Free Republic

A number of readers have taken me to task over my contention ...that most poor people are impoverished by choice. To be clear, I don't mean that one day a person gets up and decides to live in poverty. I believe a person winds up poor because he or she chooses not to succeed. Truth is, staying above the poverty line is relatively simple. Basically, all that's required is to finish high school, wait until at least age 20 to get married and not have a child out of wedlock. Now how hard is that? Not very, which is why...

<p>Threatening legal action will not be enough to stop a national gossip magazine from featuring its exclusive on Sarah Palin’s alleged extramarital affair.</p> <p>According to The NATIONAL ENQUIRER, three members of the man’s family, including one by sworn affidavit, have claimed that Palin engaged in an affair with husband Todd’s former business partner, Brad Hanson.</p>

When DBKP first reported on August 25 that the Edwards campaign had quietly refunded almost $4 million in campaign contributions to big donors and bundlers–leaving little campaign contributors, or shallow pocket voters, out in the cold–the response by some was: “so what” or “no big deal”. Others pointed out that, by law, once a candidate drops out of a Presidential primary election the campaign has to refund all contributions earmarked for the General election. So we decided to dig a “little deeper” and find out more about the role ’shallow pocket’ voters played in the Edwards campaign. We also looked...

It promised to be enthralling, a joint appearance of the philandering John Edwards and his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, as part of the Salem State College Series. A mob of national media was expected to attend, eager to grill Edwards in a pre-speech press conference regarding his recent admission of marital infidelity. Until yesterday, when the couple canceled their Tuesday, Sept. 23, appearance. No reason for the cancellation was given, Salem State spokeswoman Karen Cady said. "They both canceled. We contracted for both of them, and they both canceled." Political consultant Michael Goldman of Marblehead, a supporter of Edwards, had planned...

David Duchovny has courageously admitted to being an addict–a sex addict–and has admitted himself into rehab in hopes of overcoming his problem: http://news.aol.com/health/article/is-sex-addiction-real/154267?icid=200100397×1208629531x1200492182. Since this is a (relatively) family-friendly website, we won’t explore all the ramifications of that admission, although many seem to question whether it qualifies as an addiction or is “a narcissistic indulgence” or a reflection of an OCD disorder. I would question why anyone would go public with such an admission. If a person, male or female, believes he or she suffers from “sex addiction,” would it not be more prudent to downplay the sickness and if...

I think she's complicit," said Brad Crone, a Raleigh-based Democratic consultant. "Obviously, she knew. While she's the victim, she clearly didn't stand in the way of the cover-up." RALEIGH, N.C. — Two weeks after a devastating revelation sent her husband into political exile, Elizabeth Edwards isn't getting the steady sympathy usually afforded to a woman scorned. Instead, she's faced criticism from dedicated Democrats who think she was too willing to keep the affair a secret to help John Edwards' political ambitions, as well as her own. Excerpt. For more of this lengthy article go to Fox News at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,410901,00.html

Lethargy over John Edwards Scandal and Cover-up Returns to MSMIn the John Edwards Scandal, CBS News' Bob Schieffer serves as the poster child for the ADHD Mainstream Media. After a spike in coverage--largely composed of stories about why the MSM didn't allow their customers news of the John Edwards affair, scandal and cover-up before John Edwards gave the Dinosaur Press his okay--the MSM has 'moved on' to more pleasant topics, leaving the scandal's reporting and investigation to the National Enquirer and the blogosphere. Bob Schieffer, of CBS, might well one day become a case study in Journalism 101's "Death of...

John Edwards, the Democrats’ 2004 vice presidential nominee who unsuccessfully sought the top spot on the party’s ticket this year, is like the man who never was among party leaders gathered in Denver. Edwards, the one-term North Carolina senator whose 2008 candidacy ended in January, admitted in early August, after a lot of tabloid disclosures, that he had been carrying on an extramarital affair with a campaign aide even as his wife, Elizabeth, was battling cancer. He also admitted that he had repeatedly lied about it. It still isn’t clear if he fathered an out of wedlock child during the...

DENVER - Texas Rep. Chet Edwards, who was on the four-person short list of potential Barack Obama running mates, said Sunday the front-page scandal involving former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards hurt his chances of getting on the ticket. “I would have to think that a bumper sticker that said 'Obama/The Other Edwards' might have been a bit difficult,” Edwards said Sunday after visiting a Veterans Administration hospital upon arrival in Denver for the Democratic National Convention. Chet Edwards (not related to the former North Carolina senator) said he was notified Aug. 10 that he was on Obama's short list...

