John Edwards affair?

[Ender]

linka

A leading political figure, whose wife is battling breast cancer, is caught in a secret rendezvous with another woman at a Los Angeles hotel. The other woman might even have had a baby with the politician.

Why are we not hearing more about this scandal, then, particularly as the man is John Edwards, a former Democratic presidential candidate and now one of the people said to have a chance at being Barack Obama's running mate?

Maybe it's because the story was broken by the National Enquirer. Even so, the Enquirer seems to have the story nailed down pretty well. The tabloid first reported last October that Edwards had a relationship with a divorced woman named Rielle Hunter, and that she was pregnant. Edwards denied the report and another man came forward to say he was the father of the unborn child.

The Enquirer didn't give up the chase. On Monday, it staked out Los Angeles' Beverly Hilton, where Hunter, with the baby in tow, had rented two rooms. Edwards, who was in L.A. for a homeless event, was spotted entering the Hilton at 9:45 p.m.

"Edwards was not carrying anything,'' said Enquirer reporter Alan Butterfield. "He walked in alone. He was looking around nervously before he entered the hotel. Once inside, he interestingly bypassed the lobby and ducked down a side stairs to go to the bottom floor to catch the elevator up — rather than taking the elevator in the main lobby. He went out of his way not to be seen."

At 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, Edwards left the hotel and was greeted by several Enquirer reporters. He ran back into the hotel and later was escorted out by hotel security.

"It was impressive and quintessential tabloid work,'' comments gawker.com on the Enquirer's report. "But there's no reason the paper should have had the scandal all to itself. Isn't this the sort of thing traditional newspaper tabs like the [New York] Post used to cover? And even starchy broadsheets should have had some interest — it was the Miami Herald that busted Gary Hart in 1988 (when his mistress left his townhouse — shades of the Edwards affair) and the [New York] Times that broke the story of Eliot Spitzer's whoring earlier this year.''

As for Edwards, Gawker asked: "When is an affair while your wife is dying of cancer NOT a political career killer?''

I don't trust the NE at all. But it does beg the question of exactly what he was doing at a hotel at nearly 3 in the morning.

[SirNitram]

It's disgraceful how the national media is covering up this and other important stories! Like how Bush is totally going to get divorced. The NE is the only reliable source for this stuff!

Seriously, though, why the shit are we giving this the prestige of bandwidth? It's the fucking national enquierer. Have they revealed the love child to be Batboy yet?

[Rahvin]

It's disgraceful how the national media is covering up this and other important stories! Like how Bush is totally going to get divorced. The NE is the only reliable source for this stuff!

Seriously, though, why the shit are we giving this the prestige of bandwidth? It's the fucking national enquierer. Have they revealed the love child to be Batboy yet?

That would be the Weekly World News.

I'm not sure whether it's infuriating, depressing, or hilariously amusing that some people actually believe the tripe that comes from the tabloids.

Honestly, I wouldn't trust the Enquirer if they told me the sky was blue. And I wouldn't trust the Weekly World News if they told me my own name.

[Glocksman]

But..but..I thought Edwards was gay.
Oh, wait. That's Charlie Crist.

Seriously though unless the NE had undoctored photos and other physical evidence of the affair, my inclination is to dismiss it as untrue.

[Death from the Sea]

you know, sadly this came up at some local charity thing that Edwards was in town for and the local news ate it up and it was one of their major headlines on the ten o'clock news. Edwards handled the situation pretty easily saying that it is after all the enquirer...

[The Original Nex]

The right wing obviously have friends in the MIB who informed them that the tabloids have the only real news....this just in, GWB is an alien lizard Freemason out to fake Mars landings, collapse tall buildings and deliver the globe to the New World Order - oh and Miley Cyrus is his love-child with Gloria Steinem.

[Illuminatus Primus]

The St. Petersburg Times and this establishment in general is usually more left-leaning, so I wouldn't say this is a right-wing hackjob by the paper, though its quite possible that some of their columnists are right-wing axe-grinders.

[Elfdart]

Edwards should say he was going to use water torture on her. Then the Republitards would lay off.

[ArmorPierce]

Aww guys, seems like the enquirer is picking up some credibility...

link

Edwards admits affair to "Nightline"

ABC News reports today that John Edwards "repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extra-marital affair with a novice film-maker," 42-year-old Rielle Hunter.

The National Enquirer first reported on Edwards having an affair in October 2007, and followed up in December with a report that Hunter was pregnant with his child. At the time, former Edwards aide Andrew Young said he was the father.

"The story is false, it's completely untrue, it's ridiculous," Edwards told reporters in October.

Even though Edwards was a presidential candidate at the time, the mainstream media largely ignored the story following the denial.

But it was a July 22 report, detailing a confrontation with Enquirer reporters at 2:40 a.m. in the Beverly Hilton, that raised more questions about the Senator's involvement.

Brian Ross, ABC News chief investigative correspondent, told Politico that his investigative team began looking into the Edwards story back in October, but the breaks came since the July 22 piece.

Following up, the Enquirer published pieces alleging a hush money cover-up and ran a blurry "spy photo" in this week's issue.

Ross told Politico that the Enquirer’s reporting was “95 to 96 percent” accurate.

Ducking questions from reporters over the past few weeks, prominent Democrats began stating publicly that Edwards needed to address the reports, rather than just dismissing them outright as "tabloid trash" -- as he did in Houston, the day after the story broke.

“We began to work it very hard and developed a number of sources,” Ross said. “Because of the questions we were asking, that finally prodded Edwards to come clean about the affair."

Edwards agreed to an interview with ABC's Bob Woodruff earlier this week, and it was conducted over about a half hour, today in Chapel Hill.

Rhonda Schwartz, senior producer in the investigative unit, shared the byline in today's breaking news story with Ross. And there were a few other ABC reporters involved in reporting the story, said Ross.

Excerpts will appear on "World News with Charles Gibson," with the interview being broadcast on "Nightline" later this evening.

Edwards admits to being at the Beverly Hilton on the night in question, but denies he is the is the father of Hunter's baby girl, Frances Quinn, according to ABC.

But perhaps the most pressing issue for the '08 race is whether Edwards will attend this month's convention. According to Ross, Edwards does not rule it out.

Democratic leaders, friends, and supporters have reacted this afternoon, as the Edwards story runs on all the cable news networks.

Some of Edwards’s closest advisers declined to speak out of concern for the feelings of Elizabeth Edwards.

Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, a loquacious Democratic strategist who worked for Edwards in the primary, was uncharacteristically mum.

“You can say that for the first time in his life, Mudcat refused to comment,” Saunders said.

Longtime Democratic strategist Paul Begala, who helped Bill Clinton defend himself after it was revealed the former president had an affair with then-White House intern Monica S Lewinsky, said Edwards’s political career isn’t necessarily over.

“Obviously, unless he heals his family he can never heal his career,” Begala said. “But supposing he does that, yes he can come back. Divorce was once a career-ender, then Ronald Reagan changed that. No one confronts Newt Gingrich about his infidelity, nor my old boss. Maybe folks are starting to practice what they preach about letting he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

David Bonior, Edwards' campaign manager for his 2008 presidential bid, told the AP Friday that he was disappointed and angry after hearing about Edwards' confession.

"Thousands of friends of the senators and his supporters have put their faith and confidence in him and he's let him down," said Bonior, a former congressman from Michigan. "They've been betrayed by his action."

Asked whether the affair would damage Edwards' future aspirations in public service, Bonior replied: "You can't lie in politics and expect to have people's confidence."

(This post has been updated, and is developing....)