It really is quite a sad state of affairs when the one gossip rag devoted to exposing beloved politico John Edwards for the possibly cheating-on-his-dying-wife is in deep, deep financial trouble. The National Enquirer, which seems to be the only media outlet beating the drum on Edwards' alleged cheating, is in the shitter. More accurately, its parent company American Media Inc., which also publishes Star, is the one getting a swirlie in the outhouse. With hundreds of millions of dollars in debt (this is not new), much of AMI's equity is about to be handed over to its creditors THL Partners and Evercore Partners (this is new) as makes the near impossible struggle to rid itself of endless red ink stains.
Oh, speaking of stains? Nobody is talking about the ones Edwards might be leaving around various hotel rooms as he cavorts with his maybe mistress. And here's why!
The mainstream media is protecting Edwards. As Jack Shafer notes, fellow politico Larry Craig didn't receive this same type of defensive treatment. Sure, Craig technically broke the law, which makes any scandal newsworthy enough for even the most pristine of journalism outlets to cover (though that wasn't the case for the Times and Jeffrey Epstein). So with Edwards, there's no real crime here, just sweet sweet sex scandal. But that doesn't mean beltway reporters should be all hands off and stuff. At the very least, if we're talking about equal treatment here, the Enquirer's allegations against Edwards — that he has a mistress and a love child — would be vetted.
But the press has remained silent. In doing so, they're letting three things happen: 1) Allowing the Enquirer's story to go unchecked, growing into a not-quite-off-the-radar news item that begs to have another news outlet weigh in; 2) Allowing Edwards, if innocent, to be smeared by a gossip rag; 3) Allowing themselves to get beat on their own, ahem, beat.
Even the Huffington Post, which originally help further the Enquirer's story back in the fall of 2007, is silent. In its place, the Enquirer gets to move its own story ahead, unchallenged, with every titillating detail revealed:
A team of ENQUIRER reporters caught the married ex-senator visiting his mistress and secret love child late Monday night at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles hotel.
As we reported previously, Edwards arrived at the hotel at 9:45 p.m. (PST) Monday, driven by a friend in a BMW, and was seen by ENQUIRER reporter Alan Butterfield.
We can now reveal that the man who drove Edwards was Bob McGovern, the same man who drove Rielle to the hotel from Santa Barbara and rented her room in his name.
[...]
* Edwards' advisers are "spitting mad and furious" that his late-night escapades have made international headlines because it could derail his chances of becoming Barack Obama's running mate.
* Edwards has not explained his whereabouts to any members of other news media outlets who have been trying to follow up on the story.
* His mistress, blonde divorcee Rielle, meanwhile, has returned to her home in Santa Barbara, Calif., and sources say she is "in despair" that Edwards might cut off contact with her because their latest rendezvous has been exposed in the media.
Meanwhile, only the independent blogs are left to wonder why the press has awarded Edwards a full-on blackout from this story. If this were a Republican politician, would the treatment be different? Many suspect as much.
Editorial Director
Of course the mainstream media is ignoring this. To give it time would just show the shyster for the lawyer scum he is. Which would mean the media would have to admit they frooed by all those "i love my wife" stories aired and printed during the primaries…or worse…were complicit in the Edwards marriage deception. There's hypocrisy on both sides of the aisle…unfortunately, the media selectively chooses who to turn into a punchline.
The ACTUAL reason is because he's an EX-senator. Edwards is a private citizen now. So I'd say there's a BIG difference from Larry Craig, who still serves.
No. I disagree. I think he's still a viable news story because it's been published that he's a VP contender. I think, if Obama were smart, he's off the list. Too Hot.
I think the reason that the mainstream press isn't going with it is because they know that it's true. The National Enquirer nailed it and him. And it's sad, even by today's standards of Personal Attack Vetting. Because his wife has cancer, because they have small children and his wife has terminal cancer.
Edwards did it to himself. He got a free pass the first time, but he has done himself in.
Oh well.
The Enquirer is bankrupt??? THANK GOD!!! One rag down and, hopefully, more to go.
Oh, John Edwards . . . I don't care!!! And, apparently not too many people in America do care about him. I doubt he was ever on Obama's short list since everybody in Washington knows about this mistress person and the voters were wise enough to see through him during the primaries. Perhaps that's why no real news outlet is paying attention to this "scandal."
