
"Stop, stop. I don't want to go there. I do not like it," Perel said to a reporter's suggestion about the Elizabeth Edwards angle. "She's been hurt, she's lashed out."
"So there is such a thing as 'untouchable'?" Cobiella asked.
"Just some places you don't go," Perel told her. "And there's some places I don't want to go. And in this case we really have tried to stay away from that aspect of the story.
"I want to hit the news element of the story. I want to hit the fact that a man running for president had an affair and then lied about it to the American public and, you know, darn near blew up his own political party while doing it."
Of course, the Enquirer's been busy enough with tracking mistress, Rielle Hunter's movements, money trails and every other aspect of the scandal--months ahead of everyone else in Big Media.
My Little
Big Media source, Pigeon O'Brien, emails Deceiver with a complaint and an offer of a conditional pastry treat.
Included in the above post: What does RoseAnne Barr thinks about John Edwards--and oh, by the way, Bush? Let's just say she set up a whole round of a******s and F***s on the house for everyone.
Sally Kalson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, starts to ask some uncomfortable questions and make a few equally-uncomfortable observations, What were the Edwards thinking? John Edwards was courting public suicide -- and his wife helped him.
People's marriages are their own business. If Mr. Edwards in 2006 had an extramarital affair, or worse, with a younger woman who made videos for his campaign and if his wife forgave him, that's for their family to deal with. But what in blazes was the man doing running for president with this time bomb in his hip pocket? And what was Elizabeth Edwards thinking when she encouraged him, made speeches for him, touted the strength of their marriage in the face of adversity as an indicator of his fitness for office, knowing that he'd cheated on her?
It may seem mean-spirited to pose that question about a wronged woman fighting cancer, especially one who was so brave and determined on the campaign trail. But as a fellow survivor, I claim a little leeway.
The disease may give you a pass in some areas. Chemo-brain is a legitimate excuse for forgetting things and making mistakes. Thoughts of your own mortality may cloud your judgment and crowd out other concerns. They also might make you desperate to achieve a long-held dream while there's still time.
This last point may explain how Mrs. Edwards could have gone out on the campaign trail on her husband's behalf, knowing what she knew, exhorting voters to believe in him as she believed in him. But even in separating his infidelity from his fitness for office -- and she's certainly not the first wife to have done that, as Hillary Clinton can attest -- she must have known they were playing with fire.
We wondered about a few those questions at DBKP, especially LBG's John and Elizabeth Edwards: New Info Casts Doubt on Couple’s Claim Affair Ended in 2006 and John Edwards Affair: When Private Lives Become Public Lies
, as well as Friday's John Edwards Scandal Photo: John and Elizabeth Edwards with Rielle Hunter Dec 30, 2006 - Exclusive DBKP Photo!.
Kalson wraps up her excellent story with:
Early in the primary, when the couple announced that Mrs. Edwards' cancer had returned, some in the media pressed hard on how they could forge ahead with such an all-consuming undertaking. Turns out it was the right question, but based on the wrong premise.
This isn't the first time the media missed an essential part of the story, and it won't be the last time a politician self-destructs this way. More's the pity on both counts.
Exponentially exact.
Words from a Clear-Eyed Liberal Mouth
Self-confessed "gossipophile", "Proud Bleeding Heart Liberal" and DBKP reader, PJ McIlvaine, sums up the John Edwards Scandal in one headline. [Sex, Lies, Money, Videotape and Pampers] The MSM's complete non-coverage--prior to Edwards' signing Big Media's permission slip on August 8--is dealt with in her post:
Sad to say, it SHOULD BE a journalist's wet dream...because it appears that, yet again, the MSM is letting bloggers like Deceiver and Death By A Thousand Paper Cuts do the leg work. Even more appalling is when MSM writes about it, and then fails to properly attribute their sources. Come on guys, you know better than that. You're not some rinky dink operation like Newsday (which, by the way, except for one headline story, has pretty much stayed away from the JE mess like Christie Brinkley from her snake of an ex). I like Christie, I'm glad she stood up to that jerk, but that's another blog.
And the Progressive defense about "we have other issues, and besides he denied it and we swallowed it"? McIlvaine minces few words:
And some of these progressive sites I go to, well, after a burst of righteous indignation, they seem to have fallen back to their sloppy ways of blaming everyone but JE and EE. He lied, he's still lying, everyone is lying...but let's not talk about it because, you know...we bought those lies. And since JE isn't going to be at the convention, hey, it's over with. Not important. Move along. We have to keep our eye on the prize.
Uh-uh. I'm not buying that shit.
Sounds like PJ might be liberal, but nobody's gonna tell her to get in (the party) line and shut up.
by Mondoreb
images:
* ABC via DBKP
* Doug Ross
* Wikipedia
Updated John Edwards Scandal Library includes additional stories added since the original stories from December 2007 through May 2008 were posted to DBKP@Blogger John Edwards Scandal Library.
