Edwards fesses up
23 comments August 8th, 2008
 
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic presidential hopeful earlier this year, ADMITS he had an extra-marital affair with a woman named Rielle Hunter, whom he met a couple of years ago in a New York City bar.
Edwards will be interviewed tonight on ABC’s “Nightline” program.
UPDATE: So, why did so many of the mainstream news organizations shun this story like the plague until now?
Well, as the Raw Story explains HEREÂ (scroll down to the eighth paragraph), the main problem is that the only medium making a fuss over this thing was the National Enquirer, which has a long record of fabricating stuff and getting sued for big money.
Anybody who thinks the mainstream media wanted to cover up for Edwards out of political bias doesn’t know how the news business works. The Clinton-Lewinsky story is instructive in that regard. The first whiff of that scandal touched off a media explosion that eventually led to Clinton’s impeachment.
UPDATE II: Edwards’ former campaign manager, David Bonior, is highly P.O.’d at his ex-boss.
UPDATE III: The full text of John Edwards’ statement:
“In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99% honest is no longer enough.
 ”I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. 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. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.
“It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry. In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up – feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.
“I have given a complete interview on this matter and having done so, will have nothing more to say.”
