Did Elizabeth Edwards Use "Cherubim" Alias to Attack Rielle Hunter?

IS/WAS ELIZABETH EDWARDS
The Commenter Known as "Cherubim"?




THE MYSTERIES OF THE CHERUBIM
Cherubim Wasn't a 'Blog Lurker'
She Only Commented on John Edwards Scandal Stories
--At Least at DBKP

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The headline in the NY Daily News said it all.

John Edwards' ex-mistress, Rielle Hunter, targeted by Elizabeth Edwards in blog comments

"A source close to Elizabeth Edwards says the former Senator's wife is sniping at former Edwards mistress Rielle Hunter via an online pseudonym."

The Daily News goes on to say:

For months now, Elizabeth, who is said to be talking to a divorce lawyer, also has been sniping at Hunter - painting her as a blackmailing gold digger - in blog comments where she uses the pseudonym "Cherubim," according to a source who knows Elizabeth.

Though "Cherubim" has recently described herself as an African-American woman, the source insists, "It's Elizabeth. She's used 'cherubim' as a password. Look at the gravestone of their son Wade: It's an angel holding a boy."

The piece finishes with, "Elizabeth's publicist and lawyers for John Edwards and Hunter declined comment."

This only confirms what some in the blogging community have suspected for quite some time. DBKP was tipped to the Cherubim/Elizabeth Edwards connection sometime in spring 2008 (if memory serves).

We ran an IP check then and--again, if memory serves--the Cherubim emails (two or three were checked) came from a New York City neighborhood. While this didn't rule out EE--the woman does travel and could have sent them from there--it was soon forgotten in the everyday rush of other news.

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JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL LIBRARY

Over 140 DBKP stories on the scandal and its participants: John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, Fred Baron, Andrew Young, Elizabeth Edwards and a cast of thousands.

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"Cherubim" has commented frequently on John Edwards stories originating at DBKP (including DBKP, DBKP@Blogger and Bloggers News Network).

In fact, on at least one occasion, it's remembered that another commenter referred to Cherubim in a later comment as "Elizabeth Edwards".

Again, around a year ago, another reader asked us about the Cherubim/Elizabeth Edwards connection. We checked out some Cherubim emails at that time and they were now coming from Nashville, TN.

We weren't sure what to make of that.


SO IS ELIZABETH and CHERUBIM ONE AND THE SAME PERSONA?

We asked ex-Hunter confidante, Pigeon O'Brien, what she thought this past weekend. Her response?

"If it quacks like an Elizabeth Edwards duck..."

After sifting through some of Cherubim's comments, JammieWearingFool had this assessment [Elizabeth Edwards Targets Rielle Hunter in Blog Comments?]:

"Yes, it's a safe bet to say this probably is Mrs. Edwards.

Check this Google search and check out how many times 'Cherubim' surfaced the past year or so. Seems Mrs. Edwards has been in deep denial."

Mickey Kaus [Elizabeth Edwards, Blog Mystery Woman?] weighs in with several thoughts:

UPDATE: This blogger claims the Daily News story is false, though I don't quite follow his argument ... ORIGINAL ITEM: If--big if--St. Elizabeth Edwards is the blog commenter "cherubim"--as the N.Y. Daily News' Rush & Molloy argue--it raises as many questions as it answers! In particular, this one: Is "cherubim" a) deluded (actually believing Edwards clearly "was not the father" of Rielle Hunter's child,etc.), or b) deceiving (trying to sell the Web on a story she might well not be true, a story she was in fact working out in her comments)? Or--the inevitable consensus choice (c)--some wacky combo of both? ... As usual, I urge readers not to overlook possibility (b) ... This Daily Beast web page (worth a screen cap just in case) is one of those with juicy "cherubim" comments that now seem much juicier. ... P.S.: Note that on this page "cherubim" is accused of being Elizabeth Edwards back on June 22 by another commenter, "Ohseriously."

To all of this, we might vote for Kaus' (b) above. We've noted in the past about some of Elizabeth Edwards' statements concerning the affair [John Edwards Cover-up: Press Releases a Carefully-Orchestrated Affair?] and might paraphrase O'Brien from above, "If it denies, parses and dissembles like a duck..."

All of this piqued our curiosity, so we checked out the comments from Cherubim for the last 10-11 months that were left on articles originating from this site (DBKP.com).

We include some of them below and will let the reader come to his own conclusion.

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[ABOVE: Elizabeth Edwards' and John Edwards backstage at a gathering at Chapel Hill NC on December 30 2006. Rielle Hunter is present and recording the event. Both John and Elizabeth Edwards later released highly-parsed statements, that while factually correct, misled the public into thinking that the affair was long over by the date above.]

John and Elizabeth Edwards have been married for 32 years.They had four children together; three are living, and one died when he was only 16 years old. Elizabeth Edwards has stage 4 cancer. Any decent human being would not have inserted herself into their lives, and then sold stories about them to the National Enquirerfor monetary gain. (Hunter is a “ho” mining for gold.)Lisa Druke, a.k.a. the Rielle (Real) Hunter fills me with disgust. I hope someday to never hear anything about her again.

By the way, I found Elizabeth’s new book, Resilience, to be quite inspirational. I think everyone would benefit from reading the passage in the book that tells the story of the Japanese woman who survived the atomic bomb thatwas dropped on Hiroshima.
--"Cherubim", June 1 2009 comment on John Edwards and Wild Card Ex-Mistress: Barbara Walters Interview with Rielle Hunter

Hours later that same day, Cherubim had another thought.

