The Democrats' War on Women: By the Numbers

No, not Bill "Blue Dress" Clinton, Ted "Splash" Kennedy, John "That Ain't Mah Babeee" Edwards or Anthony "Tweet My" Weiner.

Just the real numbers facing women (and all Americans) under the disastrous Obama-Pelosi-Reid economy:

$17.6 Trillion:	Total Debt Under Obama As Of April 8, 2014. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 4/8/14)
$10.6 Trillion:	Total Debt When Obama Became President On January 1, 2014. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 4/8/14)
$6.9 Trillion:	Amount Of Debt Obama Has Added To The Federal Debt Since Becoming President. (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 4/8/14)
$2 Trillion:	Cost Of ObamaCare’s Coverage Provisions From 2014 To 2024. (The Congressional Budget Office, 2/4/14)
$1.1 Trillion:	The Amount Of Student Loan Debt Currently Amassed . (“Household Debt & Credit,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Accessed 4/8/14)
$819.3 Billion:	Total Taxes In ObamaCare. (CBO, 3/12;JCT, 6/15/12;CBO, 5/14/13; CBO, 7/30/13)

PM Netanyahu Brings the Snark, Pillories Anti-Humanitarian 'Flytilla'

All other things being equal, when intelligence fights idiocy, the mentally defective generally lose.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists were prevented from boarding Israel-bound flights on Friday, due to the fact that their names appeared on the blacklist distributed by the Israeli government to a number of European airlines.

Police are planning to intercept participants in the "Welcome to Palestine" actions at the airport and prevent their entry into the country. Hundreds of police officers are expected to be stationed at the airport ahead of their arrival, most of them unarmed and clothed in civilian dress.

Of the reported 1,500 pro-Jihad activists who had planned to arrive in Israel for a 'Welcome to Palestine' rally, nearly 1,000 received notice that their flights were canceled. Any making it to Israel were to receive the following letter from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

He might as well have added, "Fat, stupid and evil is no way to go through life, son."

Hilarious: 1,800-word article on John Edwards trial doesn't mention the word 'Democrat', but manages to mention 'Republican' 5 times

Erstwhile presidential candidate and world-class philanderer John Edwards is profiled Wednesday in a monumental Atlantic article entitled "Why the John Edwards Trial Is a Bigger Deal Than You Think."

Jury selection in the federal criminal trial of John Edwards begins Thursday April 12th in a Greensboro, N.C., courtroom. As the world now knows, Edwards chose to cheat on his cancer-stricken wife during his 2008 presidential run. Two wealthy political supporters then spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting Edwards's mistress as part of a failed effort to keep the affair quiet. Prosecutors decided that the financial support constituted unreported, excessive and thus illegal campaign donations, and indicted Edwards for his role in the arrangement.

Author Hampton Dellinger does yeoman's work in avoiding the D-word over the course of the 1,800-word tome, which could be applied copiously to the dirtbag, douche, and dimwit in question.

However, Dellinger does manage to slip in the word Republican a scant five times.

In one respect, Edwards was right. There really are two Americas: the Democrat-media elites who think they are our betters, and the rest of us.


Update: Tom Blumer notes that the author ran for Lt. Governor in NC as a... Democrat.

Hat tip: JTT.

Photo: Stress Taking Its Toll on Former Democrat Presidential Candidate John Edwards

Former Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards faces charges of using illegal campaign funds to hide an extramarital affair. His trial is ready to begin within the next several weeks and -- as you can see -- the stress has taken quite a toll on Silky Pony:


Edwards is alleged to have taken a million dollars from two wealthy campaign contributors to help cover up his affair with Rielle Hunter, which resulted in a love child.


* Our lawyers tell us that the accompanying photograph may not be real.

Party of No Family Values: John Edwards Gets Caught Cheating Again; Status of Second Love Child Uncertain

The party that proudly proclaims its disdain for family values has a serial standard-bearer for adultery.

The National Enquirer, which was the first to report on John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter and their resulting love child, appears to have scooped the world again.

The Enquirer learned that Edwards embarked upon a "sex-and-booze bender" after a Tiger Woods-style blowout with wife Elizabeth.

Reports that Edwards spent several consecutive nights "trawling bars in search of women" apparently set the Enquirer's reporters in motion.

