Here is MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's Special Comment to Sarah Palin on Oct. 21st, when news of her shopping spree came to light and the liberals jumped on that shit quicker than a picture of Bill Ayers french-kissing John McCain.
"Here's your running mate Senator. This is the hockey mom, connected to the small towns where the real Americans are, struggling and scrimping on a clothing budget that's just $18,000 a week"
And while it's fine and dandy to make fun of Palin's X-treme makeover, this is the same Keith Olbermann that denounced Sean Hannity when the Fox News anchor chided John Edwards on his $400 haircut in 2007.
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Semi-retired gossip queen Bonnie Fuller often takes to the Huffington Post to critique famous women and lady politicos abusing their power. It's often her thesis that famous women bring negativity upon themselves, and it is not the fault of our gossip-y culture nor our incessant need to know every bit of personal minutiae that is the downfall of American culture.
Fuller, you'll recall, was until recently the editorial director of American Media, which published not only Star, but John Edwards' favorite publication The National Enquirer. And its editor, David Perel, now finds himself pulling a Fuller — taking not to HuffPo, but to the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page, where he, too, defends his profession.
It's been a long time coming. His paper has been attacked by the left (for reporting John Edwards' affair) and the right (for pushing Sarah Palin scandals) and the fourth estate (for not having journalistic standards … and beating them to the Edwards story, which they opted to ignore). But Perel takes it in stride, pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of it all: The private lives of political types should be off-limits, the argument goes, until it's the opponent's personal matters that become scandalous. CONTINUED »
(Click to enlarge image of Sarah Palin during happier, poorer times)
Weren't you just thinking the other day how this Sarah Palin's teenage daughter Bristol's pregnancy scandal was totally to September what John Edwards and Rielle Hunter's love-baby was to August?
Too bad, it's not. There is a so, so much salaciously better rumor about the former beauty queen and her sexcapades that is going down.
The National Enquirer wants any fans of the Edwards/Hunter and Palin scandals to please step forward, because do they have a scoop for you: CONTINUED »
Sure, American Media Inc. may be carrying more than a half bil in debt, but at like we said, the National Enquirer is one bright spot. Though having seemingly abandoned the John Edwards love child scandal for now, the Enquirer did pick up an 11 percent bump in newsstand sales. Though, framed another way: Only an 11 percent hike?
John Edwards is having a rough month. There is still speculation that he is lying about not being the father of Rielle Hunter's baby, he was dis-invited to the current par-tay for the DNC in Denver this week, and now he can't even get a hold of his former friends and staffers to apologize.
The story plays out like Edward's staffers were the ones personally betrayed by the affair. The sounds of so many bad break-ups resound in this post like an echo-chamber of college relationships: CONTINUED »
David Perel, editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, sung his victory song over at Huffington Post yesterday. And, well, he should: His John Edwards coup at the National Enquirer left the MSM hanging because of their hang-ups in writing up a scandal. (A liberal scandal, at that.)
Who would have thought, then, that it'd be the cynical bloggers rallying behind Perel. But it does make a twisted sort of logic — the Internet, filled with its salacious half-truths and Photoshopped celebrity obsessions, bears more of a resemblance to NE than more reputable publications.
So here's Perel getting smug: CONTINUED »
'John Edwards’ ex-lover, Rielle Hunter, may have been sold out again — by one of her sisters! Somehow, the National Enquirer has managed to produce a new, very clear picture of Hunter with baby daughter Frances Quinn. The picture could not be better. So the question is, how did the supermarket tabloid get it? The answer is, it was taken by one of Hunter’s two sisters, either Roxanne or Melissa. Roxanne, who lives in North Carolina, already has been identified as a source for previous Enquirer stories. She and Rielle had not spoken for 15 years prior to the Edwards scandal. Melissa, on the other hand, has so far been regarded as the loyal sister, who would never sell out Rielle for money. Nevertheless, one of them took the picture and e-mailed it to the other. It’s now on the cover of the Enquirer, presumably without Rielle’s blessing.' [Fox 411]
The suddenly reliable (but only when John Edwards is involved) National Enquirer is still on the hunt for more proof that the tabloid was correct in its reporting, although nobody is really arguing otherwise. This time around the mag reveals even more details about John and his alleged mistress, Rielle Hunter — the latter of whom was flown on a $50,000 private jet to the Virgin Islands the day before Edwards' Nightline interview. This vacation was, of course, paid for by John's pals.
A funny thing happened on the way to ruining John Edwards reputation: The National Enquirer graduated from slippery checkout aisle gossip trash into a bonafide news source. Sure, the rag has broken legitimate news before — O.J. Simpson, and just recently, Patrick Swayze — but only since its John Edwards coup, where it forced the ex-senator and VP possibility into admitting an affair, has it attracted the respect of the mainstream media. Okay, maybe not respect, but at least the attention. CONTINUED »
Because average Americans can't be trusted to form their own opinions, Us Weekly trotted out a polygraph expert to explain how John Edwards may not have been completely honest during last week's Nightline interview regarding his affair with Rielle Hunter. Gee, you think?