The Rielle (Real) Hunter is a made up name used
by a woman named Lisa Druke. Her friend, Pigeon,
also uses a made up alias.

I think these people work for some secret society,
that’s out to do evil

Several days later, Cherubim returned to the same story to post the following comment.

Oh people, please!!!!
Everybody in America and Half of Mainland China
knows the Rielle (Real) Hunter has a baby that she is claiming to be John Edwards’. There is no reason for John and Elizabeth Edwards to pay this whore to keep her mouth and legs closed. She has already opened them both multiple times.
That’s why the Rielle (Real) Hunter, herself, does not want a paternity test. She just wants John and Elizabeth to not be at peace. Well Lisa Druke a.k.a.
the Rielle (Real) Hunter your 15 minutes is up.
Good bye!!!!!!

And again, four hours later on the same story:

"Lisa Druke’s (a.k.a. The Rielle (Real) Hunters’)
15 minutes are up."

If this story is true, then one can only conclude that Rielle Hunter knows for a fact that Senator John Edwards is not the father of her child. This makes me happy for John and Elizabeth Edwards, their children ,and the American people whom John Edwards has, and I hope will continue to serve.
President-Elect Barack Obama has chosen, mostly, Wall Street promoters and corporate lawyers to be in his cabinet. He hasn’t included anyone who knows how to interact and relate with everyday American citizens, and then report back to him concerning: (1) what the people need, and (2) whether his administration’s new initiatives are working. During the Great Depression, Eleanor Roosevelt fulfilled this role for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. I nominate Senator John Edwards for this role. John Edwards would be a refreshing change. Is not change what Obama s supposed to be about? As a rival of Barack Obama, for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination, John Edwards, consistently spoke up for average Americans, i.e. Main Street, not Wall Street. During his “Road to One America Poverty Tour” John Edwards demonstrated that he is uniquely qualified for this role.
The video evidence follows (put the address in your address bar and click to see the video):

He has walked with and comforted people whose homes were being foreclosed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i_GWrYkcCI

Defined the “Great Moral Test of Our Generation”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS1×88ZmohM

He has visited workers employed in the new renewal energy economy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50yOR5bvMV0

John Edwards is, also, the only candidate for President that actually went down to New Orleans on several occasions and worked along side those striving to try to bring back the areas that remain so devastated from the effects of Hurricane Katrina:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAqktFnA4nk&feature=PlayList&p=EB1EC8919DC5DC52&index=0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DaofQCkbA8
--"Cherubim", December 17 2008 comment on John Edwards Scandal: Rielle Hunter In New Jersey, Out of Hush Money

On one of our BNN stories, John Edwards Affair: Rielle Hunter in N. Jersey, Out of Cash last December, Cherubim dropped multiple comments attacking both Rielle Hunter and the National Enquirer.

She also returned to the "Rielle Hunter is a whore" meme that ran through a lot of her comments on DBKP and BNN stories about the Edwards' scandal.

When, Rielle Hunter refused to get a DNA paternity test, it became clear to everyone that Senator John Edwards was not the father of her child. A sex partner is not necessarily a mistress, sometimes the partner is just a whore.

Considering that she was being kept so lavishly by another guy and the National Enquirer, she still should have some money.
But if she needs child support,
she can take the real father to court and get it.

Everybody has been so quick to vilify John Edwards and
suggest that his marriage isn’t solid. Sex isn’t always indicative of the solidity of a marriage.
Mrs. Edwards has cancer, and, maybe, sometimes, when she is on various medications, sexual intercorse is not always possible.
I think Mrs. Edwards “whom John obviously adores” is wise
enough to distinguish true love from a sexual dalliance.

A few days later on the above story, this comment appeared from Cherubim. After the NY Daily News item, it reveals more today than it did back in December.

Some things like marriage relationships are private to be discussed between the persons involved. People need to stop pretending they are outraged. The only person with a right to be outraged is Elizabeth Edwards, and she has decided to spend much of her time working for universal health care for Americans. She has also said she and her husband want to dedicate their lives to fighting poverty. Let’s not hinder them.

Other things like jobs, labor rights, the collapse of our economy, and government bailouts are public matters to be discussed by all Americans. I don’t want to see working Americans treated like the workers in “third world countries”. John and Elizabeth Edwards are well aware of their short comings, but they also know how to fight and work for the American people.
Watch the video of John, Elizabeth and their two youngest children at work restoring a home in New Orleans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itn6xVOmR94&NR=1

I leave you with this quote from Senator John Edwards:
“It’s not in how many times you fall down, what matters is how many times you
get back up.”

Cherubim returned to the above story on April 2 2009.

Steph what you wrote is so very true.
To day is Ampril 2, 2009 very soon it will be
tax time again. However, I am sure the IRS is already investigated whether she paid taxes on
the money she has already extorted.

Rielle may be about to find out:
“What goes around, comes around.”
I hope Rielle Hunter gets what she deserves.

Steph said,in December 21st, 2008 at 10:15 am

“Hunter has an important date coming . . . April 15th. That is the day she has to report all the financial support she has received this year as income and pay taxes on it. The IRS shows no mercy and they are certainly aware of the huge amount of money she has been given. So having blown through all that cash is going to come back to bite her big time. The IRS has enormous power against which people have little recourse. If she thought she is playing hardball, she’s going to find out what hardball really is!”

