Edwards' Affair: Everything Wrong with the Mainstream Media and Today's Politics
When we covered it a few weeks ago, we were poo-pooed by the usual suspects that there was no way a story that John Edwards had a rendezvous with his alleged mistress at a Beverly Hills hotel prior to appearing at an event with Mayor Villaraigosa. Because, among other things, the story came from reporters at the National Enquirer, there was no way it could be true.I guess we found out that wasn't the case.
When the story hit, the mainstream media didn't cover it. Now it wasn't laziness or indifference but actual self-censorship in at least one case. Blogger Mickey Kaus has uncovered an LA Times memo (written by former non-MSM blogger Tony Pierce) directing it's bloggers not to talk about the issue.
From: "Pierce, Tony"
Date: July 24, 2008 10:54:41 AM PDT
To: [XXX]
Subject: john edwards
Hey bloggers,
There has been a little buzz surrounding John Edwards and his alleged affair. Because the only source has been the National Enquirer we have decided not to cover the rumors or salacious speculations. So I am asking you all not to blog about this topic until further notified.
If you have any questions or are ever in need of story ideas that would best fit your blog, please don't hesitate to ask
Keep rockin,
Tony
So the questions we're left with are why did the LA Times seek to block the story? And what connection does the Mayor have in this considering his tangential role in the events of the day and his longstanding association with Edwards.
Enquiring minds want to know!
Labels: John Edwards, Los Angeles Times, mayor antonio villaraigosa, mickey kaus, national enquirer, tony pierce
Posted by Michael Higby @ 8/09/2008 06:00:00 PM
20 Comments:
The Times was right not to run with unsubstantiated rumor -- and the photos of Edwards with his alleged baby show him in blue hospital intern garb, so fuzzy you can't make out his face or the baby's. So it's maybe half right...
But I never liked Edwards and am glad he's going down -- he seemed so smug, so superior to the rest of us who didn't have all his money, and can't afford the over-generous public giveaway programs he was advocating for every group of "the downtrodden," for everything from paying their college to healthcare to housing.
But don't try to take credit for the story, Higby -- everyone knew about it, too. And I'm still not going to believe everthing I hear from the Enquirer.
The mistress and her family are now asking for DNA from Edwards. Mayor Sam was one of the few who posted the story and got blasted by those same council morons staffers saying it was tabloid from National Enquirer. Problem is that trash newspaper has rarely lost a lawsuit. LA Slimes is so full of the gang banger mayor did you read their stupid puff piece on his favorite restaurants? They're such dumbasses they posted two Beverly Hills resta. yet the title says IN LOS ANGELES. There's a blog posting all their stupid typos and mistakes recently. Sad there is no credible newspaper in LA anymore and Daily News is headed to shit now that mecha Carloina Garcia is running all those illegal ailen stories.
It's a sad day when the Enquirer has become the source for news.
Higby: Given the crap that's appeared on this blog, especially the despicable slanderous shit about a number of innocent women during the Mirthala scandal, lifting the Edwards story from the Enquirer is really a step up for you. And you look truly stupid trying to link the mayor to it. You're not a journalist. You're not an authority on anything. You're a poser who pretends to be a big deal. You're not.
Idiot at 6:28 -
I never claimed "credit" for the story; you are a liar.
However when we reported what the Enquirer reported most of you said it was a lie.
And you'd much rather attack blogs and portions of the media than hold so called "leaders" accountable.
Idiot # 2 at 8:56
the despicable slanderous shit about a number of innocent women during the Mirthala scandal
We didn't print anything here that the wags on the 3rd and 4th floor weren't already talking about; indeed where do you think we get this shit? From day laborers at Home Depot?
Quit your lying and ask the LA Times why they're spiking stories that could potentially have embarrassed the Mayor (because remember the day that Edwards had his booty call, shortly thereafter he was with Villaraigosa in tow touting some taxpayer paid affordable housing boondoggle).
Here you go again, Higby - after calling everyone an "idiot" (you're sounding more and more like zuma mutt) you claim the recent meeting was "a booty call." HOW would you know? So now, the next part of the story is, he's lying about having ended it in 2006?