The episode was reportedly precipitated by his wife Elizabeth who booted John from their house amid threats that she was "finally signing the divorce papers" that had been drawn up after reports of his first affair. Edwards then repaired to a vacation home on Figure Eight Island near Wilimington, North Carolina.

[He then] attempted to bed a female bartender as well as bar patrons young enough to be his daughter, say shocked witnesses... bartender Stephanie Breshears revealed that Edwards repeatedly tried to get her to go back to his house for sex. The 34-year-old divorced mother-of-two said Edwards hit on her "for four consecutive nights" at the local Kornerstone Bistro, where she works.

"I think he's scum... He was definitely looking to pick up women when he came in here - and he wanted me to go back to his house."

Stephanie revealed she first met Edwards last August when he arrived at the Kornerstone, five miles from his vacation home, with wife Elizabeth and the couple's 27-year-old daughter Cate.

"But that night was very busy, and I didn't have a lot of time to socialize," said the pretty bartender. "I didn't see any of them again until John Edwards came in on Dec. 30 - the first of four consecutive nights.

"He said he'd been thinking about me since he and his wife were in last summer. He said I had run through his mind 'time and time' again. He said I was 'attractive.'

"He asked what I was doing after work and I told him I had plans with friends. But he told me he was staying on Figure Eight Island, and that I should join him."

Incredibly, just minutes after giving Stephanie his phone number, Edwards started flirting with another woman - right in front of Stephanie.

"He told her he was 'separated, soon to be divorced,'" the sexy bartender divulged.

Not to worry -- legacy media will pick this story up soon, right after they get done with the investigation into Sarah Palin's controversial child-rearing techniques.

Don't you love how Democrats get away with anything -- driving off a bridge and killing a young lady; running a male prostitution ring out of a Congressman's Beltway residence; seducing interns -- and never have to pay a political price?

That's why I call them the Party of No Family Values.

Congrats! Dems sweep the 2008 Naughtiest Politician Awards!

A national CNN/Opinion Research poll reveals the top three Naughtiest Politicians of 2008. May I have the envelope please, Vanna?

Bronze: John Edwards (D-Sleazebag), who cheated with Rielle Hunter on his cancer-stricken wife and reportedly fathered a not-so-secret love child.

Silver: Love Client #9, former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer (D-Hypocrisy), who was ensnared in the rollup of a high-end prostitution ring.

Gold: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Batsh*t crazy), seemingly involved in so many pay-to-play schemes he probably had a dedicated IT staff to keep all of the grifts straight.

Honorable mentions weren't listed, but I'm betting they included Charlie Rangel (D-Tax Man), Chris Dodd (D-HUD Statement), Allan Mollohan (D-Self-made Millionaire), John Murtha (D-Porkmeister), and William Jefferson (D-Freezer Burn).

Linked by: Gateway Pundit. Thanks!

Poopy diaper may pin the lovechild on John Edwards

The ultra-reliable TMZ ("John Edwards in Deep DNA Doo-Doo") points us to a stunning New York Daily News report.

Nov. 4 was supposed to be his day. Instead, Tuesday found former presidential candidate John Edwards lying low - with the stench of his extramarital affair still clinging to him.

Even though he admitted cheating with campaign staffer Rielle Hunter (top), The National Enquirer wants to prove he's the father of Hunter's baby. How? We hear that, on the night they caught Edwards visiting Hunter and child at a Beverly Hills hotel, Enquirer reporters grabbed one of the baby's poopy diapers.

Now, say sources, intrepid Enquirer editor David Perel hopes to compare the infant's stinky DNA with that of Edwards, who has denied paternity. "All they need is a cup he drank from," an insider tells us.

"I will neither confirm nor deny possession of a dirty diaper," Perel said dryly. "But I would like to do a DNA test."

The new Enquirer reports that Hunter "is writing a tell-all book now that the man who has been funneling cash to her has died." Before his death last month, Edwards' former national finance chairman, Fred Baron, confirmed he had been sending money to Hunter - reportedly as much as $15,000 a month. Now that Baron is gone, Hunter is worried that the "hush money" will dry up, according The Enquirer.

Hunter and Edwards couldn't be reached for comment. But The Enquirer quotes an insider as saying, "Rielle views the book as her personal insurance policy."