UPDATED: August 16, 2008
August 16, 2008
* John Edwards Affair: When Private Lives Become Public Lies
August 15, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal Photo: John and Elizabeth Edwards with Rielle Hunter Dec 30, 2006 - Exclusive DBKP Photo!
* John Edwards Scandal: Silly Edwards’ News Before Things Turn Serious
* John Edwards Scandal: Enquirer, Blogosphere Vs. Mainstream Media
August 14, 2008
* John Edwards Affair: The Strange Behavior of Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young
* John Edwards Scandal: Bob McGovern the Enquirer’s “Inside Man”?
* John Edwards Scandal: Rielle Hunter, Edwards Photos from December 2006
August 13, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: Who is ALJDJDD, Mystery Editor of Rielle Hunter’s Wikipedia Page?
* John Edwards Scandal: Copying Continues As Rielle Hunter Web Info Keeps Vanishing
* December Ross, DBKP Edwards’ Story Confirmed by MSM
* John Edwards Scandal: Who in the Edwards’ Campaign Ran the Cover Up? UPDATED
* John Edwards Scandal: Enquirer Pounds More Nails in Edwards’ Coffin
August 12, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: Lost Nightline Video Footage?
* John Edwards Scandal: NY Times’ Info Theft Noted
August 11, 2008
* John Edwards Affair: Fred Baron - The Ties that Bind
* Mainstream Media Uses Blogosphere as Unpaid Research Wing in Edwards Scandal - UPDATED
August 10, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal, Left Blogs: No Edwards, None of the Time
* Edwards Affair: Edwards Claims Enquirer Love Child Photo a Fake
* John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Continues Deception in Interview
* John Edwards Scandal: The Many Faces of Contrition
August 9, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: Sister Asks Edwards to Stop Bad-mouthing Rielle Hunter - UPDATED
* John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Statement, Interview Admits Little
* John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Defends Affair with Supermarket Tabloid Credibility Card
August 8, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Releases Statement to Press
* John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Admits Affair, Lies, to ABC News
* John Edwards Scandal: WSJ Ties Media Woes to Scandal Non-Coverage
* John Edwards Scandal: LA Times Lifts Embargo on Edwards Scandal News
August 7 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: Is Fred Baron the Enquirer ‘Hush Money Man’?
* John Edwards Scandal: The Myth of the Edwards’ Denials
* John Edwards Scandal: Enquirer Alleges Reille Hunter Resided with Youngs in CA
* John Edwards Scandal: Money Man is Wealthy Dem Fundraiser
* John Edwards Scandal: Dems Worry, Call on Edwards To Come Forward
* John Edwards Scandal: Where in the World is John Edwards?
August 6 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: Enquirer Photos Give MSM a BIG Smoking Gun
* John Edwards Scandal: Enquirer Print Trumps Digital- JOHN Edwards Photos
* John Edwards Scandal: Enquirer Releases Photos of Edwards and Love Child
August 5 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: Whatever Happened to Andrew Young? - UPDATES
* John Edwards Scandal: Media Coverage Mixed; MSM Waits on Enquirer
August 4 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: June 2007 a Month of Coincidence for John Edwards
* John Edwards Scandal: DailyKOS Bans Stranahan for Writing About Edwards
August 3, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: March Mystery of Edwards’ Non-Endorsement Revisited
August 2, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: DailyKOS Readers Now Know; Others Remain In the Dark
August 1, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: “Scandal Brewing” First TV Mention in NC
* John Edwards Scandal: KC Writer Cites “Veiled Threats”, Denials as Likely
* John Edwards Scandal: Did Hillary Use Scandal to Force Edwards Out of the Race?
July 31, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: Birth Certificates, NBA Players and the Waking of the MSM
* John Edwards Scandal: Bob McGovern, International Man of Mystery
* John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Bolts from Reporters Once Again
July 30, 2008
* John Edwards Scandal: Enquirer Editor, David Perel “We Drew the Media a Road Map”
* John Edwards Scandal: Love Child’s Name, Sex Revealed; Hush Money Paid
* John Edwards Love Child: Wikipedia Editor Defends Go-Slow Policies On Edwards Entry
July 29, 2008
* John Edwards Love Child Scandal: Debate at Wikipedia Rages
July 28, 2008
* John Edwards-Rielle Hunter Love Child Scandal: The Video
* John Edwards, Rielle Hunter Love Child: U.K. Papers Help Break Media Blockade
July 27, 2008
* MSM Stealing Blog Content: Times Online Joining Growing MSM Trend?