ExclusiveJohn Edwards calling former staffers asking for forgiveness By THOMAS M. DeFRANK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF Updated Tuesday, August 26th 2008, 12:07 AM   DENVER - John Edwards is burning up the phone lines, begging former aides and backers to forgive him for lying about his affair - but hearing their rage instead.As Democrats kick off their convention Monday, the onetime presidential contender is a man without a party - or a political future - trying to rebuild bridges through dozens of remorseful phone calls.It's proving a hard sell with onetime true believers. CLICK TO SEE A PHOTO...

DENVER - John Edwards is burning up the phone lines, begging former aides and backers to forgive him for lying about his affair - but hearing their rage instead. As Democrats kick off their convention Monday, the onetime presidential contender is a man without a party - or a political future - trying to rebuild bridges through dozens of remorseful phone calls. It's proving a hard sell with onetime true believers.

DENVER - John Edwards is burning up the phone lines, begging former aides and backers to forgive him for lying about his affair - but hearing their rage instead. As Democrats kick off their convention Monday, the onetime presidential contender is a man without a party - or a political future - trying to rebuild bridges through dozens of remorseful phone calls. It's proving a hard sell with onetime true believers. Many are bitter and disillusioned after swallowing his lies about his affair with a campaign staffer and vouching for his credibility with friends and journalists. Some ignore his plaintive...

The Edwards '08 Campaign for President has quietly refunded almost $4 million to individual contributors, a number of them, bundlers and big backers. This should be news to Warren Buffet who recently mused that Edwards' supporters should get together and file a class action suit. It seems another "class" has already had their contributions refunded--and it's not the "grassroots" little guys. We had no idea the campaign was handing out refunds until we happened to come across the information while perusing the site OpenSecrets.org and the data supplied to the Federal Election Commission by the Edwards' campaign. We were baffled,...

In yet another example of why more and more people are turning to the Web for their news, the DBKP blog has just uncovered information that the John Edwards campaign has been refunding campaign contributions even before billionaire Warren Buffett suggested that Edwards could be hit with a class action lawsuit. And can you guess which of the two of Edwards' Americas got the majority of the refunds? DBKP explains: The Edwards ‘08 Campaign for President has quietly refunded almost $4 million to individual contributors, a number of them, bundlers and big backers. This should be news to Warren Buffet who...

* The John Edwards' campaign has already refunded $3,831,398 to contributors--many who contributed the maximum of $2300. * 2,247 donors have already received money back from the John Edwards--many who are trial attorneys and political "bundlers"--and most received it back on March 24. * Refunds to small donors under $100 have accounted for only 1/5th of one percent, so far, according to Open Secrets.com. * The Edwards campaign still has $4,791,200 cash on hand, according to its July 31, 2008 filing. For any readers who gave money to the John Edwards' campaign and are now upset that perhaps that...

One-time Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards promised his mistress they would reunited once his cancer-stricken wife died, the National Enquirer reported. The Enquirer - which first broke word of the Edwards scandal - also reported that mistress Rielle Hunter refuses to make Edwards take a paternity test because she fears it will jeopardize their future. Edwards, who admitted the affair earlier this month after repeated denials, remains in contact with Hunter even now, according to the Enquirer. The North Carolina politician called her after his Aug. 8 confession on national television, reportedly telling her: "We'll be together when Elizabeth is...

PARKLAND, Wash. -- A man dressed in woman’s underwear and exposing himself drove up to a Parkland espresso stand three times before one of the baristas threw a cup of boiling water at him, said the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. Jamae Feddock, a bikini clad barista at Java Girls, said she first thought the man dressed in women’s underwear and exposing himself was a sick joke, until the man came back several times. The first time he came to the window Feddock said he was wearing a white bra and white panties and touching himself inappropriately. Then he came back...

John Edwards assured his mistress that they'd be together after his cancer-stricken wife died, according to a new bombshell report. Just before the former presidential contender confessed his adultery to ABC News on Aug. 8, he secretly flew Rielle Hunter and her 6-month-old child, Frances Quinn, from California to the US Virgin Islands, according to the National Enquirer, which first exposed their affair. And after the interview, in which he denied loving Hunter or fathering the baby, he called her to say, "We'll be together when Elizabeth is gone," the tabloid reported.