Cherubim comment on John Edwards Scandal Cover-up: Three Carefully-Coordinated Statements?:

"I think when Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with Cancer, John became a man with fear and pain. I think the affair resulted because he wanted to forget and live without pain. For those who hate John Edwards know this he is in more pain now than he ever has been, and he will still most likely lose his wife, Elizabeth to cancer. As it stands, now, only the New World Order Corporations benefit. I hope that, soon, John and Elizabeth will return to help us with the fight to obtain universal health coverage and end poverty. What would Jesus Christ say? Answer: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”"

To which this author replied:

Cherubim,

I’m in no position to speculate what Jesus would say; however, elsewhere in the Bible, it does admonish, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” or “bear false witness”.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by, read and comment.



MORE CHERUBIM COMMENTS



[ABOVE: John Edwards' parents look on as he signs another autograph at a gathering at Chapel Hill NC on December 30 2006. Rielle Hunter is still in attendance. Both John and Elizabeth Edwards later released highly-parsed statements that misled the public into thinking that the affair was dead by the date above.]


"All this current sanctimonious crap being broadcast in the media disgusts me. What is important is what John and Elizabeth fought for during the campaign: universal health care and an end to poverty in America. These are goals worth fighting for. When they are ready to resume the fight, I’ll be willing to stand beside them."
--Cherumbim August 27 2008 on John Edwards Scandal: Mainstream Press Sticking to Schieffer Standard

The “Saving Graces” paperback was published officially on Aug. 14, 2007.

Elizabeth Edwards writes:

“It is hard to describe the test of public life, the way people believe — to some degree correctly — that you belong to them. There are awful examples, of course, of those whose motives are selfish or not admirable, who pry their way into the lives of public people in order to exploit a kindness or a generous gesture. They are to be endured and, to some extent I largely chose to ignore, feared. They remind me of a more malicious version of the people who wandered into our house in Annapolis, walking around our living room, putting their hands on our things. It is a sad fact that these people are a threat to anyone with even the smallest amount of celebrity.”
---Cherubim comment, September 10 2008 on John Edwards Scandal: Fox News Gives New Edwards’ Time Line

So.

Is Elizabeth Edwards really "Cherubim"?

We don't know. We only have suspicions raised over the last 18-20 months and today's assertion that the NY Daily News has a source that states that she is.

It's a question for all of God's angels.

Including the odd Cherubim.


by Mondo Frazier
images:
* peaceinspire.com
* DBKP file
* DBKP file

John Edwards Affair: Grand Jury Decision Awaits Edwards

EDWARDS TO ADMIT PATERNITY
OF RIELLE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER, FRANCES QUINN

EDWARDS AWAITS GRAND JURY DECISION

MAINSTREAM MOUTHPIECE MEDIA (MMM) ALREADY INDICTED

THE 99% HONEST MAN:
"I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby." --John Edwards' statement to the press, August 8 2008.

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THE TANGLED WEB


Q: How can you tell when a trial attorney-turned-politician is lying?
A: When his lips are moving.

John Edwards is reportedly finally to admit he is the father of [Sources: Edwards to admit paternity of ex-mistress' child] 18-month-old Frances Quinn Hunter.

What might compel former presidential candidate, John Edwards, to finally come clean about mistress, Rielle Hunter, and daughter, Frances Quinn? [John Edwards to Admit Rielle Hunter’s Love Child His: When Politicians Fail to Keep Their Pants on]. Maybe it's a sudden yearning to demonstrate he's tired of deceiving the public.

Or perhaps, it is the looming grand jury decision on whether he paid his mistress out of campaign funds.

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JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL Library
Over 80 articles chronicling the affair from December 2007 to present.

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IN GOD WE TRUST
ALL OTHERS (ESPECIALLY POLITICIANS & MEDIA), PAY CASH

In the John Edwards Scandal, the Mainstream Media truly became the Mainstream Mouthpiece Media (MMM), taking the side of a millionaire presidential candidate over their readers' interests; it found a plethora of reasons why it did not investigate the Edwards' allegations.

In Edwards' case, the story came out, not because of the media's handling of the story, but in spite of it.

During the months of the Edwards' scandal, the media instituted their own "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Obsessed with managing the news instead of reporting it, in the MMM's eyes, the public's right to know became what was right for the public to know. In fact, it was the MMM's principal defense of their non-coverage of the story.

The attitude festered during the 2008 presidential campaign and continues to the present time.

There was a small segment of the public who didn't want to know; the comments section of many Edwards' articles reveals who those people were. They were, in most cases, blameless, Most likely, they were part of the dwindling readership of big city dailies.

That might be one reason that Public Attitudes toward the media show only one publication gaining in trust over the last 10 years--the National Enquirer.

The Enquirer continues to outperform the dinosaur media to this day. See any of the stories linkied at the bottom of JOHN EDWARDS SECRET DNA TEST PROVES HE'S THE DADDY!.


[image courtesy of http://www.stateofthemedia.org]


Edwards' own "Trend-line in Trust" will have to be guessed at by the reader.

