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Refusing to call it quits despite being dissed by mainstream media, The National Enquirer has released more scandalous John Edwards allegations! The celebrity gossip tabloid reports that Edwards’ alleged mistress / baby-mama, Rielle Hunter (also known as Lisa Druck), will not say a word about their affair and love child because she’s being paid to zip it - $15,000 a month! The money is reportedly being funneled to Hunter by a colleague of John Edwards, the former U.S. Senator from North Carolina, 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee (running with John Kerry) and 2008 presidential candidate. This same man is also...

Elsewhere on the Internet you can find postings about a story in the National Enquirer about former Sen. John Edwards, alleging unpleasantness about his personal life. You can also find a story by FOX News that purports to confirm a small portion of that National Enquirer story. The allegations concern the kinds of moral and ethical issues I frequently blog about, but I haven't written about these and I'm not going to do so here. Why? It's not because I'm an Edwards fan. It's because I still think that standards still matter in journalism. My screed is at the jump....

John Edwards was fighting for his political future yesterday as America's mainstream media began reporting a colourful scandal involving his alleged mistress, a disputed "secret love child", and an altercation at a Beverly Hills hotel in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The married former Democratic presidential candidate, who is among leading contenders to be Barack Obama's running mate, saw his private life given more attention than he would like when Fox News claimed to have "independently verified" details of last week's National Enquirer story headlined: "John Edwards caught with mistress and love child." Reporters from the supermarket tabloid had...

I think Mickey Kaus is correct about this. Under normal circumstances, John Edwards would have a prominent role in the Democratic convention in Denver — remember the adoring, break-into-the-news coverage of Edwards' decision to endorse Obama? But these are not normal circumstances for Edwards. I think most people in the media believe the National Enquirer story about him is accurate, even as they have adopted a this-is-not-happening editorial policy. But the policy would be harder to maintain were Edwards to take a high-profile role at the convention. It is impossible to imagine that the Obama campaign would want Edwards to...

Ann Coulter relaunched her campaign against John Edwards today. You’ll recall that the right-wing authoress took a shot at Edwards last year, when she called the politico a “faggot.” Well, Coulter has done it again, this time calling him “faggy” while discussing his alleged affair. Said Coulter: "I just think John Edwards is an incredibly creepy individual and the very definition of faggy, with his whole two Americas — and remember when he was campaigning, one of his big things, oh, how people are so poor and they can’t, they’re starving at night, and, you know, he met a woman...

RUSH: An update on the John Edwards situation out in Los Angeles broken by the National Enquirer. Two interesting things here: "A hotel security guard at the Beverly Hilton told FoxNews.com that he intervened this week between a man he identified as [the Breck Girl] and tabloid reporters who chased down the former presidential hopeful after what they're calling a rendezvous with his mistress and love child. The Beverly Hilton hotel guard said he encountered a shaken and ashen-faced [Breck Girl] who he did not immediately recognize in a hotel men's room early Tuesday morning about 2:30 and was in...

There’s been a lot of talk lately that former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) will have some sort of role in the Obama administration, if there is one. A few months ago, Edwards, the Democratic Party’s 2004 vice presidential candidate, seemed to pull himself out of the VP race. But then, a couple of weeks ago, Edwards quietly put himself back in, telling National Public Radio, “I’m prepared to seriously consider anything, anything [Obama] asks me to do for our country.” “Anything” could, of course, mean running for vice president. But Edwards has done that before, and he didn’t exactly put...

Barack Obama's VP shortlist might have gotten shorter: The National Enquirer yesterday published a story claiming it had caught John Edwards meeting with an alleged mistress and illegitimate child. Then again, the Enquirer 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. TalkLeft, among others, hopes it isn't true. And thus far, the claims don't seem to have hurt Edwards politically — although the Corner has something worth noting: ...after first seeming to take himself out of the running, he put himself back in the...

Edwards, Rielle Hunter, Busted: HuffPo 's Sam Stein, who got the story rolling, appears to be vindicated. ... P.S.: Always trust content from kausfiles! Never trust content from Jerome Armstrong. ... P.P.S.: Will this be the first presidential-contender level scandal to occur completely in the undernews, without ever being reported in the cautious, respectable MSM? That's always seemed an interesting theoretical possibility--a prominent politician just disappears from the scene, after blogs and tabloids dig up dirt on him, but nobody who relies on the Times, Post, network news or Mark Halperin has the faintest idea why. If this is that...