Besides, since his wife knew about it before the race and decided to go ahead with it anyway, that was her call -- she could have decided to dump him and not carry on trying to become the First Lady. They'd have both been better off if she had -- he could have quietly withdrawn and faded away.
And your blaming the Times, Higby, is still stupid -- if they'd have printed the whole allegation including the baby, they'd have looked stupid. MSM needs first- hand verification -- maybe some had it or were close, pushing his confession.
Your defending running gossip (false, it turned out) just because the "Third and Fourth floors" were gossiping is dumb, too.
Edwards is another Antonio... Was it a coincidence Edwards was popped by the Enquirer in LA?
It never fails when it comes to men... Most of them cannot keep their schwantz in their pants to begin with let alone their hands to themselves.
Women? Yes they can be down right insensitive and hateful...
"We didn't print anything here that the wags on the 3rd and 4th floor weren't already talking about; indeed where do you think we get this shit? From day laborers at Home Depot?"
I don't know what's more frightening: the fact that you allowed the names of innocent women to be dragged through the mud, or this absurd justification? You realize, of course, that in retrospect, you might as well gotten that "shit" from day laborers, who I would guess have more scruples than you. I have often said the information on this site is no more reliable than graffiti on the wall of a public restroom. Thanks for confirming that opinion. And I'm no fan of the Times, but your not qualified to buy the newspaper, let alone criticize its editorial decisions. The internet allows anyone with the price of web site to pretend they're qualified to judge other people's behavior, or, indeed destroy reputations. That's almost always done anonymously because it's so despicable and arguably actionable. But your ego and desire to be some kind of two-bit player made you think you could get away with calling someone a whore one minute, then commenting on tax policy the next. You wanted to be a public person and now you are. So, according to your standards, anything two people on the third floor say about YOU or your family is grist for public discussion. One can only hope you get a huge taste of your own medicine.
And by the way, your argument about the gossip being more reliable than what you could get from day laborers is blatantly racist and your Achilles heel. At the end of the day, even your pals like Doug McIntyre will shun you.
7:36 AM is definitely an Antonio groupie or clowncil staffer. Blaming Higby for the stuff people post is insane. This website has been a source of tips for reporters. No blog in this nation can be liable for what others post. The fact is most of the inside politics going on in this city we all know are true. YOU ARE IN DENIAL AND IN THE MINORITY of people who refuse to accept your Mayor has fucked up big time and all his baggage will come out in 09' So keep trying to spin because you're wasting your time.
Tell us about what makes it a "boondoggle," Higby instead of just throwing insults around like an a-hole.
Villaraigosa is not close to Edwards. He didn't endorse him either time he ran for president. There's no evidence they "hang out." Yeah, they're both Democrats, they're both liberals and they both had affairs. But neither one deserves blame for the actions of the other.
If aspiring to the level of the Enquirer because they happened to get one story right for once is the best you can do, we might as well all hang up our jocks and go home. This blog isn't the "home" of LA politics, it's the brothel - a place you go to get screwed by people who have more dollars than sense...
You're full of shit 8:20. I'm neither a staffer, nor, for the love of Christ, an Antonio groupie. I'm just an anonymous poster for the same reason you're an anonymous poster: because you and I know that if you reveal your true identity on Mayor Sam someone will eventually anonymously accuse your sister of screwing one of the day laborers Higby likes to smear. The difference between us, 8:20, other than the obvious fact that you're ignorant, is that you think it's OK -- as long as it's about somebody else. God knows, Orlov and Zhinser need those juicy tips.
A blistering opinion on Edwards by Maureen Dowd, almost funny if it wasn't so tragic for his family.
And what a well known sleeze ball Rielle Hunter aka Lisa Druck, the former yoga instructor is. But Edwards was the cherry on top of the ice creams, Druck ends up in a Santa Barbara mansion (who's paying is the 64,000 question), and Edwards will probably be back teaching Morality and the Law at U of NC and be remembered as just another in a long line of powerful men who's little head took control of thier big head.
OPINION | August 10, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist: Keeping It Rielle
By MAUREEN DOWD
The most stunning admission John Edwards made was that he’s a narcissist.