Ms. Lewis may be on to something. Besides a very short time in the Senate and some business dealings, answer this–is John Edwards really experienced enough to be the President or the Vice President? Is Obama? Is Hillary Clinton? You can hear lots of people talking–including liberal Democrats–about the serious lack of experience among the Democratic contenders in 2008. And since Edwards is out of office, out of the running, and not involved in high-level politics in a day-to-day manner, maybe–maybe–that's why the media's ignoring the story. Additionally, there's another factor to consider: Maybe–maybe–the story is just not true, as in inaccurate, misleading, false, irresponsible, unprofessional, unfounded, libelous, slanderous, ridiculous, inane, pathetic, wrong, dumb and way out of line with anything resembling reality. That may be a factor, too.
Elementary. It's being ignored by right wing media too. No Washington Post, no National Review, hell, no Matt Drudge. If a bottom feeding pig like Drudge won't touch it, you should be fairly sure it's an empty charge being laid out by a paper synonymous with alien abduction stories.
Correction: I meant Washington Times above and said Washington Post. Was thinking of Murdoch's rag, the New York Post. Sorry.
"the one getting a swirlie in the outhouse"?
A city boy must have written this article. Without plumbing, nothing swirls. In an outhouse scenario, they just let go of your feet and let you crawl your way back out of the hole on your own!
If these allegations about John Edwards prove true, taking "The Breck Girl", aka "The Ken Doll", on a videotaped, perfect-hair-first sightseeing trip to an outhouse basement is the least Elizabeth Edwards's sympathizers can do for her.
Matt Drudge did report it.
LIBERAL MEDIA will protect HUSSEIN Obama.
No reputable news agency, conservative, liberal, or otherwise, is going to go to press with this without there being reliable physical evidence of some sort - and there is NONE. No photos of them together, no recordings of phone calls, no DNA results, nothing. The entire story is based on the eyewitness testimony of one reporter. No reputable newspaper is going to risk a libel suit (especially where one of the most successful trial lawyers in American history is the plaintiff!!) over something so poorly sourced.
The Enquirer, on the other hand, doesn't have that fear. If they don't increase circulation dramatically they'll be in bankruptcy by the end of the year anyway. This frees them to take the enormous gamble of going to press with a poorly sourced article. If the story turns out to be accurate, they're safe; truth is an absolute defence to defamation and libel. They might even be able to increase circulation enough to remain in business. If the story turns out to be inaccurate, though, they'll be in bankruptcy before Edwards can sue, so there's no harm.
I'm a bit confused about this as well. His wife has cancer, so christ, let's add to her torture…maybe that is why they aren't running with it. The Craig comparison is unfair because Edwards doesn't actively legislate against heterosexuals like most of the closeted queer republican legislators do. Edwards isn't trying to stop anyone from having the kind of sex he had or take away their civil rights, or deny them equal rights under the law. Faux piety and morality are one thing but putting cold hard laws against your own kind into place as a closet case is another thing entirely. Why can't people just accept that 99% of all politicians are megalomaniac freaks and focus their concern on who has better policies. Between democrats getting caught with women and republicians getting caught with men I think it's time for America to grow up.
Media is protecting Edwards. If this were Romney the media would be frying him. Edwards is a private citizen now as is Mitt. Edwards is VP contender as is Mitt. And both are former politicos. So now don't you think its favoritism?
Alan Butterfield is the Enquirer reporter claiming to have witnessed Edwards in the hotel for a rendezvous with his alleged mistress.
"For those unfamiliar, Butterfield is a reporter for the National Enquirer-yes, the supermarket tabloid-and is the one who "broke" the gay sex-ring story about Ed Smart and several of his brothers. The story was based on information obtained from unnamed sources. Later it became known that some unnamed sources were paid $10,000 each. In the end, the information proved to be false and two reporters, Kevin Cantera and Michael Vigh of The Salt Lake Tribune, were fired due to their involvement in the fiasco."
'Academic freedom, The National Enquirer and U'
from The Daily Utah Chronicle, 10/23/03
The author calls Edwards a "beloved politico"; give me a break. He is so beloved that he lost the election for Kerry, was forced out of the 2008 primaries and couldn't even be elected dog catcher in NC. People don't trust him and his Ken doll image. His "no comment" reaction tells us the truth of the matter.
The National Enquirer has been the Newspaper of Record for the Deomcratic Party since Clinton was in the White House.
Hmmm, quite honestly I haven't been following this too closely but must say that the title of this is out of date. CNN, Fox and many, many other majors have reported about Johns Edward's sex scandal.
It seems the National Enquirer actually does all of all a favor by having the courage of reporting stories while others shy away from them.
Thank you National Enquirer for once again keeping us informed.