mudwhistle

The Nation -- If the story is true, John Edwards is finished as a contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

The story is the National Enquirer top-of-the-page cover article -- which is set to go on sale at the checkout counters of the supermarkets and drug stores of Iowa, New Hampshire and the other 48 states Wednesday morning -- that claims the former senator from North Carolina is the father of a soon-to-be-born "love child."

The article claims Edwards, who has long burnished an image as the consummate family man and whose wife Elizabeth is a key player in his campaign, had an 18-month affair with female staffer who traveled with the candidate during the current campaign. According to the Enquirer, which is indeed a supermarket tabloid but which has at least some history of breaking sordid political stories that turn out to have credibility, the staffer is now six-months pregnant and hiding from the media.

Edwards and the staffer are reportedly denying the story -- with the campaign issuing an absolute and unequivocal dismissal of its validity. The Enquirer counters with a claim that it has obtained confirmations from friends of the woman who say she shared the details of the affair and the pregnancy with them. Reporters for the weekly newspaper also claims to have seen emails that were purportedly sent by the woman regarding an affair.

The Enquirer and other tabloids, it should be remembered, broke stories of Bill Clinton's affairs in 1992. But Clinton had a reputation as a rogue. Edwards has always presented himself as a dedicated husband to Elizabeth, who is currently fighting cancer, and as the doting father of young children.

Under the circumstances, it is difficult to see how the Edwards campaign could survive a legitimate sex scandal.

It may not even be able to survive an illegitimate sex scandal.

Edwards has been surging in Iowa -- a new Insider Advantage poll of likely Democratic caucus-goers has him ahead of New York Senator Hillary Clinton and just one point behind Illinois Senator Barack Obama. But he cannot afford to lose the critical days leading up to the January 3 caucuses that will make or break his campaign responding to questions -- fair or not -- about whether he got a staffer pregnant.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20...ion/45261535_1

jdanton

"IF" is the most efficient word in our dictionary; gets more meaning out of fewer letters than any of the others.

Let's wait and see if it's true.

Meanwhile, how about you go play in traffic, or take a long walk on a short pier.

__________________
Author: Memoirs of a Sleepless Mind, a book you CAN judge by its cover.

Kanadesaga

I always thought of "IF" as the biggest word in the English language. It codisols so many events, real and imagined.

and IF he did, so what? I care more about the fucking the president does to me than to some woman.

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Teri B.

Yeah, she's conveniently pregnant. Can a paternity test be done during pregnancy without causing risk of complications?

Wouldn't surprise me though - men.

cheapseats

Indeed.

Me, I have heard John Edwards steadily decry poverty and I have heard him surely pronounce our need to take on rather than talk to uber powerful entrenched special interests. I have not heard him preaching Family Values.

It will be very significant if it is true and he lies about it, not at all significant if it is merely true.

We need only look at who is running for president...the wife of a known serial philanderer and a clump of Republicans with second and third wives...we need only look at David Vitter and Larry Craig...still comfortably holding influential positions in American government...we need only look at the legality of pornography juxtaposed with the illegality of prostitution...to know that America is A-Okay with infidelity.

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anhailla

If they are both denying it, the story goes nowhere.
It would be different if she weren't denying it

__________________
...either I go, or that wallpaper does.

Oscar Wilde

anhailla

If sex scandals mattered Guliani would have dropped out a long time ago.
Bill Clinton wouldn't have been elected

__________________
...either I go, or that wallpaper does.

Oscar Wilde

mudwhistle

The Enquirer is owned by one of the Hildebeast's minions.

I bet she has something just as bad or worse planned for Barry Hussein.

EvilMonkey

I stopped reading at "National Enquirer". If a real source becomes available I'll be happy to give it a little credibility. Question though, was this story above or below the 300 pound bearded, winged bat woman?

cronincal

i can't wait to see who the alien overlords endorse.