Though not listed, another loser of trust was Wikipedia, which demonstrated that the on-line compendium is less-than-reliable on subjects political, especially contemporary controversial ones. [John Edwards Love Child Scandal: Debate at Wikipedia Rages and John Edwards Love Child: Wikipedia Editor Defends Go-Slow Policies On Edwards Entry]

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ONE YEAR and NINE DAYS LATER

* In Mickey Kaus' Edwards' Love Child: Mandatory Gloating Edition, the Edwards scandal is broken down into several easily-digestible parts.

Kaus, one of the few who covered the Edwards' scandal, succinctly details the lies, damn lies and fall-back lies which Edwards hid behind. He also provides a "Historic Gallery of Kossack Krap" and asks plenty of questions. Kaus points out:

If Edwards is in fact the father this entire fallback edifice of BS crumbles. ... It's worth reading the transcript of the ABC interview--practically every sentence out of Edwards' mouth is a lie.

What, Me Lie?
Edwards' August 8 2008 national mea culpa on ABC Nightline
John Edwards Scandal: The Many Faces of Contrition

* DBKP pointed out several of these lies the day of the Edwards' "confession" to ABC [John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Admits Affair, Lies, to ABC News]. Two days later, in John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Continues Deception in Interview, we expanded the list.

A week after Edwards' Nightline appearance, DBKP's exclusive photo [John and Elizabeth Edwards with Rielle Hunter Dec 30, 2006] put the lie to not only Edwards' narrative of the affair, but also Elizabeth Edwards' statement.

The Mouthpiece Media might be excused for a similar quick reaction: it was too busy explaining why it had not asked a single question of Edwards from November 2007 until August 2008 about his curious connections with Hunter.


John and Elizabeth Edwards with Rielle Hunter
December 30 2006
Both Edwards led the public to believe that the affair was over and their "long period of healing" began in 2006.


* Deceiver comments on the recent events: Big Baby to Admit Paternity of Little Baby? and Least Shocking Edwards Story Ever?.

Recall that previously Edwards said he was eager to do the DNA test, but Rielle refused. Which sure was convenient. That’s the problem with hush money: When the money stops, so does the hushing.

* Edwards still harbors the delusion that he is not finished as a national political figure. Apparently, it has not occurred to him that whatever the grand jury decides, he's guilty: either of providing for his mistress with campaign funds--or of merely being just another deadbeat dad.

In either case, only the most narcissistic of politicians would be encouraged.

You know its a lost cause when even the Washington Post admits that John Edwards a Lot Short of 99%.


* Are the Edwards still together? Technically, they are.

DBKP interviewed some residents in the Edwards' neighborhood who say that the couple does not live together. One said that "John does not live at their home, but does watch the kids." Edwards spends a good deal of time during the fall and winter at their residence on Figure Eight Island. Figure Eight Island is a gated private oceanfront community close to Wilmington NC.


* Andrew Young, the political aide-cum-father, readies publication of a tell-all book, complete with John Edwards-Rielle Hunter sex tape revelations.

The basic problem with the book: how much can we believe from the man who (through his attorney in December 2007] claimed he was "the father of Ms. Hunter's unborn child"? [UPDATE: JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL!]

Strangely, at the end of the day, Young may come out the best of the bunch.

Though he lied, he only did so in that December 2007 statement and in exchanges with the National Enquirer's reporters. Both John and Elizabeth Edwards, Rielle Hunter and the media continued their deceptions--sometimes to the public and to themselves--repeatedly.

Andrew Young, though partially motivated by profit, could at least say that he did what he did because of someone in whom he believed.


by Mondo Frazier

Crossed fingers image, courtesy http://www.newyorkpersonalinjuryattorneyblog.com

John Edwards Affair: Edwards Attempts Political Resurrection

John Edwards Affair/Scandal/Coverup:
Democrat Party Pariah Attempts to Resurrect
A Political Career in Shambles



Former VP candidate Speaks for First Time in Months

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John Edwards is hoping that a third media blackout is the charm to resurrecting what remains of his battered political career.

• The first media blackout was by a protective Mainstream Media which protected both Edwards and MSM news customers of all news about Edwards' affair with mistress Rielle Hunter. It ran from November 2007 through August 8 2008, when Edwards 'confessed' on ABC's Nightline.
  
  
• The second media blackout as imposed by the Democrat Party. After Edwards' Nightline appearance, he was still under the illusion that his services were needed at the Democrat Convention in Denver. He was mistaken and prominent Democrats told him--both publicly and in private--"Thanks, but no thanks. Stay away."
  
  When Edwards attempted to resume speaking engagements after the Dem convention to keep himself in the public eye, he was again counseled to cool it. Edwards then issued a statement that he didn't want to be a "distraction" to an Obama campaign which had considered him as a top-tier VP candidate--before his ABC mea culpa. He canceled his remaining speaking engagements until after the election.
  
  
• The third media blackout has been imposed by Edwards himself. Edwards spoke at a closed-door appearance at Indiana University November 11. Recording devices and cameras were banned from the speaking room. Spontaneous questions were off-limits as well.
  
  Mary Catherine Ham says that Edwards, "only took written questions submitted beforehand, and the affair didn't come up. We shall have to wait."

Ham's assessment of an Edwards' comeback:

Can he make a comeback? Democrats were angry at him, not because he cheated (as they made sure to stipulate, so as to avoid being pegged as insufficiently non-judgmental), but because he endangered their electoral prospects. Surely, he'll stick around as a middling speaker, but in the Age of Obama, how does a sullied Southerner the Dems don't even need to gain the Bubba vote forge a path back to prominence?

