Friday, July 25, 2008
It looks like Barack Obama can remove John Edwards from his shortlist of vice presidential candidates.
For several months now, the Washington DC rumor mill has been murmuring about an alleged affair between former Sen. John Edwards and an independent filmaker named Rielle Hunter. The mainstream media has largely ignored the story, leaving the coverage to the National Enquirer.
Due to the highly personal nature of the rumor, coupled with the inability to confirm it, I have avoidied reporting it on my blog. However, a perfect storm has taken place. It includes the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, putting John Edwards on his shortlist for consideration for vice president, and confirmation of the meeting between between Edwards and Hunter by a Beverly Hilton Hotel guard, so I have decided to report the story.
The Beverly Hilton Hotel guard said he encountered a shaken and ashen-faced John Edwards, who he did not immediately recognize, in a hotel men’s room early Tuesday morning in a literal tug-of-war with reporters on the other side of the door.
“What are they saying about me?” the guard said Edwards asked.
“His face just went totally white,” the guard said, when Edwards was told the reporters were shouting out questions about Edwards and Rielle Hunter, a woman the National Enquirer says is the mother of his child.
The Beverly Hilton Hotel guard said he encountered a shaken and ashen-faced Edwards — whom he did not immediately recognize — in a hotel men’s room early Tuesday morning in a literal tug-of-war with reporters on the other side of the door.
“What are they saying about me?” the guard said Edwards asked.
“His face just went totally white,” the guard said, when Edwards was told the reporters were shouting out questions about Edwards and Rielle Hunter, a woman the National Enquirer says is the mother of his child.
Edwards this week has repeatedly refused to comment on the Enquirer report. Asked about it on Thursday at an event in New Orleans, he said: “I have no idea what you’re asking about. I’ve responded, consistently, to these tabloid allegations by saying I don’t respond to these lies and you know that and I stand by that.”
Edwards spokesmen did not respond to repeated calls by FOXNews.com to respond to this story.
Beverly Hills Police Sgt. Michael Publicker, meanwhile, confirmed Friday that an incident report was filed with the department by two of the tabloid’s reporters. Publicker said that contrary to a published report, a “criminal complaint” was not filed and there are no charges pending.
26 Comments
+ at 6:05 pm
Edwards cheated on Elizabeth with Rielle Hunter?
She looks like a skinny version of Linda Tripp. I am never surprised by the antics of straight men and their penises.
But you’re correct, Chris. Obama can’t consider Edwards for his veep now. Can you imagine what the religious right would say?
+ at 6:07 pm
I would tend to relegate this story to fodder for the tabloids but now you have a security guard coming forward and the Beverly Hills police involved the night of the fracas, so it’s looking more and more like John Edwards is just another politician with an overactive libido. It’s a shame it had to involve him.
+ at 6:11 pm
Wonderful! Just a month before the Democratic National Convention. Oh well. Best get it all out in the open before the fallout can have a negative impact on Obama. It is a shame because Edwards would have made an excellent vice president.
+ at 6:15 pm
This love we’re contemplating
Is worth the pain of waiting
We’ll only end up hating
The child we maybe creating
Love child, never meant to be
Love child, (scorned by) society
Love child, always second best
Love child, different from the rest
Mm, baby (hold on, hold on, just a little bit)
Mm, baby (hold on, hold on, just a little bit)
I started school, in a worn, torn, dress that somebody threw out
I knew the way it felt, to always live in doubt
To be without the simple things
So afraid my friends would see the guilt in me
+ at 6:17 pm
I hope it isn’t true.
If it is true, my heart goes out to Elizabeth Edwards who despite waging a battle against cancer, supports John and is an advocate for universal healthcare.
+ at 6:19 pm
Women dig John Edwards. There is something in him that pushes their button. Maybe it’s the hair, or the dimples, or his boyishness. But every woman I work with have the same reaction to him.
+ at 6:22 pm
The story is radioactive for most of the lefty blogs.
Props for discussing it. That’s what I like about this blog: there are no sacred cows.
+ at 6:29 pm
I heard the rumor of John Edwards allegedly having a mistress a year ago. So many of these powerful, wealthy politicians can’t keep their junk in their pants and take it home where it belongs. Who was that said power is the ultimate aphrodisiac? John Kennedy had Marilyn; Lyndon Johnson had a girlfriend; Poppy Bush had his Jennifer; Bill Clinton had the entire DC female population under 40. I am so happy I am single!