No details yet...developing. Wonder what he was doing at Beverly Hilton? Woman involved? Ailing Elizabeth no where to be seen.

Edwards To Endorse Obama May 14, 2008 5:04 PM ABC News' Kate Snow, Raelyn Johnson and Rick Klein Report: Former Sen. John Edwards is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidate Wednesday evening, in a dramatic attempt by the Obama campaign to answer concerns regarding Obama's appeal to working-class voters, several senior Democratic sources tell ABC News. Edwards, who ran for president on a platform of eradicating poverty, plans to appear alongside Obama in Grand Rapids, Mich., Wednesday evening. The event comes one day after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Obama by 41 points in the West Virginia primary, and Edwards'...

CHICAGO (AP) - Barack Obama sneaked down to North Carolina Sunday and met with former rival John Edwards, who has yet to make an endorsement in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Officials at North Carolina television station WTVD said they have video taken from a helicopter of Obama leaving Edwards' home in Chapel Hill. A producer said the station was "tipped off" about the meeting, but said the source was confidential. The Obama campaign confirmed the meeting. Although reporters normally travel everywhere with Obama, he left them behind to fly down in secret from his hometown. "Senator Obama...

ABC News has learned that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., met with former Sen. John Edwards secretly at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Thursday. Clinton's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Illionis Sen. Barack Obama will meet with Edwards on Monday, sources say. Clinton initially told reporters that she was not asking for Edwards' endorsement immediately after he got out of the race. Yesterday, speaking in Lewiston. Maine Clinton said "I'll ask John Edwards to help with anything I do in the White House." This would be an important endorsement for Clinton to secure, and is essential enough...

Just breaking now -

Edwards is with his latest pathetic showing in New Hampshire obviously running to be someone's pool boy...AGAIN! Evidently John Kerry didn't pay enough :) So, will Johnny Edwards be Hillary's cabana boy or is he the new Obama girl?

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — John Edwards says that if elected president he would withdraw the American troops who are training the Iraqi army and police as part of a broader plan to remove virtually all American forces within 10 months.

Mark Steyn’s review of the candidate’s Christmas campaign messages is a must-read today because it’s likely to be the funniest thing you’ll see all day. Here’s a taste: John Edwards’s message is the usual Dickensian affair about the two Americas. I forget the details, but the upshot is that one America is a land of spindly emaciated Tiny Tims with barely three farthings to rub together for their next cup of gruel, while the other’s a marshmallow world where Dick Cheney, high on wassail, shoots a brace of turducken out of season, and then chows down as the Radio City...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Elizabeth Edwards says avoiding the "Made in China" label on toys is not exactly child's play. With millions of recalls rolling in this year because of lead in toys, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards vowed during a debate there would be no Chinese made gifts under his Christmas tree. But, the former North Carolina senator says he immediately had to check with his wife to make sure he was right. The Edwards campaign says the kids will be unwrapping U.S.-made toys, but wouldn't get into the specifics as not to spoil anyone's gifts.

Presidential candidate John Edwards is caught up in a love child scandal, a blockbuster ENQUIRER investigation has discovered. The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Rielle Hunter, a woman linked to Edwards in a cheating scandal earlier this year, is more than six months pregnant — and she's told a close confidante that Edwards is the father of her baby! The ENQUIRER's political bombshell comes just weeks after Edwards emphatically denied having an affair with Rielle, who formerly worked on his campaign and told another close pal that she was romantically involved with the married ex-senator. The ENQUIRER has now confirmed...

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Presidential hopeful John Edwards inadvertently made the late night comedy shows this year when his campaign spending reports included two $400 haircuts. Now Mrs. Edwards has joined other candidates helping a Concord hair stylist who wants to turn the controversy into help for a good cause. David Holden owns Hair Biz on Main Street, a couple of doors away from an Edwards campaign office. After the Democratic former senator's haircut made news last spring, Holden challenged presidential hopefuls to come in for $400 haircuts of their own, promising to donate all of the proceeds to autism...

