From The Hotline for Thursday, July 24, 2008

EDWARDS

It's A Lie, So I'm Going To Keep The Story Going

Thu. Jul 24, 2008


At a presser 7/23 in Houston to talk about his anti-poverty initiative, John Edwards "was asked about" and "denied" this week's National Enqurier story that "claims he had an affair and a 'love child' with 'blonde divorcee Rielle Hunter." The story "describes an Enquirer reporter chasing Edwards around the Beverley Hilton," where "Hunter and her baby were staying," on 7/21 p.m. Edwards said 7/23 that the story was "tabloid trash" and "full of lies" (Mason, "Beltway Confidential," Houston Chronicle, 7/23).

Still, other media outlets began to pick it up. Los Angeles Times' Khan writes, "Barack Obama's VP shortlist might have gotten shorter." But, "then again, the Enqurier hasn't been able to produce quotes, photos or even eyewitness accounts. And the mainstream media seems to be ignoring it, for the most part" ("Opinion L.A." blog, 7/23).

Somebody Has To Go First

Slate's Shafer raises the case of Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) to argue, "Edwards, too, may be a sex hypocrite." When the "original" Enquirer stories about the alleged affair and child came out in Oct. and Dec. '07, "Edwards was making his wife and their marriage a central component of his campaign" in the Dem primary. He "categorically denied the relationship" then, but "if Edwards had an affair and lied about it, shouldn't he suffer scrutiny akin to that of Craig?"

If Edwards "had no affair and fathered no love child, it should be easy to erase the hypocrisy charge, and the press owes him that, pronto. ... So why hasn't the press commented" yet? Do news outlets "want to investigate it for themselves before writing about it? Or are they observing a double standard that says homo-hypocrisy is indefensible but that hetero-hypocrisy deserves and automatic bye? That's my sense" (7/23).

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