Meanwhile, though cancer-stricken Elizabeth Edwards has not been wearing her wedding ring, sources say she has not decided to divorce her husband.

The most deranged soap-opera writer on Earth couldn't make this s*** up.

Saudi Cleric sentences Horologists to death: Rielle Hunter in hiding

MEMRI reports that Saudi clerics have levied the death sentence on Horologists (experts at Horoscopes -- via LGF):

Member of the High Judicial Council in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Salah Al-Fawzan, has called to kill the hosts of TV horoscope programs on the grounds that they “practice magic.” Al-Fawzan contends that, according to Islam, they are guilty of “a crime whose perpetrators must be put to death by the sword,” and that “it is forbidden to pray over their bodies.”

What this means for John Edwards and his squeeze Rielle Hunter is anyone's guess.

Rielle, of course, is a serious Horologist (careful, punsters!):

Despite someone trying their damnedest to keep confirmed homewrecker Rielle Hunter's website out of the public eye, it was really only a matter of time before the proof of this woman's weirdness surfaced. Entitled "Being Is Free," Hunter's site is chock-full of New Age-isms and talk of the zodiac, chakras, and spiritual healers, none of which granted Hunter enough serenity to resist the temptation of a married man with a dying wife. And while the site is offline, we got a look at the whole mess of it.

I'm guessing she's in hiding.

Oops! Biff Spackle says she already was in hiding. My bad!

Exclusive Photo: Denver offers Haircuts for the Homeless

The LA Times reports that Denver’s homeless are getting free haircuts to look good for Obama and the Democratic National Convention (via LGF).

According to Rick Sallinger of the CBS TV station, Denver Human Services has been handing out coupons for free homeless haircuts... The idea was to make the homeless feel better about themselves. And maybe then they’d get jobs or something.

Rusty Johnson told Rick he hadn’t had a haircut in three or four months and, frankly, didn’t much care about the Democrats caring about his appearance. “I just want to look good and feel good for myself,” he said.

There's a John Edwards joke lurking somewhere in that story.

John Edwards' Closing Statement

Hey, did you guys know the Olympics were on? Let's all go over to my house after this is over and we'll watch women's gymnastics -- er, I meant mens' bowling -- on my 100" plasma!

Yes, your honor. I'll get back to the question at hand.

Frances Quinn Hunter... this tiny, beautiful baby girl.

She speaks to you through me. And I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel her.

I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you.

She asks you to take this burden that she's carried for months off of John Edwards... and to put it where it belongs.

On her real daddy. Whoever that may be. Andrew Young. Or Fred Baron.

Would you believe... Dennis Kucinich?

This brief affair in the middle of 2006 could not possibly have resulted in my fathering Ms. Hunter's child. Because it was over as soon as it began.

Any pictures of Ms. Hunter and me at the end of 2006 were obvious, patently false photoshops.

Fakes.

Every one.

Really poor ones at that.

And I certainly had no idea that my friend and patron Fred Baron had relocated Ms. Hunter from North Carolina to California. And paid for Andrew Young to move too.

Or that he paid her $14 grand for her video footage after the campaign had already paid her $100,000 for the same videotapes.

How 'bout that Democratic Convention? Bill, Hillary, Obama and thousands of angry progressives?

That's really the big news story now, right?

Need proof that sex sells?

This chart illustrates the global search volume for the phrase John Edwards over the last 4-and-a-half years (via Google Insights).

The number of people searching for Edwards after the Rielle Hunter debacle broke dramatically outpaced all other searches including:

* Edwards named as VP candidate by John Kerry
* Edwards declaring himself a presidential candidate for '08
* Edwards introducing his smarmy "Two Americas" program while completing his 84,000 square-foot home.

Update: DBKP has an exclusive photo you've got to see. It makes a powerful case that John Edwards' confession was yet another pathetic fabrication.

Faith: guiding our votes

Heh:

The MSM justify banner coverage of the smallest malfeasance by any Christian or conservative, with or without independent verification, with the lame excuse of "hypocrisy." Hey, why didn't you say so! If all it takes to get the Edwards story into the establishment press is a little hypocrisy, boy, have I got a story for you!