Bow, NH—No longer satisfied with having an upbeat tone, John Edwards is ready to draw blood on the campaign trail, flogging any opponent that gets in his way. During his campaign, he plans to punch harder, especially when addressing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh, and big oil. "Hillary continues to defend a system that does not work, that is broken, that is rigged, and is corrupt," Edwards said. “And if you think I’m going to let an emasculating woman become President of the United States, then you’re out of your mind." Critics say that he...

BOW, N.H. (AP) -- Democrat John Edwards says his experience as a trial lawyer makes him the presidential contender best able to give voters hope — and to give the establishment grief. Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, has focused his campaign on pledges to change a government system he says is rigged against most voters. "While you shop (for candidates), I hope you will think about two key things: Who can you trust to tell you the truth about what's wrong in Washington, and who can you trust to fight like hell to make it right?" Edwards said...

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards will outline a plan Sunday to provide immediate relief to families struggling with high heating oil bills and to ensure affordable prices in the future.Noting that home heating oil prices in New Hampshire have surpassed $3 a gallon, the former North Carolina senator is calling on Congress to release some of the nation's home heating oil and crude oil reserves as a way to bring down prices by increasing supply. He also is urging Congress to fully fund the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, according to a copy of his plan provided to The...

WASHINGTON -- John Edwards launched his slight public career -- one Senate term, two presidential candidacies -- with the money and reputation he made as a trial lawyer. Today he is the candidate of a small fraction of the electorate but a sizable portion of America's trial lawyers. Edwards says Washington is "corrupt." Well. Within Edwards' lucrative trial bar constituency, there has been a flurry of criminal indictments. Their target has been what Fortune magazine calls the law firm of Hubris Hypocrisy and Greed. (See Peter Elkind's jaw-dropping report in the issue of Nov. 13, 2006.) The real name of...

As part of her job at an influential national security think tank, Julianne Smith brings politicians and senior policy-makers from all over Europe to Washington for candid closed-door meetings with the policy advisers to the candidates vying to replace President George W. Bush. The Europeans usually arrive eager to discuss the coming era that some are dubbing "AB" — "After Bush." That is the highly anticipated period beginning on Jan. 20, 2009, in which a newly sworn-in American president, chastened by the troubles in Iraq and by the scorn of allies who say the Bush White House flouted international law,...

WASHINGTON — John Edwards on Sunday said he opposes a new program in New York to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but the Democratic presidential candidate offered much the same plan for establishing a licensing system as his chief rival and party primary frontrunner, Hillary Clinton. The former North Carolina senator, who unequivocally supported issuing driver's licenses to illegals when he was running for vice president in 2004, said that it should be up to the states to decide whether to issue licenses to illegals. However, once a national comprehensive immigration reform plan is passed into law, any illegal...

A look at the Sunday morning chat circuit ... Former Sen. Fred Thompson visits NBC's "Meet the Press." Of special note, the program is reaching its 60th anniversary. It debuted on Nov. 20, 1947, and is the world's longest-running TV program. It airs at 9 a.m. on WESH-Channel 2. Former President George H.W. Bush will talk to "Fox News Sunday." It airs at 9 a.m. on WOFL-Channel 35. Sen Joseph Biden will take questions on CBS' "Face the Nation." It airs at 10:30 a.m. on WKMG-Channel 6. Another guest will be Mark Penn, who is a strategist for Sen. Hillary...

Manchester, N.H. (AP) -- Looking to shake up Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in the Democratic presidential race, John Edwards is making an ardent push for voters to turn away from Washington insiders and what he condemns as a corrupt political system. Edwards railed against the "bankrupt ways of Washington" on Monday — but his aim seemed less to target Republican President Bush's leadership than to cast fellow Democrat Clinton as the insider whom voters should reject. "This corruption did not begin yesterday, and it did not even begin with George Bush," Edwards said in speech excerpts provided by his...

Edwards: GOP 'Bush on steroids' Emily Kesten, Staff Writer 10/25/2007 Sen. John Edwards spoke with southwest Iowans at the American Legion building in Glenwood on Wednesday morning. Those who attended asked questions about the Iraq war, health care, immigration, global trade and outsourcing security. GLENWOOD - Democratic president hopeful Sen. John Edwards did not shy away from separating himself from frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton and calling Republican candidates "George Bush on steroids" at a community meeting in Glenwood Wednesday.