""The creepiest part of his creepy confession was when he stressed to Woodruff that he cheated on Elizabeth in 2006 when her cancer was in remission. His infidelity was oncologically correct.
So narcissist walks into a New York bar and meets a legendarily wacky former Gotham party girl — whose ’80s exploits were chronicled in a novel by her former boyfriend Jay McInerney because the behavior of her and her friends “intrigued and appalled me.” When you appall Jay McInerney, you know you’re in trouble.
The president manqué gives Rielle Hunter, formerly Lisa Druck, more than $114,000 to shoot vain little videos for his Web site (even though she’s a neophyte), one of which is scored with the song “True Reflections” about the Narcissus pool, which goes: “When you look into a mirror, do you like what’s looking at you? Now that you’ve seen your true reflections, what on earth are you gonna do?”
"If you have any questions or are ever in need of story ideas that would best fit your blog, please don't hesitate to ask."
How about my thoughts. If I need any thoughts to think, can I ask?
For their lack on integrity the Times deserves to coin a new phrase for this debacle. How about pulling and "ANTONIO" - aka, the politican who goes whoring while his wife in undergong cancer treatments. At least Edwards didn't go for a close family friend or the wife of one of his best friends like Antonio. The fact that Antonio's friend was raising money for him at Antonio's campaign office while Antonio was out porking his wife tells miles on the lack of character that has always afflicted Antonio.
Edwards was a good guy until this - he proved to be the same old weak politician that cannot practice the simplest form of self control. What a shame because like Antonio, he talked a good game but in the end just proved to be antoher hypocrite.
Note to Donkey Ho-Tee:
If I want to read Maureen Dowd's take I (we) can go to her blog or gasp, pick up a paper. You might want to be civilized and leave a short note and a link?
Unless of course, you're an attention whore!
Whoever the spinner is battling Mayor Sam I have to thank him for providing us with a certain amount of amusement.
He thinks it racist that Mayor Sam would say that the wags from City Hall who feed the blog tips are more reliable sources for City Hall news than day laborers. How silly.
He says there is no connection with the Mayor and Edwards. He forgets that the Mayor was part of the Kerry-Edwards campaign. Anyone who thinks that Antonio didn't know about this is a fool.
Politicians like Edwards and Villaraigosa use their poor families as props in their campaigns while they're out porking bimbos, reporters and their friends' wives. That is disgusting.
Edwards isn't the only one dishonored. The media accepted his denials of any affair - while holding at least one other candidate to a different standard. The New York Times insinuated in a front-page story that McCain had had an affair with a lobbyist - an allegation utterly without evidence. And MSNBC's Keith Ollberman broke into scheduled programming to hawk the story.
But it's Edwards who most deserves our disgust.
Normally, cheating on your spouse is a private matter. Many Americans wind up facing it; many families stay intact and recover. I hope that's so for the Edwards family.
But this is not a private matter: Following his affair, Edwards chose to run for president, using his family as a centerpiece for his campaign. In June of last year, he accepted the Father of the Year Award from Father's Day/Mother's Day Council. Shortly afterward, he renewed his vows with his wife and provided pictures to People magazine.
And in December, Katie Couric asked the candidates about the importance of marital fidelity in assessing a presidential candidate. True to form, Edwards said that it was a "fundamental" way to "judge people and human character" - but shouldn't be a "controlling factor" in choosing a president.
Unfortunately she didn't ask him what it would tell you about a politician if he used his family as a campaign prop and then lied to the public repeatedly about an affair.
2:21 p.m.'s torturous effort to link Villaraigosa directly to Edwards by saying Villaraigosa supported the Kerry-Edwards ticket in 2004 (three years before Edwards' affair with "Real Hunter," the woman who admitted to friends she was out to make a name for herself by bagging a famous man) is tantamount to one of us saying that anyone who posts on this blog must of course support Zuma Dogg by virtue of the fact that Mayor Sam allows Zuma to post here along with the rest of us. No way. Bad logic, bad blogging.
But then there's a lot of that here, isn't there...
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