Based on information currently saturating the Internet: (1) The entire schmaltzy Edwards campaign consisted of this self-professed moralist telling us how much he loved the poor and loved his cancer-stricken wife; (2) the following was Edwards' response to CBS News anchor Katie Couric's question about whether voters should care if a presidential candidate is faithful to his spouse:

"Of course. I mean, for a lot of Americans -- including the family that I grew up with, I mean, it's fundamental to how you judge people and human character -- whether you keep your word, whether you keep what is your ultimate word, which is that you love your spouse, and you'll stay with them. ... I think the most important qualities in a president in today's world are trustworthiness -- sincerity, honesty, strength of leadership. And -- and certainly that goes to a part of that."

There you have it, boys: Go to town, MSM!

Ghost town.

How the National Enquirer and the blogosphere forced Edwards to confess

Using Google Insights, we can track the number of people searching for information on Rielle Hunter, the mistress of John Edwards.

The National Enquirer first revealed Hunter's name in December. A few blogs, including DBKP and this humble journal, picked up the story because there were a variety of variables that all pointed to the fact that Edwards was a sleazebag.

I mean, besides the fact that he was among the foulest of trial lawyers in recorded history ("[Edwards] stood before a jury and channeled the words of an unborn baby girl").


Despite the mainstream media blockade, the Enquirer continued to doggedly pursue the story. In July, it released additional details and the same set of blogs continued to build upon the story.

You can see from the graph how the pressure -- represented by the public searching for information on Ms. Hunter -- built during the month of July after Edwards was cornered by the Enquirer's staff in a Los Angeles hotel.


Put simply, a tabloid and the blogosphere -- both of which have been ridiculed for years by the MSM -- broke and publicized an immense story regarding a major presidential candidate and potential cabinet member.

I keep picturing the newspapers as lemmings, jumping one after another off a cliff labeled "Internet."

Edwards-Hunter Affair: Enquirer reveals new information, says Edwards is 'still lying' about Hunter

The National Enquirer reports that John Edwards is still lying about his affair with Rielle Hunter (Sex, more lies, and videotape):

...Edwards' political operatives are still paying his mistress Rielle Hunter - and she was whisked away on a private jet two days before he confessed their extramarital affair on national TV!

...Edwards secretly visited Rielle and their love child three separate times at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles this year - a fact that proves he is still lying to America and his wife... [our] reporters caught Edwards, 55, making a late-night visit to 44-year-old Rielle and their daughter at the hotel on July 21 - which prompted us to release the first-ever photograph of him with his love child last week.

...After Edwards confessed the affair to his wife, he restarted it, and was sexually involved with Rielle when she became pregnant... Despite his denials, Edwards WAS aware that his former finance committee chairman, Fred Baron, was funneling money to Rielle.

Experts are now calling for a federal investigation into Edwards' use of campaign funds.

...Edwards denied he's the father of Rielle's daughter, who was born on Feb. 27, 2008. The ENQUIRER reported last December that Hunter had told close confidantes that he was the father... In denying he fathered Rielle's baby, Edwards told ABC that he would "be happy" to take a paternity test to prove he's telling the truth. (He has refused numerous previous requests by The ENQUIRER to take a paternity test.)

Edwards claimed he ended the affair in 2006, but sources say he restarted the illicit romance after confessing to his wife... Rielle soon became pregnant after the affair was rekindled, say sources.

DBKP asks another critical question -- one which our beloved mainstream media hasn't bothered to ask: Who in the Edwards' Campaign Ran the Cover Up?

At least CBS appears to be on the case (finally) with today's publication of a detailed story ("Report: $$ Still Flows To Edwards' Ex - He's Denied Knowing Of Payments To Former Mistress; Questions Raised About Their Source, And Legality"). Of course, the story's foundation is based upon the Enquirer's reporting.

On the ABC News broadcast "Nightline" Friday, Edwards said, "I've never paid a dime of money to any of the people that are involved. I've never asked anybody to pay a dime of money, never been told that any money's been paid."

If the story is true, asked CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano, the question remains, where did the money paid by the former Edwards campaign finance committee chairman, Fred Baron, come from?

"So far," Enquirer reporter Rick Egusquiza told CBS News, "we don't know that they were illegal. If they were contributions from the campaign, then obviously, there's some issues there with legality. But at this point, we're still trying to investigate that."

CBS News legal analyst Mickey Sherman told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Wednesday Edwards might be in legal jeopardy if it could be shown the funds were used for purposes other than the ones they were meant for.

