Politics | 07/24/2008 1:15 pm

Why Is the Mainstream Media Keeping John Edwards's Alleged Love Affair a Secret?

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Over the past 24 hours, Internet news sites have been reporting on this week’s explosive National Enquirer story exposing a supposed John Edwards tryst in a Hollywood hotel.

However, with the exception of the Los Angeles Times, a blog from The Washington Post online and cable TV’s Headline News’s Glenn Beck, few of the mainstream media outlets are touching this story.

One Internet outlet, Slate Magazine is also asking the question, poking fun at the media for not covering it and making a direct comparison to the mainstream media frenzy around Senator Larry Craig’s bathroom antics of a couple of months ago. Slate writes:

"So why hasn’t the press commented on the story yet? Is it because it broke too late yesterday afternoon, and news organizations want to investigate it for themselves before writing about it? Or are they observing a double standard that says homo-hypocrisy is indefensible but that hetero-hypocrisy deserves an automatic bye?"

The Huffington Post thinks that Edwards just isn’t prominent enough of a figure anymore for the public to care:

"It sure looks like Edwards is a hypocrite who misrepresented himself by showcasing his wife and kids so prominently in the campaign. But his campaign was unsuccessful. Voters didn’t buy his arguments or his life story as reasons to elect him. In short, nobody cares about this now, except as celebrity gossip. And that’s how it’s going to play when the media picks it up, as it probably will.

"The better question is, should the media have gone after this story more aggressively back during the campaign? Sounds like the answer is yes."

Tell us: Do you feel cheated by the mainstream media for keeping the alleged John Edwards affair a secret?

194 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

My daddy was born in Henderson; Ms. Tomlin’s folks are from Paducah, Georgia. Daddy would have agreed about the barbecue. The Derby this year was beyond heartbreaking. Are you still in Kentucky?

By Mugsy Peabody on 07/28/2008 2:03 am

e-mail alert

Thank you for being conversational.( not to be confused with controversial)..given the time difference…late if not at all…this is the 28th after all..Some days it’s just “are they awake yet”? The story I want to retrieve is the one about your dad playing music…I know it’s in there in the threads…..maybe this is more appropriate for your blogspot……careless comments… Don’t know quite how to do that with a degree of anonymity…which I hold dear…otherwise, why would I be so keen on having a pseudonym….. I know Josie is in the great middle of the country and there are others who let us know where they are……..so I have just latched on to anybody who might have a geographical presence of some sort….Maybe this is quite pointless,,,I just value native anything….in these days of disrupted families, etc…this isn’t even the point, really…. Yes…born in, pardon the expression, Christian County,,,that’s darkest western Kentucky…My dad at seminary thought it was funny that our license plate said “Christian”…..that was when Mc Carthy was trying to fry the professors working on the new …in English..translation of the bible…. Sorry….I have a small 50’s agenda…that just reminds me of how the gov can mess people up…..friends, family, teachers, etc… Eventually I will get these tales told…Annie Lamott sez…Grace Eventually….Have you read Bobbie Ann Mason? She’s from/your my neighborhood…. Yes….get the Atlas…..extreme North Oldham County……I am the empress of the North Oldham Irregulars…..and the head cheerleader of the North Oldham Secessionist Movement……we are one of the few spaces along the Ohio that has not been paved over….Doesn’t mean we don’t have to be ever vigilant..just because the roads are bad…… I’m happy to hear from Diana who also lives in the Bluegrass….RSVP…..

By georgia fatwood on 07/28/2008 3:22 am

e-mail alert

Hi everybody. My mom told me to come on wOw and ‘pologize for writing. I’m not ‘spose to say what Aunt Mugsy says to my mom. But maybe people should ‘pologize to Aunt Mugsy too, because she’s having a hard time breathing and then when she reads something stupid she starts screaming and then she has to use her inhaler. My mom says that’s her bad she should just do something useful with her time. Anyway, I’m sorry. We don’t use bad words in my house. Bye.

By Mugsy Jr. Peabody on 07/28/2008 2:39 pm

e-mail alert

I am a democrat. I will vote democrat no matter what the “ticket” reads …. we all know in our hearts that democratic political ideals are what is needed in our country today… The individuals who’s names happen to be on the Democratic ticket have been pre-screened and approved by the party. The party has a code of beliefs … I am not worried about the Veep race … example: Quayle (sounds of snickering). THE POINT: This story has already done the damage it was intended to do … It don’t matter weather National Enquirer is *credible or not … THE POINT… you can’t unring a bell. Obama, is more than likely distancing himself from Edwards as we speak … this story is ugly and it ain’t gonna’ get any prettier …. ” … hang on it’s going to be a bumpy night …” *hell no, The National Enquirer is not a credible news source … we will see what the cats drag in regards to “credible” new sources like FOX News (puking) before we re-gift stones thrown into our own homes.

