Just Like Sarah Miller I , too blame myself for the whole John Edwards/Rielle Hunter love child scandal. I also have an extremely tenuous, flimsy and almost unbelievable connection to Rielle Hunter - my brother's best friend's cousin once saw her in a bar in New York. Get It * a bar in New York* , as in * she met Edwards in a bar in New York* - could that be any spookier?

And just like Sarah Miller , I, too am desperate for material during these dog days of summer and I will milk this connection and blog endlessly about the scandal while speculating wildly on Rielle Hunter's crazy-assness.

Bonus crazy-ass Rielle video below (dancing Rielle courtesy of 23/6.com)

4:17 PM :: Comments (2)

There's a bit of misinformation out there about the John Edwards scandal that should be nipped in the bud. I've seen it a number of times now, most recently in David Carr's NYT column:

When The National Enquirer wrote that the former presidential candidate John Edwards had had an affair and had recently met with the woman and a child she recently bore, the mainstream media mostly passed on the story. But the public would not let go. Armed with different standards and megaphones of their own, nontraditional sources pushed on the story all over the Web until it broke...

Let's give credit where it's due. The Enquirer had the details, but the story was being pushed on the Web before the tabloid published anything. As you'll well recall, HuffPo's Sam Stein had the first scoop, which was picked up by (among others) Ted Frank and Mickey Kaus. DKos's Ben Bang pushed back immediately too, which only helped give the story life.

Wikipedia credits Page Six with the very first mention of the affair, in an August 07 blind item.

11:06 AM :: Comments (0)

Since I seem to have permanently put myself on the John Edwards-Rielle Hunter alleged affair beat (thanks Google!), all I have to say about this is, how 90s!. Did the Enquirer not have the budget for a video camera? They put them in fraking cell phones now.

Print is dead, people. I wouldn't even read this story on the Kindle.

11:54 PM :: Comments (1)

Remember those rumors a couple of months ago that John Edwards had had an affair with a campaign volunteer named Rielle Hunter?

When I posted about them at the time, I chided Mickey Kaus for saying that "the MSM seems to be strenuously trying to not report" the story. Even as I expressed doubts about the story itself, I replied, "I'll betcha anything this will be all over the MSM within a week."

What I meant to say was, "within two and a half months." I can now exclusively report that at least two news outlets are preparing to break new details on this story in the near future. I know because I've been contacted by someone at a reputable news agency trying to track down the source of the photo I used to accompany my post (I pulled it off Hunter's now vanished web site).

When asked why he wanted it, my correspondent wrote... Well, I don't think he quite understood the implications of e-mailing a blogger without first asking to go off the record, so I'll be somewhat circumspect and say only that his message ended, "If I were you I'd keep an eye out for this one."

Eww, now I feel all Drudgey.

Update: The National Enquirer rushes out a story that Hunter is pregnant with JE's child. What makes it almost believable: she says the father is actually Andrew Young, Edwards' former director of operations.

This may well have been one of the news outlets I was told was working on the story, in which case I apologize if my post was slightly misleading. My transition from last month's speculation about "the MSM" to this week's item may have given the impression that the "news outlets" I referred to were likely to be, well, not supermarket tabloids. Similarly, when I said I was contacted by someone at a "reputable news agency," I didn't mean to imply that the publications that ultimately ran with the story would themselves be reputable. People in the journalism business, but not necessarily casual readers, understand that even tabloids hire reputable agencies to perform certain tasks for them.

Oh yeah, Drudge now lists the story as "developing."

2:44 PM :: Comments (75)

Bored of the campaign coverage so far? Well, meet Rielle Hunter! The National Enquirer today officially breaks the John Edwards cheating scandal that a handful of bloggers have been buzzing about since Huffington Post's Sam Stein posted an almost comically insinuating item two weeks ago (followed by an even more over-the-top one today) about some mysteriously disappearing web videos.

Mickey Kaus thinks "the MSM seems to be strenuously trying to not report" this story, which is a bit of a stretch, given the flimsy evidence and the short time frame. I'll betcha anything this will be all over the MSM within a week, under the guise, of course, of hand-wringing about what's considered acceptable discourse on the internets (it's still funny!) .

Now clearly the smart money will withhold judgment on this story. While it could be true, it could just as easily be a total crock. Off the top of my head, maybe Rielle Hunter is a headcase who only thinks John Edwards was in love with her — and that's why she got pushed aside. If that theory sounds implausible, spend a few minutes with her loony website. I'm not seeing the firmest grasp on reality there.

On May 4th 2004, enlightenment happened. Meaning, I realized I AM what I've been looking for. And it's my experience that when Self truly realizes Self, the awareness doesn't go anywhere, there is nowhere for it to go. It's always here. Enlightenment is conscious connectedness with It, felt oneness with totality that never goes away. Enlightenment is living a human life as awareness of being 24/7.

Frankly, does this sound like the kind of woman John Edwards would be into? I certainly hope it's not (although if it is, my friend Jake might now consider voting for him over Kucinich).

If the story is true, however, it's probably legitimate news, given how central Elizabeth Edwards has been to her husband's campaign. And while voters might forgive garden-variety cheating, cheating on a wife with cancer...? OK, the affair, if it happened, began and probably ended well before the recurrence, but who has time for such nuance? (One person who doesn't is the Enquirer's source who says Hunter "knew there was no way he was going to leave Elizabeth, a wife battling cancer." Perhaps this should tell you something about the Enquirer's story).

Where is Rielle Hunter (née Lisa Druck) now? Let's just say, the University of Tampa isn't the only one looking for her!

Update: I should point out that the Enquirer doesn't name Rielle Hunter as the Other Woman. That's just Kaus adding two and two. Of course, he used the same math to conclude that Saddam Hussein had WMDs. Kaus never said Saddam had WMDs. My bad.

4:55 PM :: Comments (10)