"If you raise money to run for (office)," Sherman explained, "and if you take that money that people have contributed to you based upon the fact that they think their money is going to a presidential candidate, and you give it to a girlfriend of a God-knows-what ... that's a crime. But the question is, how do you prove that? And, she was somehow working for the campaign (as its videographer), so was the money she got so inappropriately more than what she deserved -- that's going to be the issue the feds are going to have to look at. ... It would be a federal offense."

The allegations could not only have legal ramifications, Solorzano observes, they would shed considerable doubt on Edward's denial that he fathered Hunter's child.

The Guardian (UK) adds one of its unique insights:

Like John Edwards, only smaller: "A source" who has seen the baby daughter of Rielle Hunter, with whom John Edwards admitted having an affair, but not conceiving a child, says the infant "looks like John Edwards in a onesie." (Brit-translation: babygro.) That's actually a really troubling image. [New York Daily News]

Hey, the Guardian could have at least mentioned mois...


I published this exclusive photo days ago!

Edwards scandal quotes o' the day

The Philadelphia Daily News' Tattle column describes the CBS Early Show interview of Rielle Hunter's friend Pigeon O'Brien by co-host Maggie Rodriguez:

Rodriguez: "So for her this was about love . . . ?"

O'Brien: "Yes, very much so."

Rodriguez: " . . . not sex?"

O'Brien: "No! No, no, no, no, no! No, no!"

That's eight No's for those of you playing at home. Perhaps if Hunter or Edwards would have said "No" ... O'Brien described Hunter as "a very keenly intellectually engaged woman. She's very insistent upon rigorous dialogue . . ."

Edwards, in fact, enjoyed their rigorous dialogue: "Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Yes! Yes!"

O'Brien said that Hunter "digs very deeply," and that she and Edwards "connected very deeply."

Sometimes Tattle writes itself.

Heh.

Related: "Who in the Edwards campaign was responsible for the coverup?"

Scandalizer: photos of Hunter, Edwards together in late '06

The Washington Post's Trail:

Well, you gotta give him one thing: the man has chutzpah.

Photographs distributed by wire services and posted online by technology blogger Robert Scoble show that former North Carolina senator John Edwards took his mistress Rielle Hunter with him on the plane during his late 2006 presidential campaign announcement tour... that's Hunter in the jeans and jester hat...

...Scoble blogged Friday about the four-day presidential announcement trip, after Edwards admitted the romance with Hunter.

...Wrote Scoble, "I had no idea that when former Senator John Edwards invited me to come along on his plane back in December of 2006 that I would have had a front-row seat to a sex scandal."

...Edwards said in a statement that his romance with Hunter ended in 2006. "With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then," he said.

...Edwards announced his presidential bid on Dec. 28 in New Orleans. His wife did not accompany him on the trip there.

...The wire service photos, below, show Hunter, whom Edwards met in a New York bar in 2006, traveling with Edwards on December 27 and riding with him on his plane to Reno, Nev., on December 29M of that year.

In other words, Hunter was still his traveling companion and close-up camerawoman at the end of 2006; thus Edwards confessional rings as true as his pronouncements that hundreds of thousands of homeless veterans wander the streets every night.

Put simply, his so-called "confession" appears as genuine as a Stradivarius air guitar.

Update: What Edwards' Campaign Knew About Affair:

KOFINIS: Listen, I — you know I am personally pretty devastated, and I can only imagine the staff and others that worked for him a lot longer than I did, how they feel. I don't understand, you know, how this all came about...

...He made a terrible, terrible mistake, and he's paying about it as severe a price as you can in a, if you will, public, you know — you know, humiliation, and that's pretty severe... But, again, my focus is on his family, and in particular Elizabeth, and wishing them that, you know, the best that they can figure out a way to get through this as best they can.

Update II: The Swamp implies that Edwards is still spinning fables, based upon information gleaned from Rielle's friend Pigeon O'Brien.

[The affair] started early in 2006, months before Edwards has acknowledged, O'Brien said...

O'Brien also contends that Edwards is the father of Hunter's child, which Edwards has denied -- with O'Brien maintaining that Junter [sic] was in love and would not have the child of someone she didn't love. She went into all of this in great detail on the air today.