By Blue Circle Girl on 07/28/2008 12:43 am

e-mail alert

Well, wOw, you’ve presented this garbage as a discussion point. Aren’t you proud? Did you think that women over 40 would stretch their minds and bump up their IQs with this trash? American yellow journalism plays to the public as if we’re all uneducated dimwits who drool over salacious gossip - that’s why I don’t read rags like the Enquirer and why I spend time here, on wOw. But you’ve let us down this time. This isn’t even tenth- rate journalism and you know it. It’s unfounded, rumor-mongering. Sad, sad.

By Maurine H on 07/28/2008 12:48 am

e-mail alert

What do you call a little girl who does trash talking…?….endless trash….? That would be Salacia……Right up there with Horrenda and Rotunda….and Dissaray…(Dishevvah’ve cousin)… Little girls who have messy rooms….. They said it was also about gossip…. Yes it is and we’ve all “bought” into it again…….Just looks like a place to post…fine….. Maybe Labor Day Lily and Jane and..(where’s Whoopi?)..and Edith Ann will let us ,once again, learn where to buy nitrate free hot dogs and other important business…. Love from not a DimWit………

By georgia fatwood on 07/28/2008 5:12 am

e-mail alert

The site was originally targeted to “intelligent women over 40” and was to be something better than the typical women’s web sites which focus on gossip. See, e.g., http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/15/entertainment/et-wow15 Forgive us if we expected a little more than just gossip. One can peruse the NE while standing in line at any checkout line. Why on earth log on to a web site that is supposed to give us a little more intelligent discussion and get the NE?

By Elizabeth Bennett on 07/28/2008 12:18 pm

e-mail alert

The important thing about John Edwards is, he is stumping the country trying to get people interested in his 13 point plan to end poverty in America. Since the majority of people in america in poverty are women and children, I would hope intelligent women over 40 would support his sensible, practical and workable plan.

By Mugsy Peabody on 07/28/2008 2:13 pm

e-mail alert

Elizabeth is the one who should feel cheated! What a jerk. For God’s sake….Elizabeth is dying from terminal cancer. What a source of strength he has turned out to be—-NOT. Thank God he lost in the primary. Maybe this is why Elizabeth was not with him when he so publicly supported Obama! SHE KNEW! Elizabeth is a very intelligent woman. I feel sorry for the Edward’s children too. The humiliation this will cause simply because people love to gossip. I wonder if Obama wants Edward’s support now? I wouldn’t. I would get as far away from this creep as possible. (http://www.CheresCorner.com)

By IAM Woman on 07/28/2008 5:24 pm

e-mail alert

There is absolutely no evidence that this gossip is true. You are slandering him by participating in it. You have no way of verifying if it is true. If I said you were having an affair with someone, you’d be turning blue and screeching. Mrs. Edwards is perfectly capable of conducting her own life and has not asked for your help in doing so. So why don’t you spend as much time research the totally wonderful 13 point plan for ending poverty in America Sen. Edwards is proposing and act like an adult instead of a 13-year-old gossip?

By Mugsy Peabody on 07/28/2008 6:17 pm

e-mail alert

Somewhere It was once said that charity begins at home. Maybe home is where the 13 point plan needs to be for John Edwards. And perhaps he can start donating to charities the money he spends on the $600 haircuts. Maybe his actions need to speak instead of his words and speeches. Perhaps it is time for him to give his wealth to the poverty stricken and show the rest of the world how it should be done—-a real American hero! And as for Adults? Who died and made you the expert?

By IAM Woman on 07/29/2008 12:27 pm

e-mail alert

John Edwards is a real American hero — he’s represented citizens against the corporations for years and protected them from corporate gouging. $600 haircuts? More National Inquirer facts? It is against the law to make up crap about people and print it. As to my “expertise?” I am an American citizen with a brain, and that gives me the right to express my opinions. Which make a whole lot more sense, in this time of national emergency, than worrying about how much Sen. Edwards’ haircuts cost, according to people who are actively working to destroy his reputation, rather than working to fund health care, vets’ benefits, education, energy research, oh, you know, things that actually matter in people’s lives.

By Mugsy Peabody on 07/29/2008 2:26 pm

e-mail alert

And are you railing about the Alaskan republican senator who was just indicted for taking bribes from the oil companies? Or is that okay with you?

By Mugsy Peabody on 07/29/2008 2:29 pm

e-mail alert

And, furthermore, Ms. C. you are consigning Elizabeth Edwards to an early death. Why in God’s name would you do that? You have absolutely no idea what the precise state of her health is right now. Reading your post is pretty much liked reading a paragraph from a cheap novel. You say people love gossip. Take a good, long look in the mirror, please.

By Maurine H on 07/28/2008 7:01 pm

e-mail alert

Obama knew about the rumor, a long time ago, at least since December, 2007, just before the Iowa vote,John, came in second to Obama. So therefore he either didn’t believe the crap or just still wanted a verbal endorsement from Edwards, and he wanted his supporters to support him the most. He bugged Edwards about the endorsement, until John Edwards gave in, in May Obama and staff certainly knew about the child and the women. I don’t think Obama ever really considered Edwards as a VP, neither does Edwards think so , as per his last interview.

By Alessan O on 07/28/2008 8:29 pm