Sounds like a good call to us.

DBKP: The John Edwards Scandal Library Over 120 DBKP stories on the affair/scandal/coverup from December 2007.

CNN's Andrew Mooney wonders about an Edwards' comeback as well--and also uses the 'P' word: pariah.

The man who had been considered a major contender for the Democratic nomination instantly became a pariah in his own party and didn't merit so much as a mention at the Democratic National Convention a month later.
...
But with the 2008 presidential election officially in the history books, Edwards may be looking to accomplish what a handful of other national political figures have been able to do: successfully re-emerge from an embarrassing public scandal that by all appearances has left his political career in ruins.

But Edwards' future just may hinge on how he goes about re-entering the public sphere. While it remains a long shot that Edwards will ever run for office again, he could re-emerge as a powerful voice for a set of issues he championed during the Democratic presidential primary: poverty and healthcare.

One wonders how effectively Edwards can talk about poverty when the multi-millionaire trial lawyer's experiences for decades have been more of the penthouse variety.

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SANCTUARY AMONG THE RESTROOM STALLS

The Mainstream Media blacked out all mention of Edwards' affair with Hunter for almost nine months. Even after reporters from the National Enquirer--an Edwards' nemesis throughout the affair--caught the former Democrat presidential candidate leaving Hunter's Beverly Hilton hotel room, the MSM refused to report on the spectacle of Edwards barricading himself in a public rest room at 3 am to escape the Enquirer's inquiring minds.

Edwards, who campaigned on the morality issue--he included his family and cancer-striken wife, Elizabeth prominently at campaign trail appearances--denied the allegation the Enquirer reports of his infidelity in October 2007.

Then, after a November 2007 interview in which Edwards boasted of "staring down the National Enquirer", the former NC senator didn't have to answer any unpleasant questions from a decidedly un-curious MSM for nine months.

All of that ended with the Enquirer's reporters attempting to question Edwards in the early AM on July 21 in the Beverly Hilton. Though Fox News confirmed the confrontation a few days later, the MSM--except for a few newspapers--banned mention of the incident to their readers/viewers.

Edwards kept a high profile for several days, until MSM reporters from NC newspapers attempted to question Edwards after he spoke at an AARP symposium in Washington DC in late July.

Edwards ducked out on the reporters--escaping through a side entrance--and immediately ducked out of public life, retiring to his palatial spread outside Chapel Hill, NC. When he re-emerged from hiding on August 8, public statements appeared within minutes of each other from Edwards, wife Elizabeth and Edwards' campaign money-man, Fred Baron.

Parts of all three statements were later found to be disingenuously-parsed at best; falsehoods at worst.

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RIELLE BABY DRAMA
HUNTER KNOWS ALL, WRITES ALL?



Edwards denied being the father of Rielle Hunter's infant daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter--he still denies it--even after the Enquirer published pictures of Edwards holding Frances Quinn in a room at the Beverly Hilton. Skeptics, however, will point to Edwards' previous denials of the affair itself as proof that what Edwards alleges is not always reliable.

According to the National Enquirer, Rielle Hunter is writing an explosive tell-all book about her affair with Edwards--as a sort of insurance policy, in case her money payments stop.

Rielle Hunter aka Lisa Druck the 44 year-old divorcee, former videographer and mother of Edwards' love child plans to publish the bombshell tell-all only if the "hush money" she's been receiving ends, sources reveal.

Fred Baron, the wealthy Dallas ex-trial lawyer and former fiancé chairman for Sen. Edwards failed presidential bid died Halloween Eve, Oct. 30, from complications of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. Baron had admitted paying Hunter's bills and also those of Andrew Young, another Edwards' crony who claims the baby is his.

Now that Baron is dead, Rielle, who has no job not source of income, realizes her serial payments could end unless Edwards makes them directly -- which so far he has refused.

Before he died, Baron maintained that the money he was doling out to both Hunter and long-time Edwards' operative, Andrew Young--who initially claimed Hunter's baby was his--was from his personal money stash and that Baron was making the payments without Edwards' knowledge.

ENQUIRER: "Now Rielle is writing an explosive tell-all memoir that blow the lid off the whole steamy affair and cover-up - a book that could keep her and her love child rolling in greenbacks for years to come.

"Rielle views the book as her personal insurance policy," an insider divulged.

"She's been keeping a journal since she began her affair with John."

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DIRTY DIAPER DNA

Rumors abound over the possession by the Enquirer of one of Frances Quinn's dirty diapers. From Did John Edwards father child of Rielle Hunter? The latest poop:

Even though he admitted cheating with campaign staffer Rielle Hunter (top), The National Enquirer wants to prove he's the father of Hunter's baby. How? We hear that, on the night they caught Edwards visiting Hunter and child at a Beverly Hills hotel, Enquirer reporters grabbed one of the baby's poopy diapers.

Now, say sources, intrepid Enquirer editor David Perel hopes to compare the infant's stinky DNA with that of Edwards, who has denied paternity. "All they need is a cup he drank from," an insider tells us.

"I will neither confirm nor deny possession of a dirty diaper," Perel said dryly. "But I would like to do a DNA test."