...Ms. O'BRIEN: As of--as of his statement on Friday evening, he is lying about the timeline of the affair and other details about it, yes.

...It started in the winter of '06. They became involved at that point, not later in the summer when she was hired to work for the political action committee.

...It started at the other end of '06, in February, March of '06.

RODRIGUEZ: Do you think that John Edwards is the father of her daughter?

Ms. O'BRIEN: I do... ...I don't see any other explanation. She would not have a child with someone that she didn't love, and she loves him.

Update III: Gateway Pundit: "Edwards Took Rielle Hunter On "Two Americas" Tour ." Heh!

All photos by Robert Scoble with the exception of that marked National Enquirer. Linked by: Instapundit and Jammie Wearing Fool. Thanks!

The Edwards Interview: what was left on the cutting-room floor

Mondoreb at DBKP has been all over the Edwards story from the outset. Mondo discovered that not only was the mainstream media covering for Edwards all along, but even now ABC left some critical interview footage on the cutting-room floor.


The key links of interest:

Blogger News Net: What the public didn’t see were the parts of Edwards’ interview with Bob Woodruff that ended up on the editing room floor. DBKP took a look at the ABC Nightline transcript and found an interesting tidbit sliced and diced by ABC: Edwards claims the photo of him purportedly holding Hunter’s baby released in the Enquirer August 6 issue is a fake...

WOODRUFF: And that picture is absolutely you and you are holding that baby.

EDWARDS: The picture in the tabloid. I have no idea what that picture is.

WOODRUFF: But you’ve seen it right?

EDWARDS: I did see it and I cannot make any sense out of that. When I went to this meeting you’ve already asked me about, uh, I was not wearing a t-shirt, I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up. I don’t know who that picture — I don’t know if that picture is me, it could well be, it looks like me. I don’t know who that baby is, I have no idea what that picture is.

WOODRUFF: But are you saying you don’t remember holding that child of Miss Hunter?

EDWARDS: I’m saying you asked me about this photograph, I don’t know anything about that photograph, I don’t know who that baby is. I don’t know if the picture has been altered, manufactured, if it’s a picture of me taken some other time, holding another baby — I have no idea. I was not at this meeting holding a child for my photograph to be taken I can tell you that.

WOODRUFF: You did say you did meet her at a hotel in California.

EDWARDS: She was there, Mr. McGovern was present, and that’s where the meeting took place.

WOODRUFF: But you don’t remember a baby being there?

EDWARDS: No.

In related news, Celebrity Cafe quotes author Jay McInerney, for whom Rielle Hunter was both a lover and literary inspiration. McInerney says Edwards’s apology was “half-assed.” ... "To say that he slept with her but he wasn't in love with her - that's not very chivalrous. He's trying to distance himself from her.”

And at Blogger News Net: Was John Edwards the “99% honest” man on Friday? At DBKP, we noticed one falsehood almost immediately, which was confirmed the next day. John Edwards said that his affair with Rielle Hunter ended in 2006. He said it three times in his statement: it must have been an important point... It was–and is. It allows Edwards to claim he is not the father of Frances Quinn Hunter. We weren’t the only ones who noticed that point...

Exclusive Photo: John Edwards with Baby

"I'm tellin' ya, it's not my frickin' baby!"
Update: The AP reports that Rielle Hunter will not demand a paternity test:

The ex-mistress of former presidential candidate John Edwards says she will not participate in DNA testing to establish the paternity of her daughter.

Rielle Hunter's lawyer, Robert Gordon, says his client is a private individual who wishes to maintain the privacy of herself and her daughter.

In a statement, Gordon says that Hunter is ruling out any kind of testing that could establish who the daughter's father is.

Timeline of John Edwards-Rielle Hunter Affair

Nearly a decade before John Edwards found himself ensnared in a controversial affair with Rielle Hunter, he pilloried Bill Clinton's infidelities during the latter's impeachment proceedings.

I think this President has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen.

The following timeline hits the high points of the Edwards-Hunter affair.

* 2006: Edwards meets filmmaker Rielle Hunter in New York. His “One America Committee” pays her more than $100,000 to produce four videos about Edwards.

* Dec. 28, 2006: Edwards announces his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

* Jun. 2007: John Edwards receives a "Father of the Year" award in New York City.

