CBS News SVP Paul Friedman says he didn't report on the John Edwards scandal because the network "saw no reason to make his life or the life of his family any worse, until it became well-documented or he admitted it, which is what happened today." Uh huh. The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz says he " came to believe that we should publish a story. But I don't get paid to make those decisions." Riiight. And Politico's Michael Calderone insisted there was no coverage in his space because "it was decided that writing on the rumors — without confirming them — simply validates the Enquirer," which, it's been shown, got much (if not all) of the story right.

But you know who also claims to have had the story about Edwards' affair but opted out of reporting on it? A one Bill O'Reilly, who, like Friedman, was doing the kind thing and not making Elizabeth Edwards' life miserable! Instead, O'Reilly just smeared Edwards as a shitty senator. "And that is the true story," he said last night. "The Factor painted an accurate picture of John Edwards without harming his family." Now, is that "accurate" with one "in-" or two?

Rielle Hunter, the confirmed mistress of John Edwards and lunatic web publisher, did not father the ex-senator's love child, if you're to believe his interview last night with ABC News (video). But Edwards is willing to take a paternity test, if only Hunter will participate, and share the results with the media. Know what? Hunter's sister Melissa thinks it'd be a good idea that Edwards take that test, which is a signal that at least part of the Hunter camp thinks — and is willing to say so publicly — Edwards is the father. (Worth nothing: Last month Extra reported that Hunter denied the Enquirer's allegations. Then again, Edwards was doing that up until two weeks ago.)

Edwards blames the whole thing on "narcissism" and on feeling "invincible."

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Tyra Banks is fierce and as such she always asks the tough questions. With John Edwards on her couch, she forgoes softballs about Elizabeth Edwards's health or how this campaign is destroying his young children's emotional well-being. Instead, she goes straight for the meaty stuff, like what's it for John Edwards to be an underdog because he is white and male?

"It feels like you have to fight for everything," Edwards says.

Wow, how different from being female or black in this country.

DON'T STOP BELIEVING Despite poll numbers, results of the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary, his wife's cancer and his young children, John Edwards is staying in this election. At what point does optimism become self-delusion? [NYT]

• The down side of appearing on the cover of Men's Vogue? It kinda makes people think you're an effeminate ass.

• Meanwhile, Elizabeth Edwards is not sorry about politely asking Ann Coulter to shut the fuck up.

• The BBC is terribly sorry that it cut away from Tony Blair's final speech as prime minister to show promos for the television show, Rome.

• Will a jury of Conrad Black's peers sentence the press baron to 20 years in prison? And if so, will 108 year old Larry King still have what it takes to grab the post-prison interview exclusive?

• Julia Allison is more than just another pretty face. She's also a mediocre writer and, as it turns out, a thinker!

• The Associated Press claims to have some sort of prudish objection to an amateur video showing strippers "performing lap dances" at a golf course, but we think they're just Bogie Monsters.

Ann Coulter has been on quite a tear lately. Yesterday, we told you how she sought to turn a lapse in judgment by Rosie O'Donnell into a full frontal assault on same-sex adoption rights, but the crazy doesn't end there.

She also got into a fight with Elizabeth Edwards during an appearance on Hardball.

Coulter, the guest on the show, went into a stuttering, hair-flipping frenzy when Edwards' wife caught her off guard by phoning in and asking Coulter to "politely" refrain from engaging in negative personal attacks—against her husband, and all other candidates—because it "debases political dialogue."

Did Ann agree to back off?

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