Mugshot

Did Elizabeth Edwards Use "Cherubim" Alias to Attack Rielle Hunter?

IS/WAS ELIZABETH EDWARDS
The Commenter Known as "Cherubim"?




THE MYSTERIES OF THE CHERUBIM
Cherubim Wasn't a 'Blog Lurker'
She Only Commented on John Edwards Scandal Stories
--At Least at DBKP

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The headline in the NY Daily News said it all.

John Edwards' ex-mistress, Rielle Hunter, targeted by Elizabeth Edwards in blog comments

"A source close to Elizabeth Edwards says the former Senator's wife is sniping at former Edwards mistress Rielle Hunter via an online pseudonym."

The Daily News goes on to say:

For months now, Elizabeth, who is said to be talking to a divorce lawyer, also has been sniping at Hunter - painting her as a blackmailing gold digger - in blog comments where she uses the pseudonym "Cherubim," according to a source who knows Elizabeth.

Though "Cherubim" has recently described herself as an African-American woman, the source insists, "It's Elizabeth. She's used 'cherubim' as a password. Look at the gravestone of their son Wade: It's an angel holding a boy."

The piece finishes with, "Elizabeth's publicist and lawyers for John Edwards and Hunter declined comment."

This only confirms what some in the blogging community have suspected for quite some time. DBKP was tipped to the Cherubim/Elizabeth Edwards connection sometime in spring 2008 (if memory serves).

We ran an IP check then and--again, if memory serves--the Cherubim emails (two or three were checked) came from a New York City neighborhood. While this didn't rule out EE--the woman does travel and could have sent them from there--it was soon forgotten in the everyday rush of other news.

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JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL LIBRARY

Over 140 DBKP stories on the scandal and its participants: John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, Fred Baron, Andrew Young, Elizabeth Edwards and a cast of thousands.

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"Cherubim" has commented frequently on John Edwards stories originating at DBKP (including DBKP, DBKP@Blogger and Bloggers News Network).

In fact, on at least one occasion, it's remembered that another commenter referred to Cherubim in a later comment as "Elizabeth Edwards".

Again, around a year ago, another reader asked us about the Cherubim/Elizabeth Edwards connection. We checked out some Cherubim emails at that time and they were now coming from Nashville, TN.

We weren't sure what to make of that.


SO IS ELIZABETH and CHERUBIM ONE AND THE SAME PERSONA?

We asked ex-Hunter confidante, Pigeon O'Brien, what she thought this past weekend. Her response?

"If it quacks like an Elizabeth Edwards duck..."

After sifting through some of Cherubim's comments, JammieWearingFool had this assessment [Elizabeth Edwards Targets Rielle Hunter in Blog Comments?]:

"Yes, it's a safe bet to say this probably is Mrs. Edwards.

Check this Google search and check out how many times 'Cherubim' surfaced the past year or so. Seems Mrs. Edwards has been in deep denial."

Mickey Kaus [Elizabeth Edwards, Blog Mystery Woman?] weighs in with several thoughts:

UPDATE: This blogger claims the Daily News story is false, though I don't quite follow his argument ... ORIGINAL ITEM: If--big if--St. Elizabeth Edwards is the blog commenter "cherubim"--as the N.Y. Daily News' Rush & Molloy argue--it raises as many questions as it answers! In particular, this one: Is "cherubim" a) deluded (actually believing Edwards clearly "was not the father" of Rielle Hunter's child,etc.), or b) deceiving (trying to sell the Web on a story she might well not be true, a story she was in fact working out in her comments)? Or--the inevitable consensus choice (c)--some wacky combo of both? ... As usual, I urge readers not to overlook possibility (b) ... This Daily Beast web page (worth a screen cap just in case) is one of those with juicy "cherubim" comments that now seem much juicier. ... P.S.: Note that on this page "cherubim" is accused of being Elizabeth Edwards back on June 22 by another commenter, "Ohseriously."

To all of this, we might vote for Kaus' (b) above. We've noted in the past about some of Elizabeth Edwards' statements concerning the affair [John Edwards Cover-up: Press Releases a Carefully-Orchestrated Affair?] and might paraphrase O'Brien from above, "If it denies, parses and dissembles like a duck..."

All of this piqued our curiosity, so we checked out the comments from Cherubim for the last 10-11 months that were left on articles originating from this site (DBKP.com).

We include some of them below and will let the reader come to his own conclusion.

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[ABOVE: Elizabeth Edwards' and John Edwards backstage at a gathering at Chapel Hill NC on December 30 2006. Rielle Hunter is present and recording the event. Both John and Elizabeth Edwards later released highly-parsed statements, that while factually correct, misled the public into thinking that the affair was long over by the date above.]