David Perel told DBKP: "There's a lot of ways to go on DNA testing."

"I'm not saying we have material for DNA testing. But if we did, at some point we'd be interested in having a test done."

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Edwards appeared in San Francisco on Wednesday at a private debate with former Bush honcho, Karl Rove, in front of a group of bankers. Two nights, two speaking engagements, one question: Does John Edwards really think he has a political future?

Some former staff members are doubtful.

But even as Edwards is appearing to take the first steps toward a comeback, former supporters -- many of whom where blindsided by his admission of infidelity -- may be unwilling to give him a second chance this soon.

"I wish he would keep himself locked in a cave for a year," a former senior staffer to Edwards' campaign said. "The best strategy he could adopt right now is to stay below the radar and just be quiet and let people move on."

One wonders what John Edwards would do with himself without politics. He speaks on political subjects and clearly was comfortable in the limelight. Sources tell DBKP that Edwards "isn't much interested in returning to the courtroom any time soon."

Edwards is not the only one hoping for a comeback. Others also wait for an Edwards' resurrection. Edwards' return to the spotlight might touch off a cottage industry of tell-all books by others involved in the Edwards' affair: Andrew Young, Bob McGovern, Pigeon O'Brien, perhaps even Andrew Baron.

Interested or not, John Edwards may not be the one who makes the call between a return to politicis or the courtroom: a political career seems likely to be wishful thinking.

Especially, if Rielle Hunter cashes in her "personal insurance policy" and publishes her tell-all book.


by Mondo Frazier
images:
* national enquirer
* dbkp file
* aycu26
* Doug Ross@journal

John Edwards Scandal: Edwards, Hunter, Young, Baron and Karma

KARMA COALITION
John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, Andrew Young, Rielle Hunter, Fred Baron




The saying goes that good karma is like a boomerang; the more good karma one spreads, the more you get back in return. However, to those associated/affiliated with John Edwards and Rielle Hunter, the opposite seems to be in play.

Take, for example, Elizabeth Edwards, the wounded spouse in this tawdry affair. Denied a run for the White House by primary voters, the Democratic Convention was supposed to be the Edwards’ centerpiece for health care reform.

Instead, due to the fallout from John Edward’s tawdry escapades, a prime-time speech slot was hastily rescinded. Worse, while Elizabeth Edwards received an initial burst of goodwill and enthusiasm from disappointed Democrats, that goodwill disappeared in the night like will o’ wisp through inopportune interviews where it was revealed that Elizabeth had been complicit in her husband’s perfidy.

As for John Edwards, he’s certainly kept a low profile these past months, at one point even being banished from the family home, and he canceled a slew of lucrative speaking engagements. Rumors persist that after the election, Edwards intends to mount a “comeback.” How he intends to do this remains unclear at this time; a round of Oprah, Leno and Letterman, perhaps?

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Over 120 stories about the John Edwards Affair/Scandal/Coverup:
Library of DBKP John Edwards Stories

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Rielle Hunter seems to have drifted off the reservation, the frenzy around her seemingly abated. Tabloid press and gossip sites which ran Rielle Hunter 24/7 have, by all appearances, called off the dogs. Even the National Enquirer seems off the hunt. If there are any more bombshells in the Edwards-Hunter arsenal, perhaps the NE is holding it until after the election.

Andrew Young, the ex-John Edwards staffer and alleged “father” of Baby Frances Quinn, is supposedly back in North Carolina, along with his wife and other children, awaiting the completion of his million-dollar mansion, the one he built with no visible means of support.

Unfortunately for Fred Baron, the Texas lawyer and Democrat big wig who financed Hunter and Young’s cross country trips and manse rentals out of the goodness of his heart, he’s in the battle of his life.

According to his son Andrew, the elder Baron was recently diagnosed with final stage Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow, and given days to live.

After initially being denied access to Tysabri, a last chance experimental drug undergoing clinical trials, despite entreaties by President Bill Clinton, Senator Ted Kennedy, Senator John Kerry, Senator John Harkin, Lance Armstrong and Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach (head of the FDA), Baron is now receiving the drug under the auspices of The Mayo Clinic.

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NOTES:
* Does John Edwards plan on trying to resurrect his political career? Apparently so. The ex-VP candidate and NC Senator has speaking engagements planned for after the election, starting with an appearance at Indiana University on November 11.
* Elizabeth Edwards says that her condition has not worsened, according to reports. She continues to speak in favor of socialized health care.
* Rielle Hunter is rumored to be co-producer of a movie, a move some are saying is one of the quiet payoffs for remaining quiet over the paternity of her daughter.
* The New York Post is rumored to have new photos coming out in the near future of Rielle Hunter and daughter, Frances Quinn.
* Andrew Young, according to some sources, has moved into his new multi-million dollar home. He is still reported to be without visible means of support.

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by CB
images: file

CB writes at PJ MacIlvaine. "Confessions Of A Very Sweet Screenwriter/Journalist/Mommy/Proud Bleeding Heart Liberal"

John Edwards Affair: Exclusive Pix; Fox Helping Edwards' Timeline

NEW EXCLUSIVE DBKP Pix!
Fox News Asking Questions That DBKP Readers Knew the Answers to Weeks Ago
Revisionist Edwards History
An Appeal to DBKP Readers:
Put on your Investigative Thinking Caps



[ABOVE: Rielle Hunter still in the picture, shooting video of John Edwards, Edwards' parents, Wallace and Bobbie Edwards, at Chapel Hill NC on December 30, 2006. Hunter also took pictures of John and Elizabeth Edwards that day, as well as pictures of John and Elizabeth and their three children--DBKP Exclusive photo.]