Sharon Waxman, who is about to start her own Hollywood gossip enterprise, on why the John Edwards scandal still has any secrets left to be told: "My guess is that there is a simple reason why the mainstream media is unable to confirm the Edwards-Hunter affair during these past weeks. Because very few people knew what had been going on. Edwards’ staff didn’t know. Elizabeth Edwards didn’t know. The group may have been as small as three: Edwards, Hunter and her pal Bob McGovern." There's that, and also: "These past weeks,' nobody but the National Enquirer has been asking these questions. And you know what happens when some other folks do start asking questions? This little thing called answers. Strike two, Waxman.
National Enquirer exec editor Barry Levine: 'We have exclusive photographic evidence, pictures, videos, hard proof to further incriminate Edwards. He doesn't at this point know what we have, which is why I'm asking that we don't reveal too much yet. And which we will use unless and until he acknowledges paternity. [...] Although Edwards has this loyalist Andrew Young trying to claim it's really his baby in order to take the heat off Edwards, we know that's false. Young brought his wife and children to visit this lady Rielle Hunter. Now, nobody brings his wife and kids to have a nice social meeting with his mistress. It's ridiculous. [...] We're in this for the long haul. We're sitting on very exclusive material. Like a reporter monitoring a room they were in from 9:45 p.m. to 2:45 a.m. We had the big OJ stories, we broke the Jesse Jackson lovechild story, we unearthed the Clinton girlfriend stories. We'll stay on this one forever.' [Cindy]
With 32 reporters in Beijing covering the Olympics, it's nice to see the New York Times could afford two to the John Edwards scandal. And look what they turned up: a front page-worthy story that shows Edwards' camp might have been involved in lying to the press about Rielle Hunter! Though everybody but the National Enquirer was ignoring them at the time, two lawyers issued separate statements denying the scenario: Hunter's attorney said his client wasn't carrying Edwards' child, and former campaign aide Andrew Young's attorney said he was the father of the child. Now, it seems these two attorneys might have a connection that all ties back to Edwards, with money strewn along the way. Hey, this is what happens when you decide to investigate, isn't it? CONTINUED »
Rielle Hunter had sex with John Edwards. But is that all you'll let her be forever and ever — Edwards' mistress? The woman has done other successful things with her life! She was in the movie Overboard! And, because .gif files are the classiest of file attachments, there's even a commemorative animated photo of Hunter's on-screen appearance. Taking a cue from Highlights magazine, after the jump we've hidden the real Hunter amidst impostors. Guess which is she: CONTINUED »
John Edward's mistress is quickly becoming the most bankable bit on the side since Marilyn Monroe. Seriously, Ashley Dupree ain't got nothin' on Rielle Hunter, aka Allison Poole from American Psycho, aka Lisa Hunter: movie star. Whoops Lisa, your acting career reached its apex as an extra in a bad Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russel movie in the 80s. How's that for egg on your face?
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Know what's been missing from all the postmortems about the mainstream media not covering the John Edwards scandal? Some input from religious types! Other than Bill O'Reilly! Generally, the devout frown on the cheating-on-your-wife thing, and especially the cheating-on-your-ill-wife thing. And the Catholics, who spend much of their time warning followers about spending eternity in hell, are quick to point out sins. Including those made by the media at large. Hope you've got your holy water in a bottle with a squirt spout top! CONTINUED »
Sometimes we connect dots just for the sake of seeing how many lines we'll need. It's like Soduku, for the weary. So we took two of the biggest items from the news cycle right now — Rielle Hunter and her maybe-love-child with John Edwards, and Ben Stiller's sort-of-offensive-but-really-just-whatever film coming out this weekend, Tropic Thunder — and rigamarolled a game of Six Four Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Without Mr. Bacon. It involves two of the 80s biggest coked-out yuppie nihilist writers (pictured left), and it's fun for the whole family once the kids are put to bed!
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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?
"John Edwards, a former United States Senator from North Carolina and Democratic Party presidential candidate, admitted to an extramarital affair, which was initially alleged and published by The National Enquirer, an American supermarket tabloid newspaper. The story had been neglected by some members of the American mainstream media. The Enquirer cited claims by an anonymous source that Edwards had engaged in the affair with Rielle Hunter, a filmmaker hired to work for his presidential campaign, and that the relationship had produced a child." [Wikipedia]
And speaking of McInerey: Another 2,500 copies of his book Story of My Life, whose party girl character is based on Edwards' future mistress Rielle Hunter, are being printed to meet demand. It went out of stock on Amazon.
Editorial Director