July 25, 2008
* John Edwards-Rielle Hunter Love Child: Fox New Confirms Natl. Enquirer Story with UPDATES 1, 2 and 3
* John Edwards-Rielle Hunter Love Child: Fifteen Quotes to Watch a Coming Media Circus By
* John Edwards Love Child: Natl. Enquirer Reporters File Criminal Charges
* John Edwards, Bill Clinton, Gary Hart: Video Denial Trifecta
* John Edwards-Rielle Hunter Affair: Love Child Scandal Jokes
* John Edwards-Rielle Hunter Love Child: LA Times Censors Reporters on Story
July 24, 2008
* Edwards Love Child: Worst Denial Video Ever
July 23, 2008
* John Edwards, Rielle Hunter Love Child: Houston Reporter Asks Edwards - Video
* John Edwards Affair: Interview with David Perel, Editor-in-Chief of the National Enquirer
* John Edwards, Obama VP Chances: From the Short List to the Sh*t List
* John Edwards-Rielle Hunter Love Child: Story about to Enter MSM? UPDATES #1 & 2
* John Edwards, Rielle Hunter Love Child: What if they Gave a Scandal and Nobody Came?
July 22, 2008
* John Edwards and Love Child Mom Rielle Hunter Rendezvous in LA
* John Edwards Love Child, Rielle Hunter: Edwards Runs Into Men’s Room Fleeing Enquirer
* John Edwards, Rielle Hunter Love Child: Edwards Caught but MSM Just Now Catching Up
* John Edwards Love Child Scandal: Edward Caught with Mistress and Love Child
by Mondoreb
Source: John Edwards Love Child Scandal Library
DBKP
[Pictured Above: ELIZABETH EDWARDS, JOHN EDWARDS with RIELLE HUNTER (in background, holding video camera above head). Taken December 30, 2006 at "Edwards Hometown Rally, Chapel Hill, NC.--Click image to enlarge.]
The story John Edwards presented one week ago, August 8, on ABC's Nightline has been falling apart.
It's completely demolished with this photo just obtained by DBKP. It also raises new questions about how much Elizabeth Edwards knew about the affair and when.
From John Edwards' August 8 statement:
In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99 percent honest is no longer enough.
I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then.
The above statement was released to the press hours before John Edwards appeared on Nightline to "confess" his involvement in an affair with Rielle Hunter.
Edwards disappeared from public view after a July 30 speech in Washington, D.C., where he had to evade reporters seeking to question him about the his confrontation with reporters from the National Enquirer.
Edwards had been caught on July 22 by The National Enquirer's reporters attempting to leave the Beverly Hilton after meeting with Rielle Hunter and their daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter.
He would be secluded for ten days--until the August 8 statement and Nightline appearance.
One assumes that his wife, Elizabeth--according to many reports "a smart attorney"--had seen John Edwards' statement before he released it to the press.
Edwards said that "With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006". The above photo was taken on December 30, 2006. In attendance at the event were also Edwards' three children, who took the stage with Elizabeth Edwards at one point, as well as John Edwards' parents, Wallace and Bobbie Edwards.
As Patricia, the reader who sent DBKP the above photo--as well as other photos--observed: "If Edwards had discussed his affair with his family and they had begun their "healing process" in 2006, it was not evident on December 30. They must have had a very busy New Year's Eve."
Although other photos have surfaced in the last several days that show Edwards and Hunter together at the end of 2006, this is the first photo that places John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth together with Hunter at the same time and place--one day before 2006 ended.
Mickey Kaus, at Slate, asked yesterday [How Big a Victim is Elizabeth?]:
Let me raise the alternative, third possibility contained in B(ii): there is a Second Coverup and Elizabeth Edwards, rather than being its victim, is in on it up to her eyeballs! ** Why do I think this is a real possibility? First, Elizabeth was in on the first coverup, allowing her husband to go out and deny the initial Enquirer reports of his affair. (He admits to Woodruff that she knew these denials were false,) Second, she might see her legacy as bound up with her husband's--and also want her children to have a father with a political future.*** Third, Elizabeth Edwards is famously smart, and a lawyer. Does still she really think the Enquirer is just making up the part about how Edwards' affair with Hunter restarted around the time Hunter got pregnant? Does she think her husband knew nothing about the payments?
In his footnote to the above, Kaus notes that, "She [Elizabeth Edwards] could still be anguished!"
The photo above seems to support Kaus' "alternative, third possibility" quoted above.
We will have more to say on this--and other allegations that Edwards made in his August 8 statement and ABC interview--later in the day. DBKP will also release at least one more of the pictures we now have from the event pictured above.
Until then, new questions arise.
One observation until then: unless Elizabeth Edwards is superhumanly tolerant of Rielle Hunter, who the National Enquirer says is the mother of Edwards' daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, the last 24 hours of 2006 at the Edwards' household must have been "very busy" indeed.
by Mondoreb
image: licensed exclusively to DBKP by owner. No reproduction without express written consent. Copyright by the owner.
