John Edwards Admits Affair, Denies Love Child

2008_08_edwards2.jpgAfter speculation stirred up by the National Enquirer and debate about whether mainstream media should cover it, John Edwards has admitted to having an affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter. Nightline will broadcast an interview tonight, where Edwards will also deny being the father of Hunter's daughter (forget a paternity test--apparently the baby's birthdate tells him it's not his; a former campaign staffer says he's the daddy). Edwards apparently “made a point of telling [Bob] Woodruff that his wife’s cancer was in remission when he began the affair with Hunter.” But ABC News leads its web article with how the one-time presidential candidate "repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extramarital affair." Gawker points out this announcement comes as it was reported ABC News investigative reporter Brian Ross was working on the story.

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Caption for the photo: "Hey baby, how you doing?"

Yeah, I think cheating on your dying wife is about as low as you can get.

like being a trial lawyer already didn't qualify him as a piece of shit! all these self righteous narcissistic assholes in public life telling us what to do and how to do it - god help us all...

Chalk up another score for the National Enquirer.

Why do people care so much about this sort of thing? He's a man like any other. I don't give a good goddamn about the love life of any politician so long as they're not breaking the law.

plk:its not the fucking, its the lying.

I love how we're supposed to believe that it's not his baby. Prove it, Edwards.

If we stop asking about who they're fucking, they'll stop lying..

Politicians - stop lying?

Good one!

drewo, gov paterson would like to speak with you.

Amazing the National Enquirer reporting the truth-
When will miracles ever cease?
See you on the screaming "who's yo daddy" show
ala Povich,Ugh!

Plk779,

I'm with you. I don't care about who he or any other politician is sleeping with and I don't know why we keep focusing on this sort of thing. Yes, we should stop asking them about their love lives.

Nothing wrong with a little side action and the good ol' "its not mine"

Its par for the course...

er, stop lying about who they're fucking, that is. I could not care less about that. We should be concentrating on when they lie about *important* things.

I stopped believing Edwards a while ago, at least as early as March 2007, when he and his wife "bravely" decided to continue the run for the White House in spite of the return of her cancer.

His whole platform of running to eliminate poverty also seemed like a bunch of b.s. Did anyone really believe that this trial lawyer millionaire with 10 years in the Senate gave a damn about poverty?

He lied about this affair, looks like he wanted a staffer to take the fall for him, and now continues to lie as if it matters.

Yeah, the affair only took place in 2006, when his wife was in remission, and the kid isn't his. Right. I suppose he was just stopping in to say hi when he went to her hotel room a few weeks ago. And why bother saying that he didn't love her?? Is that supposed to help?

VanessaNYC and plk779 may not care, but this guy politicized his relationship with his wife and her cancer to further his career. If their relationship is total bullshit, I think that's kind of relevant.

Finally, I'm disgusted just by his bad taste in women. Bill Clinton was the same way. You figure between Bill and John, they could have at least hit a 7 or 8. Instead, look who they are sleeping with. Monica Lewinsky? Rielle Hunter? Christ.

#10 and #17 - This is important. It's a reflection of their character. If they lie about fucking someone to the people that are most important to them (i.e. their wives and husbands) how easy is it for them to lie to the American people and the Public's trust? I personally find it easier to lie to complete strangers than to my parents or girlfriend but then I'm not a politician.

The problem here is politicians pretending to be perfect thanks to people's expectations on what is supposed to be perfect: BOTH ARE BULLSHIT!
I would not blame Edwards for anything...But between having "affairs" and invading countries and leaving the country in bankrupt there should be weighted different. Probably won't happen that way. Most are to simple to see how the second is really transcendent and the first is not.

He hid behind his sick wife for so long during his miserable campaign that nobody believed that he actually had any feelings for her whatsoever. Now we have the admission about this tryst. What a two-faced arrogant prick. The shitty part is that Elizabeth Edwards needs him and his ability to pay for her care more than ever so she won't simply tell him to fuck off. But we can tell him to fuck off: Fuck off, john Edwards.

Yeah, IN DEED! what a dick!!!

now , the country is in deep shit...and not precisely for this affair!

Horrible move, but why is the press focusing on this and not McCain's history of philandering?

For that matter, why is the press covering stories like this at all given the state of our country? Ah yes, $$$.

Very upsetting, but another example of the media's misplaced priorities.

i care a lot if someone works the whole 'do as i say not as i do' routine. i hate that shit, and i love it when they're outed.

i like to think it's "the curse of voting "yea" on h.j. res. 114"

why is the press covering stories like this at all given the state of our country?

Really? You haven't noticed any stories lately about mortgage backed securities, falling real estate values, or the price of gasoline just to name a few?

Media misplaced priorities and THE people falling for the double moral: "you bad motherfather of love child.
Forgetting how corporate fraud and uncontrolable infinite greed are the real values at play in the decay of the progress for all in the US.