As NewsBusters editor Matthew Sheffield recently wrote, the John Edwards scandal demonstrates why the public is moving to the web for news. A big reason for the public relying more and more on the web for news is that the blogosphere is willing to do the investigative footwork that the mainstream media often neglects. A perfect illustration of this are the revelations made today by the DBKP blog about the suspicious aircraft leasing arrangements made by John Edwards' moneyman, Fred Baron:

Questions for John Edwards and Fred Baron When Next Either Surfaces to Confront the PressA "Thank You" to our Network of Readers, Comment-writers and Tipsters! ...including all at Free Republic John Edwards and Fred Baron have had a close relationship over the last ten years. Both Edwards and Baron are successful trial attorneys and both shared the dream of seeing John Edwards elected President. Both may, at some point, want to share some information on campaign travel billings. A DBKP reader, known only as "Phil Ander", did some independent research into the Edwards' campaign's use of Baron's private jet and...

Edwards STILL Covering Up Affair and Money * Rille Hunter and Frances Quinn Hunter Pix * Team of Six Edwards Donor Lawyers Assisting * Hunter and Baby Stayed in Virgin Islands with Edwards and Obama Donor, Attorney Lee Rohn* Edwards and Hunter Slept Together the "First Night They Met" [Click all images to enlarge.] More bombshells for John Edwards and associates to deal with: the National Enquirer's latest print issue has published even more damaging information on the John Edwards Scandal. Included on their website, "JOHN EDWARDS BLOCKBUSTER NEW EXPOSE!", is information that will be sure to prompt new questions...

America is disgusted by the behavior of John Edwards — but the jury is still out on his wife................ ----------------------------------------------------------- We seem to be developing two distinct schools of thought: Elizabeth as tragic/heroic victim and Elizabeth as down-in-the-mud-with-her-husband villainess. Bluebeard’s wife versus Lady Macbeth, as it were. Predictably, People has taken the lead on Elizabeth as tragic heroine. In a fairly skimpy article, various friends and relatives are quoted on her anguish and her dedication to her children. She’s being strong in the face of hardship, the argument goes, because she’s that kind of gal.........

The fall of yet another politician in a sex scandal has added a note of Schadenfreude to the political season. Coming so quickly after the fall of former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, the admission by former Senator John Edwards of an affair during his presidential campaign seemed to catch many observers off-guard. Sexual immorality crosses all partisan lines. Spitzer and Edwards are prominent Democrats, but equally prominent Republicans have been caught in the same web. There is no room for partisan calculation here. One interesting aspect of the Edwards saga is the near-universal assumption that, had Edwards won the...

JOHN EDWARDS: THE SAGA GOES ON, AND ON, AND ON… “What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Poor John Edwards apparently forgot the first rule of survival, that when you’re in a hole the first thing to do is to stop digging! The Breck Boy, steeped in his elitist arrogance, still thinks he can lie his way our of his smarmy affair with Rielle Hunter, formerly known as Lisa Druck. Initially and with all the pseudo-indignation a politician could muster, he denied everything, and the media was complicit in burying the story. After all, two...

FLASH! WE OBTAIN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD PICS!!A Scooter's Report exclusive! Through no small expense, we bring you the first up-close photos of John Edward's love child!

SALEM — Salem State College has been bombarded with phone calls ever since former presidential candidate John Edwards announced last Friday that he cheated on his cancer-stricken wife. They are calling Salem State, of course, because John and Elizabeth Edwards are scheduled to speak here Sept. 23. Everyone wants to know if the event has been canceled. It has not. Salem State says it has a contract and is sticking to it. Edwards also apparently is scheduled to hold a press conference. Whether one or both of those events come off, only time will tell. The first phone call to...

Although the mainstream media has finally started to report on the John Edwards scandal now that he has admitted to an affair on ABC's Nightline following several reports by the National Enquirer, they continue to fall way behind in investigative reporting compared to the blogosphere. This is yet another reason why the public is relying more and more on the web for news rather than the MSM as NewsBusters editor, Matthew Sheffield, reported yesterday both here in NewsBusters and at the Washington Times. So what is the MSM excuse for being so far behind the ball in reporting on the...

LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!!! NOT GOING TO HEAR IT!!! HANDS OVER MY EARS! That is the attitude of the KOmmies to another KOmmie who had the Kewpie Doll moment of posting that the Edwards scandal disaster is NOT going away as you can see in this THREAD titled "The Edwards Disaster Is Not Going Away." In fact, with the way the National Enquirer is releasing the information on this scandal, it threatens to overshadow the Democrat convention. The big money man at the center of the John Edwards scandal, Fred Baron, is also a big fundraiser for Barack Obama. Also this scandal...