Not being in the middle of it all gives me a rather unique advantage. That means I have no one to answer to for my views. I just watch things, and then I talk about them. In other words, this means I don’t have to lie about my biases in order to keep some false sense of objectivity alive for the gullible. In other words, I’m no Chris Matthews. Let me start then with the current batch of presidential hopefuls: Folks - meaning the current Republican candidates - you really need to watch out for Fred Thompson. None of you...

Appearing on an Air America show this afternoon Dr. Elizabeth Edwards determined that if Rush Limbaugh was unable to serve in the military due to a medical disability then he should also be unable to sit in a chair and talk into a microphone: My classmates went to Vietnam, he did not. He was 4F. He had a medical disability, the same medical disability that probably should have stopped him from spending a lifetime in a radio announcer’s chair; but it is true, isn’t it? If he has an inoperable position that allows him not to serve, presumably it...

An Air America producer just sent over some transcript from an interview their Richard Greene (not our Richard Greene) conducted with Elizabeth Edwards, in which she questioned Rush Limbaugh's Vietnam exemption: My classmates went to Vietnam, he did not. He was 4F. He had a medical disability, the same medical disability that probably should have stopped him from spending a lifetime in a radio announcer’s chair; but it is true, isn’t it? If he has an inoperable position that allows him not to serve, presumably it should not allow him to sit for long periods of time the way he...

Sincerity counts. And from the sounds of what a handful of University of New Hampshire students had to say after the first MTV/MySpace presidential forum with John Edwards on Thursday (September 27), they felt like the former senator was talking straight. "It's the first time I really heard him talk and I thought it was great, because he wasn't someone I was even considering voting for," said Evin Baird, 18, an English/music major from Nashua, New Hampshire. "He was very un-dodgy and seemed honest. I was surprised with how well he answered the questions, especially on health care and Iraq."...

CONWAY, N.H. - Democrat John Edwards yesterday changed course and announced that he would accept public campaign financing, which was once the standard approach for presidential candidates but has in the last two elections become a last refuge among those unable to raise enough from private donors. The move, announced just before the end of the third-quarter fund-raising period on Sunday, allows Edwards to take up to about $21 million in matching funds in exchange for abiding by a primary-season spending limit of $50 million. But the move is likely to be perceived as an acknowledgment that he has been...

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who made his fortune as a trial lawyer, says attorneys should have to show their medical malpractice cases have merit before filing them. He also said attorneys with a history of frivolous suits should be barred from filing new cases. Edwards' proposal is similar to "certificates of merit" laws that have been adopted in several states in recent years. Those laws usually require that an independent doctor assert the validity of a malpractice case before it is filed. Speaking Monday at a health care forum hosted by Families USA and the Kaiser Foundation, Edwards also...

Though his former law firm came under indictment more than a year ago and he himself appeared likely to face criminal charges, prominent trial lawyer William S. Lerach slipped past the vetting of John Edwards' presidential campaign and was permitted to raise large amounts of money for the Democrat's 2008 bid. Lerach, his family and members of his new law Lerach Coughlin law firm accounted for nearly $78,000 in donations to Edwards' campaign in the first half of this year, making the trial lawyer one of the North Carolina Democrat's leading "bundlers" of contributions. In the midst of that fundraising,...

The only "crisis" in health care in this country is that doctors are paid too little. (Also they've come up with nothing to help that poor Dennis Kucinich.) But the Democratic Party treats doctors like they're Klan members. They wail about how much doctors are paid and celebrate the trial lawyers who do absolutely nothing to make society better, but swoop in and steal from the most valuable members of society. Maybe doctors could get the Democrats to like them if they started suing their patients. It's only a matter of time before the best and brightest students forget about...

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is calling upon Congress to stand up to President Bush and start bringing the troops home from Iraq immediately. He made the remarks Friday at his campaign headquarters in Las Vegas on Pecos and East Flamingo. Edwards says President Bush's troop withdrawal plan is unacceptable and that the president needs to stop tying the September 11th attacks to the war in Iraq. Edwards stated, "The tragedy of 9/11 had nothing to do with the war in Iraq. And the president's own administration has said so. The president needs to stop using the politics of fear...

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070915/NEWS09/709150332/1001/NEWS Cannot be posted due to copyright issues.