John and Elizabeth Edwards have been married for 32 years.They had four children together; three are living, and one died when he was only 16 years old. Elizabeth Edwards has stage 4 cancer. Any decent human being would not have inserted herself into their lives, and then sold stories about them to the National Enquirerfor monetary gain. (Hunter is a “ho” mining for gold.)Lisa Druke, a.k.a. the Rielle (Real) Hunter fills me with disgust. I hope someday to never hear anything about her again.

By the way, I found Elizabeth’s new book, Resilience, to be quite inspirational. I think everyone would benefit from reading the passage in the book that tells the story of the Japanese woman who survived the atomic bomb thatwas dropped on Hiroshima.
--"Cherubim", June 1 2009 comment on John Edwards and Wild Card Ex-Mistress: Barbara Walters Interview with Rielle Hunter

Hours later that same day, Cherubim had another thought.

The Rielle (Real) Hunter is a made up name used
by a woman named Lisa Druke. Her friend, Pigeon,
also uses a made up alias.

I think these people work for some secret society,
that’s out to do evil

Several days later, Cherubim returned to the same story to post the following comment.

Oh people, please!!!!
Everybody in America and Half of Mainland China
knows the Rielle (Real) Hunter has a baby that she is claiming to be John Edwards’. There is no reason for John and Elizabeth Edwards to pay this whore to keep her mouth and legs closed. She has already opened them both multiple times.
That’s why the Rielle (Real) Hunter, herself, does not want a paternity test. She just wants John and Elizabeth to not be at peace. Well Lisa Druke a.k.a.
the Rielle (Real) Hunter your 15 minutes is up.
Good bye!!!!!!

And again, four hours later on the same story:

"Lisa Druke’s (a.k.a. The Rielle (Real) Hunters’)
15 minutes are up."

If this story is true, then one can only conclude that Rielle Hunter knows for a fact that Senator John Edwards is not the father of her child. This makes me happy for John and Elizabeth Edwards, their children ,and the American people whom John Edwards has, and I hope will continue to serve.
President-Elect Barack Obama has chosen, mostly, Wall Street promoters and corporate lawyers to be in his cabinet. He hasn’t included anyone who knows how to interact and relate with everyday American citizens, and then report back to him concerning: (1) what the people need, and (2) whether his administration’s new initiatives are working. During the Great Depression, Eleanor Roosevelt fulfilled this role for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. I nominate Senator John Edwards for this role. John Edwards would be a refreshing change. Is not change what Obama s supposed to be about? As a rival of Barack Obama, for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination, John Edwards, consistently spoke up for average Americans, i.e. Main Street, not Wall Street. During his “Road to One America Poverty Tour” John Edwards demonstrated that he is uniquely qualified for this role.
The video evidence follows (put the address in your address bar and click to see the video):

He has walked with and comforted people whose homes were being foreclosed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i_GWrYkcCI

Defined the “Great Moral Test of Our Generation”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS1×88ZmohM

He has visited workers employed in the new renewal energy economy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50yOR5bvMV0

John Edwards is, also, the only candidate for President that actually went down to New Orleans on several occasions and worked along side those striving to try to bring back the areas that remain so devastated from the effects of Hurricane Katrina:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAqktFnA4nk&feature=PlayList&p=EB1EC8919DC5DC52&index=0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DaofQCkbA8
--"Cherubim", December 17 2008 comment on John Edwards Scandal: Rielle Hunter In New Jersey, Out of Hush Money

On one of our BNN stories, John Edwards Affair: Rielle Hunter in N. Jersey, Out of Cash last December, Cherubim dropped multiple comments attacking both Rielle Hunter and the National Enquirer.

She also returned to the "Rielle Hunter is a whore" meme that ran through a lot of her comments on DBKP and BNN stories about the Edwards' scandal.

When, Rielle Hunter refused to get a DNA paternity test, it became clear to everyone that Senator John Edwards was not the father of her child. A sex partner is not necessarily a mistress, sometimes the partner is just a whore.

Considering that she was being kept so lavishly by another guy and the National Enquirer, she still should have some money.
But if she needs child support,
she can take the real father to court and get it.

Everybody has been so quick to vilify John Edwards and
suggest that his marriage isn’t solid. Sex isn’t always indicative of the solidity of a marriage.
Mrs. Edwards has cancer, and, maybe, sometimes, when she is on various medications, sexual intercorse is not always possible.
I think Mrs. Edwards “whom John obviously adores” is wise
enough to distinguish true love from a sexual dalliance.