John Edwards Scandal News TV Movie Parts, Gary Pearce, Snoop's Scoop, 3 Stooges, Fred Baron Blurbs, Mickey Kaus, Kathy G, and Faith "This is NOT my baby!" [photo: DougRoss@Journal "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy."It's going to get serious in the immediate future for all involved in the John Edwards Love Child Scandal: Rielle Hunter, Andrew Young, Fred Baron, and of course, John Edwards himself. So, before it does, we thought we'd present this collection of odd and ends in the John Edwards Scandal. Deceptive NuggetsDeceiver has bits and pieces--but what nuggets they are! That Moneyed...

snip-The revelations of ties among the lawyers emerged through public records and interviews with people close to Mr. Edwards and Ms. Hunter, which suggested that their affair went on longer than Mr. Edwards admitted and that the effort to conceal it by Mr. Edwards’s inner circle was much more extensive than has been reported. The review found that Mr. Edwards’s political action committee went to unusual lengths to make a final $14,000 payment to Ms. Hunter’s film company months after its contract with the committee had ended. The payment was issued while the committee was short on cash and could...

Via Tapper, a palate-cleansing Kinsleyan gaffe from Susan Collins confirming that everyone in America, from the checkout counter to the Senate, is on the same page vis-a-vis Silky. The exchange starts at 2:00. Meanwhile, Radar picks through the latest tidbits from the Enquirer (print edition only) and floats a familiar theory about who their super-secret source might be. Exit quotation: “Of course I love you. Don’t worry, we’ll get through this.”

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I want to spend a little time here, just a brief moment, on the Breck Girl. This is a story, ladies and gentlemen, not going away. People ask me, "Rush, it's over. What's the big deal? Why stick with Edwards?" This is a multilayered story, and to illustrate this, I am holding in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers (shuffling paper) a printed copy of an article by the illustrious Walter Shapiro writing at Salon.com. Walter Shapiro is a Drive-Byer, and he used to write for USA Today. "After covering John Edwards -- and liking him -- for years,...

Another issue of the National Enquirer, another round of sordid allegations about the extent to which John Edwards is lying about his affair with Rielle Hunter. The four new pieces: • Edwards didn't confess until after a campaign staffer walked in on him and Hunter having an "intimate moment" in hotel room. Word eventually got to Elizabeth Edwards, who then confronted John, who then admitted the whole thing. But this all happened after he'd already declared his candidacy for the presidency. • The whole public tango over the DNA test, with Edwards saying he wants one and Hunter saying she...

DES MOINES — Regan "Draco" Lane-Smith and "Naughty" Nonah Elliston outfitted their six-bedroom rental house with 15 mattresses, bondage crosses and sex swings. They built elaborate sets in their backyard for taking erotic photos. And they promoted the Hardwood Cabin online. Up to 60 guests at a time came to mingle, sunbathe nude by the pool and have sex with fellow swingers and fetishists, Elliston said. Parties were frequent enough that the couple's laundry service was cycling through 50 bedsheets a week. But the couple shut down the sex club last month when they were cited for running a business...

An anguished Elizabeth Edwards decided to stay with her cheating husband because she is dying and worried about their two young children, her closest friend says. "It's just tragic. That's all I can say about it," Hargrave McElroy, Elizabeth's best friend, told the Daily News. In a longer interview with People magazine, McElroy, a North Carolina teacher, said John Edwards didn't confess his adultery with his flaky videographer, Rielle Hunter, until after he officially announced his presidential run in December 2006. Then Elizabeth had a terrible choice to make. "There was anguish - excruciating anguish - for her in dealing...

Elizabeth Edwards authorized a friend to attack John Edwards over his "she was in remission" interview on Nightline. That's the stunning assertion of Sandra Westfall, the "People" magazine writer who authored the article [excerpt here] containing the friend's crticism. Westfall was a guest on tonight's Verdict with Dan Abrams. DAN ABRAMS: Sandra, let me start with you. Is it fair to say that the story that you guys have in this week's magazine is effectively Elizabeth Edwards' side of the story? SANDRA WESTFALL: You know, she authorized her brother and her best friend to speak to me on her behalf....

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Elizabeth Edwards' decision not to leave her husband after he confessed to an affair was hastened by the discovery of her cancer recurrence just months after the revelation, her brother and a friend told People magazine. "She couldn't say, 'Well, maybe we'll work through this for years, or maybe we should separate for two years,"' said Hargrave McElroy, a friend, told the magazine for its Aug. 25 issue. "(The cancer) forced her to choose whether to move forward." Edwards, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate, admitted last week to having a short affair in 2006 with a filmmaker...