+ at 6:34 pm
Phew! I thought you were going to say John Edwards was following Madonna and Kaballah!
+ at 6:39 pm
I thought you were going to say John Edwards was following Madonna and Kaballah!
LMAO! A-Rod isn’t enough for that girl?
BTW, what the hell is Kaballah?
+ at 7:05 pm
Johnny, what were you thinking?
Rielle looks like a younger, American version of Camilla, that hag Prince Charles traded Diana for.
So wrong on so many levels!
+ at 8:07 pm
If this is true, wave adios to your political career. In the post-Clinton era, mistresses and love children don’t play too well in middle America. Foolish man, that’s all I can say.
+ at 9:00 pm
Who Edwards sleeps with is irrelevant. However, I’m not sure I would want him to be VP. He was pretty right wing in the Senate and in his 2004 campaign.
+ at 10:18 pm
I don’t agree, Lib Homo. Edwards is a married man, with school age children and a wife fighting cancer. I think his priorities are terribly skewed if this story is true and Christopher has cited some very good sources. BTW, the Huffington Post is publishing the story too. As a woman and a mother, I don’t think I want him as Obama’s veep either.
+ at 10:30 pm
So whom is Hunter shtupping?
Is John Edwards the baby daddy or Andrew Young?
If it’s Edwards, his career is O.V.E.R.
+ at 11:19 pm
All I can say is that if it is true it is pretty sad. That said, Elizabeth is fighting cancer and who knows what their private life is like. I feel sorry for both of them.
Certainly she will be devastated by the public disclosure of their private lives. For John, he will have just watched his political life implode.
I hope it is not true on so many levels, but even the Enquirer would not print this story without some kind of proof that would stand up in court. My heart goes out to both of them.
When will our species ever learn to keep it in our pants.
+ at 6:36 am
The rumors about John Edwards having a mistress have been circulating for sometime. I am surprised that the MSM won’t touch the story. I mean, they couldn’t print enough pages about Bill Clinton’s various squeezes and just because Edwards doesn’t hold elected office at the moment doesn’t make him a private citizen. His name is on Obama’s shortlist for VP.
+ at 7:38 am
If the BH police confirmed the incident happened than no one can say the story is just a hit piece intended to damage Edwards.
+ at 8:52 am
The Honorable Senator Edwards:
Might I remind you that you have a perfectly good, attractive, intelligent and accomplished woman at home by the name of Elizabeth?
Run, don’t walk home and beg her forgiveness.
Respectfully,
Ben E.
+ at 9:05 am
This story is receiving a lot of radio time on AM talk radio in Boise.
My brother delivers beer for a local distributor and he’s on the road all day, five days a week. He says he remembers hearing the rumor about John Edwards having a mistress more than a year ago.
I want to feel badly for his wife but if she’s stupid enough to tolerate his behavior, then she’s made her own bed.
+ at 10:45 am
I could care less if he is having an affair. Some of our best leaders had affairs. We would be lucky to have Edwards as our President. This story is coming up again because he could be the next VP, and the oligarchy that controls this country is terrified of Edwards. They know he will do what he promised and give this country back to the people. The corporate media has forced Obama nad McCain on us because they can be controlled. Until we have public financing of elections we will never be free of oligarch control.
+ at 12:17 pm
Now that I see this story on your blog, Christopher, I’m beginning to think that maybe it has legs. You have alot of credibility with me.
My only question is — if he was ambushed at the hotel by Enquirer photographers and reporters, as is being reported, where is the photo evidence?
I do believe that the Edwards’ marriage is their own personal business, but the political reality is that this incident will certainly prevent any VP consideration, especially given the fact that a man cheating on his wife when she’s very ill is not cool….at all.
+ at 1:32 pm
What is it about Democrats and p*ssy? You aspire to control the free world but you can’t control your penis?! And your wife is dying too? Ugh. Not a good look, Edwards.
+ at 5:47 pm
Edwards and his mistress — or the rumor of his mistress, goes back a long way.
There are those who say this is what helped to sink his bid for reelection to the US Senate. My sister and brother-in-law live in Cary, NC and they told me Edwards has a well established rep for being a cad.
+ at 9:37 pm
How very sad. I am really disappointed in him. He was never my choice for the Democratic nomination but I always thought he and Elizabeth had a good marriage. Very disillusioning.
+ at 3:50 pm
A liberal doing the work of Fox News?
You should be ashamed.