Roger Friedman at Fox News.com, in his headline asks the question, "How much did Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards’ wife, know about his affair with Rielle Hunter and when did she know it?"

Friedman begins with a nifty bit of revisionist history:

Edwards has said that he told his wife about the affair “at the end of 2006” and that everything ended after that. Indeed, within days of the end of 2006, Web videos produced by Hunter about Edwards disappeared from his campaign Web site and from YouTube.

We realize that Friedman and Company have only lately come onto the John Edwards story--though sooner than the rest of the Mainstream Media--and might be excused for putting "end of 2006" in quotes.

[Background information: access over 100 DBKP stories on the John Edwards-Rielle Hunter affair, scandal and cover-up: John Edwards Love Child Scandal Library.]

In all fairness to Fox News: it was Fox who was the only broadcast outlet to report on the Edwards affair by confirming that John Edwards had been caught by reporters of the National Enquirer in the Beverly Hilton, after visiting mistress Rielle Hunter.

But to anyone who's followed the Edwards' story closely, Edwards has never said that the "end of 2006" was when his affair ended.



To make sure, we re-examined both Edwards August 8 statement and the transcripts of his ABC Nightline interview.

In his statement to the press, Edwards said, "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."

Nothing there about the "end of 2006". How about in his Nightline interview?

In 2006 2 years ago, I made a very serious mistake. A mistake that I am responsible for and no one else. In 2006 I told Elizabeth about the mistake, asked her for her forgiveness, asked God for his forgiveness. And we have kept this within our family since that time. All of my family knows about this and just to be absolutely clear, none of them are responsible for it. I am responsible for it. I alone am responsible for it. And it led to this most recent incident at the Beverly Hilton. I was at the Beverly Hilton. I was there for a very simple reason, because I was trying to keep this mistake that I had made from becoming public.

Nothing there, either.

That was all that Edwards said in his Nightline interview on the subject, displaying some fancy footwork in response to a later Bob Woodruff question, "How long did it last and when exactly did it end?"

Well, here's the way I feel about this Bob. I think that my family is entitled to every detail. They've been told every detail. Elizabeth knows absolutely everything. I think beyond the basics, the fact that I made this mistake and I'm responsible for it and no one else. I think that's where it stops in terms of the public because I think everything else is within my family and those privacy boundaries ought to be respected.

As that is the last time that Edwards has spoken on the record about the matter, we're wondering where Friedman got the "end of 2006" info from? Any readers care to help out here?

Did John Edwards ever say that his affair ended at the end of 2006? Or is Roger Friedman a DBKP reader who saw the photo below and is covering up for Edwards?




The DBKP pic is of Edwards, wife Elizabeth and Rielle Hunter at Chapel Hill NC on December 30, 2006. It is the only one that shows the three together that late in the year.

Friedman's piece was in the "Entertainment" section of Fox News--odd in itself--along with references to Mickey Rourke and the Golden Globes' Espresso Machine.

The story does relate that an unnamed source clues Friedman to the fact that Elizabeth Edwards had the videos of Hunter pulled down from the Internet and that they were replaced by "new videos made by a videographer who’d worked for Elizabeth Edwards’ brother, Jay Anania. Peter Cairns had worked for Anania on a project called Commedia and a video called “The Lost Hours.”"

Jay Anania, readers may recall, is the guy who helped Elizabeth Edwards pick out John Edwards' 'favorite' movie, Dr. Strangelove for a Turner Classic Movies' appearance in 2004--a movie John Edwards had never watched.

Friedman's source does reveal an interesting point: Elizabeth Edwards' 2007 addendum to the peperback edition of her memoir:

In a chapter added to the paperback edition of Edwards’ memoir, "Saving Graces," the former senator’s wife observes that in 2007: “My brother Jay had a wonderful young man, Peter Cairns, who worked for him, and Peter had begun videotaping the campaign, the events and behind the scenes. We had tried it before but the process of getting the film from the camera to the internet — where I and the public could watch John took much too long.”

(An e-mail and a phone call to Cairns on Monday were each unreturned.) Of course, that wasn’t the case. When Hunter shot her videos, sources tell me, a dedicated Internet technician was part of the deal, and managed to get all her videos up on Edwards’ campaign site immediately.

This is a valuable observation in a story where not only the principals have either lied and then clammed up--John Edwards, Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young--but have clammed up since.

It's to be noted that after our picture was published, the timeline on Edwards' affair with Hunter and Elizabeth's knowledge of it have shifted like the sand through an hourglass.

The Fox article also notes some interesting passages in the material Elizabeth Edwards added to the 2007 paperback edition of her memoirs.

Finally, Friedman notes that Elizabeth Edwards' paperback edition of "Saving Greaces" isn't dedicated to her husband, but to her four children.

“For Wade, Cate, Emma Claire, and Jack. This is a small offering, for no mother has ever been more blessed.” John Edwards -- aside from his mentions in the narrative of the book — gets nothing but an aside in the acknowledgments at the end — “my beloved John,” sandwiched in between Elizabeth’s parents and her daughter “precious Cate.”