In the clamor of Democrats assailing President Bush on Iraq, presidential candidate John Edwards has found a way to be heard after Bush addresses the nation Thursday night: He's buying time for a rebuttal. Edwards has bought two minutes of air time on MSNBC, scheduled to air after Bush's 15-minute televised speech from the White House at 9 p.m. EDT. Bush is expected to announce plans to reduce the American troop presence in Iraq by up to 30,000 by next summer, but say that he will condition those and further cuts on continued progress. "Unfortunately, the president is pressing on...

A subprime lender with ties to Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards has moved to foreclose on more than 130 homes in South Carolina since the S.C. native went to work for its parent company, an analysis of courthouse records shows. The lender, Green Tree Financial, also was once the subject of a $30 million class-action verdict involving thousands of South Carolinians. Edwards’ ties to the company are disquieting to some supporters of the North Carolinian. On the campaign trail, Edwards has insisted he is the champion of lower-income families. Edwards’ ties to Green Tree also could hurt him with voters...

NASHUA, N.H. - Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards carries a running list of people he might put in his Cabinet, and it includes "more than one" Republican. "I want to be ready for when I get sworn in," the former North Carolina senator said between campaigns stops as he dug into a travel bag for the list. "I might have it with me," Edwards told The Associated Press. "I wouldn't show it to you, but I could have it with me." He didn't hand over the list, nor did he commit to putting Republicans in his Cabinet. "No, because the...

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Fred Thompson is the most popular United States presidential contender for Republican Party supporters in North Carolina, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling. 37 per cent of respondents in the Tar Heel State would vote for the actor and former Tennessee senator in the 2008 primary. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is second with 25 per cent, followed by Arizona senator John McCain with 14 per cent, and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney also with 14 per cent. In the sample of Democratic Party supporters, former North Carolina senator John Edwards...

John Edwards, the presidential candidate, has been outed by the Wall Street Journal as the kind of investor in subprime real estate that he's been blasting on the campaign trial. It turns out that the hedge fund Mr. Edwards has a long and profitable connection with - Fortress Investment Group - invests in the kind of "shameful lending practices" that Candidate Edwards denounced when he kicked off his presidential campaign in New Orleans' Ninth Ward last December. The very model of the populist orator, Candidate Edwards took out after those nasty subprime lenders who've been foreclosing on poor folks in...

TIPTON, Iowa - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care. "It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care," he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. "If you are going to be in the system, you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK." He noted, for example, that women would be...

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is getting the endorsement of two unions, the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers of America, on Labor Day. Edwards is scheduled to be in Pittsburgh, home of the Steelworkers' international headquarters, for a Monday rally and will accept the endorsements there. "The members of the Steelworkers Union and the Mine Workers union are some of the country's hardest-working, bravest, most courageous workers," Edwards said. "It is their tireless hard work which has helped build a stronger America that benefits all of us. I honor what they do every day." The former senator from...

Recently, a friend wondered if John Edwards might not be the biggest hypocrite in our nation’s political history. I was taken aback. With so many Democrats vying for the honor, is it possible that the poster boy for the Hair Stylists of America, a man who’s held office for a scant six years, could beat out a bunch of seasoned veterans who’ve been in the public eye for several decades? If so, it could be the biggest upset since Truman bested Dewey back in 1948. For those questioning why I immediately dismissed Republicans from the competition, it’s because when it...

Former Sen. John Edwards is expected to start his Labor Day in Pittsburgh and leave with the endorsement of the United Steelworkers. Mr. Edwards has courted the USW and other unions since the end of his 2004 vice presidential candidacy, which was publicly launched in Mellon Square, just blocks from the Mellon Arena site of the Monday rally where the former North Carolina senator will speak before the start of the Labor Day parade. Neither the Edwards campaign nor the USW responded to inquiries about the planned announcement, which still must be formally confirmed in a conference of the USW's...

Americus, Ga. (AP) -- Former President Carter welcomed Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards to Georgia on Wednesday, embracing the fellow Southerner as a kindred spirit on poverty and the environment. Carter and Edwards shared the stage at Carter's alma mater, Georgia Southwestern State University. Carter stopped short of endorsing the former senator from North Carolina but called him "a candidate whom I really admire." "I can say without equivocation that no one who is running for president has presented anywhere near as comprehensive and accurate a prediction of what our country ought to do in the field of environmental quality,...