A few days later on the above story, this comment appeared from Cherubim. After the NY Daily News item, it reveals more today than it did back in December.

Some things like marriage relationships are private to be discussed between the persons involved. People need to stop pretending they are outraged. The only person with a right to be outraged is Elizabeth Edwards, and she has decided to spend much of her time working for universal health care for Americans. She has also said she and her husband want to dedicate their lives to fighting poverty. Let’s not hinder them.

Other things like jobs, labor rights, the collapse of our economy, and government bailouts are public matters to be discussed by all Americans. I don’t want to see working Americans treated like the workers in “third world countries”. John and Elizabeth Edwards are well aware of their short comings, but they also know how to fight and work for the American people.
Watch the video of John, Elizabeth and their two youngest children at work restoring a home in New Orleans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itn6xVOmR94&NR=1

I leave you with this quote from Senator John Edwards:
“It’s not in how many times you fall down, what matters is how many times you
get back up.”

Cherubim returned to the above story on April 2 2009.

Steph what you wrote is so very true.
To day is Ampril 2, 2009 very soon it will be
tax time again. However, I am sure the IRS is already investigated whether she paid taxes on
the money she has already extorted.

Rielle may be about to find out:
“What goes around, comes around.”
I hope Rielle Hunter gets what she deserves.

Steph said,in December 21st, 2008 at 10:15 am

“Hunter has an important date coming . . . April 15th. That is the day she has to report all the financial support she has received this year as income and pay taxes on it. The IRS shows no mercy and they are certainly aware of the huge amount of money she has been given. So having blown through all that cash is going to come back to bite her big time. The IRS has enormous power against which people have little recourse. If she thought she is playing hardball, she’s going to find out what hardball really is!”

Cherubim comment on John Edwards Scandal Cover-up: Three Carefully-Coordinated Statements?:

"I think when Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with Cancer, John became a man with fear and pain. I think the affair resulted because he wanted to forget and live without pain. For those who hate John Edwards know this he is in more pain now than he ever has been, and he will still most likely lose his wife, Elizabeth to cancer. As it stands, now, only the New World Order Corporations benefit. I hope that, soon, John and Elizabeth will return to help us with the fight to obtain universal health coverage and end poverty. What would Jesus Christ say? Answer: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”"

To which this author replied:

Cherubim,

I’m in no position to speculate what Jesus would say; however, elsewhere in the Bible, it does admonish, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” or “bear false witness”.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by, read and comment.



MORE CHERUBIM COMMENTS



[ABOVE: John Edwards' parents look on as he signs another autograph at a gathering at Chapel Hill NC on December 30 2006. Rielle Hunter is still in attendance. Both John and Elizabeth Edwards later released highly-parsed statements that misled the public into thinking that the affair was dead by the date above.]


"All this current sanctimonious crap being broadcast in the media disgusts me. What is important is what John and Elizabeth fought for during the campaign: universal health care and an end to poverty in America. These are goals worth fighting for. When they are ready to resume the fight, I’ll be willing to stand beside them."
--Cherumbim August 27 2008 on John Edwards Scandal: Mainstream Press Sticking to Schieffer Standard

The “Saving Graces” paperback was published officially on Aug. 14, 2007.

Elizabeth Edwards writes:

“It is hard to describe the test of public life, the way people believe — to some degree correctly — that you belong to them. There are awful examples, of course, of those whose motives are selfish or not admirable, who pry their way into the lives of public people in order to exploit a kindness or a generous gesture. They are to be endured and, to some extent I largely chose to ignore, feared. They remind me of a more malicious version of the people who wandered into our house in Annapolis, walking around our living room, putting their hands on our things. It is a sad fact that these people are a threat to anyone with even the smallest amount of celebrity.”
---Cherubim comment, September 10 2008 on John Edwards Scandal: Fox News Gives New Edwards’ Time Line

So.

Is Elizabeth Edwards really "Cherubim"?

We don't know. We only have suspicions raised over the last 18-20 months and today's assertion that the NY Daily News has a source that states that she is.

It's a question for all of God's angels.

Including the odd Cherubim.


by Mondo Frazier
images:
* peaceinspire.com
* DBKP file
* DBKP file

John Edwards Affair: Grand Jury Decision Awaits Edwards

EDWARDS TO ADMIT PATERNITY
OF RIELLE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER, FRANCES QUINN

EDWARDS AWAITS GRAND JURY DECISION

MAINSTREAM MOUTHPIECE MEDIA (MMM) ALREADY INDICTED

THE 99% HONEST MAN:
"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." --John Edwards' statement to the press, August 8 2008.

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THE TANGLED WEB


Q: How can you tell when a trial attorney-turned-politician is lying?
A: When his lips are moving.