* July 2007: John Edwards publicly renews his wedding vows with his wife Elizabeth. People Magazine features photos of the event in one of their issues.

* Oct. 10, 2007: The National Enquirer reports that Edwards had an affair with Hunter. Edwards responds: “The story is false. It’s completely untrue, ridiculous.” Hunter also denies the allegations.


* Dec. 19, 2007: The National Enquirer reports that Hunter is pregnant and Edwards is the father of the child. An ex-Edwards aide, Andrew Young, 41, claims he is the father of Hunter’s child.

* Jan. 30, 2008: Edwards ends his campaign for the Democratic nomination.


* Feb. 27, 2008: Hunter gives birth to a daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter. No father’s name is given on the birth certificate, filed in California.

* July 22, 2008: The National Enquirer reports that it caught Edwards visiting Hunter and her daughter at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

* July 23, 2008: At a press conference in Houston, Edwards says “the tabloid trash is full of lies.”


* Aug. 6, 2008: National Enquirer publishes photos that it says are of Edwards with Rielle Hunter and with her baby.

* Aug. 7, 2008: Blogs speculate that Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron was funding Rielle Hunter for John Edwards.

* Aug. 8, 2008: Edwards admits to having an affair with Hunter. He denies fathering her daughter or making any financial payments.

* Aug. 8, 2008: Fred Baron admits that he funded Hunter and Andrew Young (the former Edwards aide, married with children, who claimed to the father of Hunter's child).

Is the timeline complete? Hardly. Interviewed on Larry King Live (with Wolf Blitzer sitting in for King), Enquirer editor David Perel and reporter Alan Butterfield were adamant about the paternity of the child and that significant revelations had yet to appear.

Perel: ...We received what we thought was a credible tip, Wolf, and we started investigating it... we were able to prove that, indeed, John Edwards had a sexual affair with Rielle Hunter. We first did the story in October without naming her and then we came back with a much tougher story in December 2007, where we not only named her, but we photographed her pregnant.

...We know that Rielle believes that he is the father. And Mr. Edwards today, in his own statement, said he did not take a paternity test. He's now saying that he will take one. We've asked him for months if he would take one and he's ignored that request.

...our sources -- the same sources that led us to uncover this affair -- say that Rielle says she never had a sexual relationship with [Andrew Young]

Blitzer: ...he argues that he had this affair back in 2006. The baby was born just a few weeks ago. He said the affair lasted in 2006, but there was no more affair in 2007. And, as a result, he says he couldn't be the father of this baby.

Butterfield: Right. But why is he -- the question we should all ask him, then, why was he visiting her at 3 in the morning at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 21, then if he's not the father? He is the father. I mean at least he believes he's the father... Rielle is telling everyone he's the father and he is -- you know, why isn't there a name on the birth certificate?

Blitzer: And this other Andrew Young, who says he's the father, you don't believe him.

Butterfield: No. Not at all. Andrew Young and his wife, Shari, moved out to the Santa Barbara area with Rielle soon after our December story. I guess they're all living, then, as one big happy family.

Blitzer: What happens, David, if he does take the paternity test and it doesn't match and it shows he is not the father?

Perel: We'll publish that. I've made the offer to him repeatedly: take a paternity test, whatever the results are, we'll publish it. He has refused to do that, as he's been calling this story lies and tabloid trash and lying to the American public. Unfortunately, I think the only reason he came forward and admitted the affair is because we did catch him at the hotel meeting on July 21 and we did publish a photograph this week in the National Enquirer showing him holding the baby.

We can also reveal that in addition to that meeting, he met at the same hotel a month before with Rielle Hunter and the baby, so his actions are what counts. His words have proven not to be credible.

...The thing that counts is the story has proven to be true and there is more to come.

Update: Fausta links to Elizabeth Edwards' public statement on her husband's affair. There's no shortage of sympathy for the situation in which she's been placed. But the media is not the primary source of blame for the destruction of her family's privacy.

Major hat tip: LA Times. Picture credits: Hunter filming Edwards: Chuck Olsen. Linked by: A Blog for All. Thanks!

This scandal has taken a real toll on John Edwards' appearance

You may not have noticed that John Edwards looks a bit different since he admitted having an affair with Rielle Hunter. Look closely:

He's got wrinkles around his eyes now.