DBKP has more pictures unpublished. We have been waiting for the Edwards to make further statements on the affair, scandal and cover-up.

But, just as John Edwards was asked no questions from November 29, 2007 until late July 2008 about his affair with Rielle Hunter, the Mainstream press has ditched all investigative interest in the story--outside of ABC News pursuing the Fred Baron Money Trail.

Don't expect them to spend much time on the story: the 11 days the MSM spent on the story from August 8-19 apparently wore out their investigative muscles--although the NY Times is supposedly hot on the trail of a Duke University student with whom Edwards allegedly had another affair.

Disposition of Edwards' campaign money, Fred Baron, hush money payments and further curiosities just don't interest the watchdogs in our adversarial press. But don't think for a moment that the MSM isn't an adversarial press.

Their coverage of John McCain's VP pick, Sarah Palin, over the last 10 days puts the lie to that myth.

[NOTE: Did we make a mistake? Or did Roger Friedman? Is there any references to John Edwards stating that he ended his affair at the "end of 2006" that you can find? Leave a comment or send an email. A footnote to history may await you. Thanks!]


by Mondoreb
images: dbkp

John Edwards Affair: Edwards Persona Non Grata at DNC

TYPHOID JOHN, WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?




“Mary Mallon aka Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States to be identified as healthy carrier of typhoid fever. Over the course of her career as a cook, she infected 47 people, three of whom died from the disease. Her fame is in part due to her vehement denial of her own role in spreading the disease, together with her refusal to cease working as a cook. She was forcibly quarantined twice by public health authorities and died in quarantine.”
--From Wikipedia.

Poor Mary. Her sad, tragic life has been well documented. But typhoid fever isn’t a thing of the past. In some parts of the world, it’s still quite prevalent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 22 million people come down with this dread disease each year, with more than 200,000 related deaths.

In today’s current political climate, for the MSM and the Democratic Party, John Edwards is the modern-day equivalent of Mary Mallon. No one wants to touch him with a ten-foot fireproof pole, if recent published reports are to be believed. Both Radar Online and the New York Daily News have reported that John Edwards has tried to reach out to former staffers, colleagues and supporters to express his regrets over his tawdry behavior and “beg” their forgiveness.

Unfortunately for Edwards, his “phone home” campaign has only incurred the wrath of his former aides. Some won’t even return his messages. The ones that do have apparently told him in no uncertain terms just how bitter and disillusioned they are over how they were deliberately deceived and manipulated.

From NYDN: “I let you down, and I'm sorry," is a common refrain of these messages, said another top ex-assistant on the receiving end of one of the calls.

"It was kind of pathetic, to tell you the truth," said the ex-aide, who said he didn't return the call and doesn't expect to speak to his former boss again.”

One source who compared notes with other former colleagues said Edwards makes no attempt to justify or rationalize his behavior in these desperate phone conversations. He simply expresses his regret for deceiving them and asks for their understanding and forgiveness.”

Not that its’ been any better for Elizabeth Edwards. Once a figure of sympathy and considered a victim, whatever goodwill she had in the face of her husband’s perfidy, dissipated like a will o’ wisp, when it was revealed that she was well aware of his infidelity and still, incredibly, encouraged his Presidential run. Her actions---or non-actions---has been the fodder of columnists and bloggers alike. It’s even gotten to the point where some leading Democrats strategists have labeled her “complicit” in this sordid saga.

At the just now concluded Democratic Convention, John Edwards name was never mentioned. He was the Invisible Man. His races, his delegates, were scrubbed from the official record. He was supposed to give a prime time speech; now persona non grata, a man without a party; he wasn’t allowed to deliver so much as a Dairy Queen menu. Think of the ignominy: Edwards was once on the short list to be Obama’s Vice President, and if not that, then a shoo-in for a Cabinet post. Now Democrats wouldn’t be able to pick him out of a police line-up if they had a gun to their heads. His political future in shreds, Edwards would be hard pressed to be elected dog-catcher in Mayberry.

From CQ Politics:

“Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said he thought it was appropriate that Edwards is staying away.
“What John Edwards did was inexcusable and wrong,” Salazar said. “From my point of view as one of the hosts of this convention, I’m glad he’s not here.”

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., one of the relative handful of congressional members who endorsed Edwards’ 2008 presidential candidacy, said he was “shocked, appalled, upset and disgraced” over Edwards’ conduct, then said he didn’t want to talk about the subject any further.

When a reporter asked House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., as he was racing to an event, why Edwards is never being mentioned at the convention, Hoyer stopped in his tracks, and said, “You know why.”





And now not only is Edwards without a party, it now seems he’s without a home. It’s been reported that Elizabeth Edwards has effectively banished Edwards from the family home. He’s allegedly cooling his heels on an “extended vacation” at their summer home on the Figure 8 Island on the Outer Banks (both literally and metaphysically).

Well, at least Edwards has a waterfront view in which to ponder his future, unlike the pitiable Typhoid Mary, who died alone and penniless.



by CB
images: Wikipedia; dpkp file

* CB writes for PJ McIlvaine at www.pjmcilvaine.blogspot.com

John Edwards Affair: Edwards' Mainstream Mania

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

John Edwards Affair: John, Elizabeth Edwards, Rielle Hunter, Fred Baron Latest News

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 Chickadee Pigeon

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