Shitty governmental management...does not have much sex on it...therefore people won't relate to it when pointing fingers!

24, at what point has the government told you not to sleep around?

OK... so exactly what is different about Edward's affair & McCain's, with the exception that McCain had his insiders/lobbyists deny that he had an affair? Can't even trust that repugnican bast__d to tell the truth about getting laid, can we?

By the way... can anyone name a single repug congressman or senator who was trying to impeach Clinton who wasn't either on wife #2, wife #3, wife #4 or in the middle of an affair?

Amanda, yeah, there are probably a lot of things we can focus on that are worse than Edward's cheating on his wife. Starving kids in Africa, Darfur, the War in Iraq... none of those have anything to do with the topic at hand, except to suggest that because bigger things exist, this one shouldn't matter.

John Edwards campaigned, in part, on his relationship with his wife, and used her cancer for political gain, while he was banging someone on the side.

On top of that, it appears he got her pregnant, she had the kid, and a staffer took the blame. He understandably lied about it when caught but, of course, it was only a matter of time before the truth came out.

Now he admits it, but suggests it ended in 2006, despite the fact he was caught sneaking away from her hotel room in the dead of night a few weeks ago.

And in a final show of fuckery, he says that he never loved the woman, as if that somehow makes anything he did better?

What never fails to surprise me is how many of the people who make excuses for these cheating husbands are women.

"at what point has the government told you not to sleep around"

huh?

my point is that john edwards is a practicing methodist who made a set of formal promises to elizabeth, and repeatedly denied the affair, now he is revealed as a liar a cheat and someone who deeply hurt someone he promised not to. his "at home" wonky ethics are reflected in his "at work" wonky ethics when he votes to blow people up.

if someone doesn't claim to be otherwise, i personally don't care if they act like caligula on blow with a payday loan in their pocket.

For that matter, why is the press covering stories like this at all given the state of our country?

I guess it's the media's fault for reluctantly reporting on a story cracked not by a legitimate news source, but the National Enquirer. To me, that says a lot more about the state of our media. We rely on the National Enquirer to vet what our presidential candidates are up to? Edwards IS news, until this happened, he was probably one of the front runners for consideration for Obama's VP slot.

I watch and read the news regularly. It generally contains the weather, some local stories about small matters, national and world stories. Some hard news stories, and a lot of human interest stuff.

It isn't just the most important issues of the day. Does the fact that Edwards was having an affair, and perhaps fathered an illegitimate child, while campaigning for President have a big impact on my life? no. Is it the defining issue of our time? no. But is it a newsworthy story? of course it is.

Certainly a more legitimate story than Paris Hilton's commercial, or whether Lindsay is a lesbian, or Gossip Girl ads.

If we stop asking about who they're fucking, they'll stop lying..

Uh huh. And if we stop asking about what they would do to our country if elected, they wouldn't lie about that, either. Ignorance sure must be bliss.

So, what does this have to do with Gothamist? Did he bang her in a NY hotel?

Did he bang her in a NY hotel?

Apparently he first met her in a New York bar.


what is different about Edward's affair & McCain's

The Enquirer didn't ambush McCain at 2:30 AM outside a hotel room where his ex-girlfriend and her child were?

Why is this news?

Even if it is news, how can you watch it?

The dude is out of the race for president.
In the year of campaign there should be more emphasis in how to get out of the deep shit whole the moron of Bush and his entourage of fraudulent suit partisans sunk the country (and some other places) in. Yeah Edward will be buried alive for this...but lets not make smoke screens on the stuff that matters....
This country has forgotten to impeach Bush, and then give weight to this?!
If that is not superficiality, and double moral...Yeah it is immoral, but is not as horrible as the neglect of public responsibilities of republicans. To preach "fidelity" when not caring for how many people fall in bankruptcy, even the whole country !?

The dude is out of the race for president.
In the year of campaign there should be more emphasis in how to get out of the deep shit whole the moron of Bush and his entourage of fraudulent suit partisans sunk the country (and some other places) in. Yeah Edward will be buried alive for this...but lets not make smoke screens on the stuff that matters....
This country has forgotten to impeach Bush, and then give weight to this?!
If that is not superficiality, and double moral...Yeah it is immoral, but is not as horrible as the neglect of public responsibilities of republicans. To preach "fidelity" when not caring for how many people fall in bankruptcy, even the whole country !?

I SO love this jerk off getting exposed for the fake bastard he is. This guy just oozes imitation cheese.

To the idiots who say, who cares, or it's a private matter:

Thousands of us invested our time and money supporting this fake.

He started f'ing this woman whom he met in a bar 6 months before he hired her to make "truthful" films about him, for $114,000 of our (campaign donors') money.

She had no experience being a film-maker.

It is also hugely important that the media ingnored this story, which broke in October, 2007.

Why? Did Obama influence the media to hurt Hilary's campaign???

This story is only getting bigger.

Hilary was cheated.

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