Friday, June 3, 2011

Edwards Indicted,But Liberal Media Aided His Cover-Up

Former North Carolina Senator and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards was indicted today by a federal grand jury on six counts, including conspiracy, issuing false statements and violating campaign contribution laws.  The indictments stem from Edwards allegedly using campaign funds to keep his extramarital affair in Rielle Hunter quiet while he was running for the 2008 Democratic Presidential Nomination eventually won by Barack Obama.

Sexual scandals involving politicians are nothing new, and the way a politician responds to the scandal often means the difference between being indicted or not.  We have two present examples involving current New York Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner and former California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that may also result in some form of legal action in the future.

The real tragedy about the Edwards’ indictment is the way the liberal main stream media did its best to cover up the story while he was still a viable candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination in 2008.  Many in the media favored his “Two Americas” campaign theme, and some said that he was the only candidate that was truly addressing the issue of poverty in the United States.  Therefore, they decided to ignore a story that was originally made public by the National Enquirer in the fall of 2007, long before the first caucus or primary took place.

Since then, many in the main stream media have dodged criticism for covering for a man who could have been elected President.  After all, he was John Kerry’s running mate in the 2004 Presidential election and had been considered a reasonably strong contender for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

However, many in the main stream media said that they didn’t cover anything up because they could not confirm the affair Edwards was having, nor could they confirm he had a love child with Ms. Hunter until after he was no longer a contender.  CNN’s Jessica Yellin responded to the criticism in August of 2008 by saying, “Edwards’ story was unimportant.  He wasn’t a contender.”

Nonsense.  The National Enquirer first broke the story of John Edwards’ affair on October 22, 2007.  There were also links to the story on many Internet websites. In addition, many bloggers started getting more information on the scandal and furthering the story.  By December 19, 2009, the Enquirer had almost the complete story, including Rielle Hunter’s name and the fact, later confirmed after multiple denials, that the woman was pregnant with Edward’s child.

There you have it.  The National Enquirer had almost the complete story on the John Edwards’ scandal long before the first vote in the Presidential nomination process was ever cast.  Unfortunately, the liberal cheerleaders in the main stream media chose to ignore what was already out there for months.  What will they ignore about other government officials and politicians they favor, and how will they excuse it next time the truth comes out?

I began my career as a newspaper reporter and later became a managing editor of a Chicago suburban chain of newspapers.  I and my colleagues used to laugh about the stuff we would see headlined on the National Enquirer at the supermarket check-out counter.   I never thought I would see the day when I had more respect for the reporters at the Enquirer than I would for the reporters of what we call our regular news media.  Sadly, that day has come. 

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