Huffington Post's female pundits enraged over cheating John EdwardsBy David Paulin Over at the lefty Huffington Post, John Edwards' confession of being a cheat has, interestingly, provoked fury among some of the gal pundits. They're mercilessly trashing the pretty boy populist -- spitting a toxic venom that even their like-minded male counterparts cannot match. Some, incredibly, are even digging their nails into Edwards' wife Elizabeth (who is battling cancer) for having aided and abetted her husband's public lies. What's going on? Could these ladies be writing with some deeper understanding of the issues at play, perhaps having suffered, like so...

Former presidential candidate John Edwards knew his ex-mistress, Reille Hunter, was receiving payments from his former campaign finance chairman, according to the National Enquirer, the publication that broke the story of Edwards' affair. What's more, says the Enquirer, it has "uncovered that Edwards' political operatives are still paying" Hunter. After months of denials, Edwards admitted to the affair, but vehemently denied fathering a baby with Hunter, or knowing she was being paid. 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...

The good news: DNA testing has confirmed that John Edwards is not the father of Rielle Hunter's baby. The bad news: The father is Bill Clinton. Ha ha -- just kidding! It's almost impossible to get pregnant by having the type of sex Bill Clinton prefers. Also, by now, everyone has heard the news that Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, has refused to grant a paternity test. I wonder if Edwards knew that when he was making his chesty offer to take a paternity test? Edwards gushed to ABC's Bob Woodruff: "I would welcome participating in a paternity test, be happy...

Fred Baron now claims that he moved Young and Hunter, gave them money, but didn't know about the affair until a few weeks ago... The former campaign finance chairman for John Edwards said this morning he was unaware of Edwards' affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter when he paid to move her to California last year. In an e-mail this morning to The News & Observer, Dallas lawyer Fred Baron wrote, "I will re-state what I have previously stated on one point: I learned of the affair only a few weeks ago and had previously presumed that the 'tabloid' stuff...

A scorned Australia woman is airing her husband's dirty laundry on a global scale by auctioning a picture of his mistress' underwear on eBay.

NOW, The ENQUIRER has uncovered more blockbuster information, including: 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. In an interview with ABC's Nightline correspondent Bob Woodruff on Aug. 8, the former North Carolina senator admitted for the first time that he engaged in what he called a "short" extramarital affair with campaign worker Rielle...

Despite the many mea culpas by the mainstream media about their failure to report on the John Edwards scandal in the wake of Edwards' admission of an affair with his mistress last Friday, they continue to make the same errors as before. Following an initial flurry of reporting about what Edwards said on ABC's Nightline and some analysis of the scandal, the MSM still continues to leave the bulk of the investigative reporting to both the National Enquirer and the blogosphere.

Who Began the Cover Up with an Attempt to Scrub the Web Clean of Rielle Hunter References?Cover up included Jets, Multi-Million Dollar Houses, Gated Communities and Hush MoneyAnother Mystery for the Late-charging MediaWho in the John Edwards' campaign started the cover up of Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter? It was an operation that costs millions and involved a web of schemes that are still unraveling. It's a question the Mainstream Media hasn't asked yet, but it has to be on the agenda, now that they're finally covering the story. The cover up began with erasing information about Hunter from the...

Democratic strategists loudly insist that the tawdry sex scandal consuming John Edwards will do no damage to the Obama campaign. Despite the very public embraces between the former North Carolina senator and the presumptive nominee, Obama apologists (can we coin a new term-- "Obamapologists"?) dismiss the Edwards case as an irrelevant distraction. After all, they say that their man never seriously considered his former rival as a potential running mate or even for a major cabinet post, so the unfolding disgrace of a one-time elected official bears no connection to Barack's visionary campaign of hope, change, and global redemption. For...

Former presidential hopeful John Edwards' mistress grew up in Florida with a dad who once found himself in the FBI's sights. Born Lisa Druck in Fort Lauderdale, Rielle Hunter didn't leave much of a footprint there. Or on the Central Florida community of Ocala, where she went to high school. Or Tampa, where she went to college. Correction: A previous version of this story said James Druck died in 1992. Her father, however, did leave a legacy in this state. An ugly one. Quoting an FBI informant shortly after James Druck's death in 1990, Sports Illustrated named him a figure...

<p>LONGMONT, Colo. (AP) - A man claiming to be a police detective tried to get an adult novelty shop to give him free X-rated videos, saying he wanted to make sure the performers weren't underage, authorities said.</p> <p>He made three tries within nine days last month and was turned down each time. The store manager called police after the third try.</p>

Pigeon O'Brien, a friend to Reille Hunter, tells Maggie Rodriguez that John Edwards is still lying about the affair...