UPDATE, August 13, 2008: "SEX, MORE LIES & VIDEOTAPE"
The ENQUIRER has uncovered that Edwards' political operatives are still paying his mistress Rielle Hunter - and she was whisked away on a private jet two days before he confessed their extramarital affair on national TV!
The ENQUIRER has also confirmed that Edwards secretly visited Rielle and their love child three separate times at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles this year - a fact that proves he is still lying to America and his wife.
...After Edwards confessed the affair to his wife, he restarted it, and was sexually involved with Rielle when she became pregnant.
Despite his denials, Edwards WAS aware that his former finance committee chairman, Fred Baron, was funneling money to Rielle.
Experts are now calling for a federal investigation into Edwards' use of campaign funds.
...In denying he fathered Rielle's baby, Edwards told ABC that he would "be happy" to take a paternity test to prove he's telling the truth. (He has refused numerous previous requests by The ENQUIRER to take a paternity test.)
Edwards claimed he ended the affair in 2006, but sources say he restarted the illicit romance after confessing to his wife.
Rielle soon became pregnant after the affair was rekindled, say sources.
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The National Enquirer scooped the mainstream media.
The reporting by the tabloid was of a higher caliber than the major news outlets.
What an embarrassment that late night TV talk show comedians "covered" the story that the lib media refused to touch!
Today, on Friday afternoon, John Edwards admitted that he had an affair with Rielle Hunter (Lisa Druck).
This sort of stuff always hits on a Friday. Naturally, Edwards chose today to make his admission. Plus, the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics are taking center stage today and a war is breaking out in Georgia. What timing!
FINALLY, the mainstream media addressed the story, after being shamed by the National Enquirer and the blogosphere.
When the National Enquirer first broke the story last October, I defended Edwards.
I thought Edwards, a candidate for president at the time, was the victim of dirty politics. I thought it was a sleazy story planted by a political enemy. I couldn't buy it, with all its unnamed sources.
It seemed goofy, typical tabloid stuff. Most of all, I could not believe that John Edwards would betray his ill wife Elizabeth.
I was a fool to defend him.
Edwards is an adulterer. He's a liar. He's selfish and cruel.
He lied during his campaign. He lied to the American people; but we've been through this sort of thing a million times. Some powerful public figures believe they're entitled to anything and anyone they want. Some people, like Rielle Hunter, are willing to latch on to the rich and famous to get what they want. Pure selfishness.
So now Edwards will be on ABC's Nightline tonight to throw himself on the mercy of the public.
We've seen these lame interviews before. I'm sure it will be the same old "I have sinned" crap.
In an interview for broadcast tonight on Nightline, Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he did have an affair with 44-year old Rielle Hunter, but said that he loved only his wife, Elizabeth.
"Two years ago I made a very serious mistake," Edwards said, blaming the prominence of being a vice presidential candidate. "All of which fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want," he said.
Edwards also denied he was the father of Hunter's baby girl, Frances Quinn, although the one-time Democratic Presidential candidate said he has not taken a paternity test. He said he would be happy to take one.
Edwards said he knew he was not the father based on timing of the baby's birth on February 27, 2008.
...Edwards said the affair began during the campaign after she was hired. Hunter traveled with Edwards around the country and to Africa.
Edwards said he told his wife, Elizabeth, and others in his family about the affair in 2006.
"She was mad, she was angry, I think furious would be a good way to describe it," Edwards said.
Edwards made a point of telling Woodruff that his wife's cancer was in remission when he began the affair with Hunter. Elizabeth Edwards has since been diagnosed with an incurable form of the disease.
This is disgusting.
Even in Edwards' admission, he's trying to put himself in the best light possible. Elizabeth was in remission at the time.
WHO CARES? That's irrelevant. That doesn't make it any better.
For Edwards' staff and supporters, the ones who were kept in the dark, this revelation by the man they believed in must be extremely disturbing.
For Elizabeth, it must be shattering.
I don't believe that it is, but let's assume for a moment that the Edwards/Hunter affair is over, that it ended two years ago. The National Enquirer has proof that he was visiting Hunter on July 21, 2008. He was in a hotel room in the wee small hours of the morning with her.
I can't imagine that Elizabeth liked hearing that. I assume that Edwards promised that he would never have contact with Hunter again. Even if the affair is history as Edwards is claiming, his relationship with Hunter clearly isn't over.
So what are the political consequences that this big lie poses for John Edwards?
I don't know. Ted Kennedy managed to get beyond the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. What Edwards has done, or is doing, is much less dramatic than that scandal.
I'm not thinking of this in terms of politics and certainly not in terms of Democrats and Republicans.
I'm thinking of Elizabeth Edwards. She must be devastated. It doesn't take much to imagine the lies Edwards told her.
As she struggles with her illness, when she needs her husband most, he betrays her.
Every moment she has is so precious now. I can't believe Edwards would behave in a manner that would surely cause her such incredible pain.
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John Edwards' Statement
(Excerpts)
When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99% honest is no longer enough.
...It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry. In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up – feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.
Edwards isn't the victim.
"[B]eing 99% honest is no longer enough."
"[B]eat me up - feel free."
Give me a break.
He's no tragic figure. He deserves no sympathy.
Elizabeth Edwards is the victim. She's been beaten up.
John Edwards beat his wife.
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Elizabeth Edwards' Daily Kos diary, "Today"
(Excerpt)
John has spoken in a long on-camera interview I hope you watch. Admitting one’s mistakes is a hard thing for anyone to do, and I am proud of the courage John showed by his honesty in the face of shame. The toll on our family of news helicopters over our house and reporters in our driveway is yet unknown. But now the truth is out, and the repair work that began in 2006 will continue. I ask that the public, who expressed concern about the harm John’s conduct has done to us, think also about the real harm that the present voyeurism does and give me and my family the privacy we need at this time.
The real harm is all rooted in the behavior and lies of John Edwards. His choices to be unfaithful and to lie about it have consequences.
It's not a private matter when someone hoping to be the president lies to the public and presents a false image.
I don't think Edwards showed courage in any way. There's nothing courageous about being backed into a corner and then realizing there's no other option but to come clean.
That said, there's no need for helicopters to hover over the Edwards' home.
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