John Edwards is reportedly finally to admit he is the father of [Sources: Edwards to admit paternity of ex-mistress' child] 18-month-old Frances Quinn Hunter.

What might compel former presidential candidate, John Edwards, to finally come clean about mistress, Rielle Hunter, and daughter, Frances Quinn? [John Edwards to Admit Rielle Hunter’s Love Child His: When Politicians Fail to Keep Their Pants on]. Maybe it's a sudden yearning to demonstrate he's tired of deceiving the public.

Or perhaps, it is the looming grand jury decision on whether he paid his mistress out of campaign funds.

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JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL Library
Over 80 articles chronicling the affair from December 2007 to present.

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IN GOD WE TRUST
ALL OTHERS (ESPECIALLY POLITICIANS & MEDIA), PAY CASH

In the John Edwards Scandal, the Mainstream Media truly became the Mainstream Mouthpiece Media (MMM), taking the side of a millionaire presidential candidate over their readers' interests; it found a plethora of reasons why it did not investigate the Edwards' allegations.

In Edwards' case, the story came out, not because of the media's handling of the story, but in spite of it.

During the months of the Edwards' scandal, the media instituted their own "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Obsessed with managing the news instead of reporting it, in the MMM's eyes, the public's right to know became what was right for the public to know. In fact, it was the MMM's principal defense of their non-coverage of the story.

The attitude festered during the 2008 presidential campaign and continues to the present time.

There was a small segment of the public who didn't want to know; the comments section of many Edwards' articles reveals who those people were. They were, in most cases, blameless, Most likely, they were part of the dwindling readership of big city dailies.

That might be one reason that Public Attitudes toward the media show only one publication gaining in trust over the last 10 years--the National Enquirer.

The Enquirer continues to outperform the dinosaur media to this day. See any of the stories linkied at the bottom of JOHN EDWARDS SECRET DNA TEST PROVES HE'S THE DADDY!.


[image courtesy of http://www.stateofthemedia.org]


Edwards' own "Trend-line in Trust" will have to be guessed at by the reader.

Though not listed, another loser of trust was Wikipedia, which demonstrated that the on-line compendium is less-than-reliable on subjects political, especially contemporary controversial ones. [John Edwards Love Child Scandal: Debate at Wikipedia Rages and John Edwards Love Child: Wikipedia Editor Defends Go-Slow Policies On Edwards Entry]

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ONE YEAR and NINE DAYS LATER

* In Mickey Kaus' Edwards' Love Child: Mandatory Gloating Edition, the Edwards scandal is broken down into several easily-digestible parts.

Kaus, one of the few who covered the Edwards' scandal, succinctly details the lies, damn lies and fall-back lies which Edwards hid behind. He also provides a "Historic Gallery of Kossack Krap" and asks plenty of questions. Kaus points out:

If Edwards is in fact the father this entire fallback edifice of BS crumbles. ... It's worth reading the transcript of the ABC interview--practically every sentence out of Edwards' mouth is a lie.

What, Me Lie?
Edwards' August 8 2008 national mea culpa on ABC Nightline
John Edwards Scandal: The Many Faces of Contrition

* DBKP pointed out several of these lies the day of the Edwards' "confession" to ABC [John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Admits Affair, Lies, to ABC News]. Two days later, in John Edwards Scandal: Edwards Continues Deception in Interview, we expanded the list.

A week after Edwards' Nightline appearance, DBKP's exclusive photo [John and Elizabeth Edwards with Rielle Hunter Dec 30, 2006] put the lie to not only Edwards' narrative of the affair, but also Elizabeth Edwards' statement.

The Mouthpiece Media might be excused for a similar quick reaction: it was too busy explaining why it had not asked a single question of Edwards from November 2007 until August 2008 about his curious connections with Hunter.


John and Elizabeth Edwards with Rielle Hunter
December 30 2006
Both Edwards led the public to believe that the affair was over and their "long period of healing" began in 2006.


* Deceiver comments on the recent events: Big Baby to Admit Paternity of Little Baby? and Least Shocking Edwards Story Ever?.

Recall that previously Edwards said he was eager to do the DNA test, but Rielle refused. Which sure was convenient. That’s the problem with hush money: When the money stops, so does the hushing.

* Edwards still harbors the delusion that he is not finished as a national political figure. Apparently, it has not occurred to him that whatever the grand jury decides, he's guilty: either of providing for his mistress with campaign funds--or of merely being just another deadbeat dad.

In either case, only the most narcissistic of politicians would be encouraged.

You know its a lost cause when even the Washington Post admits that John Edwards a Lot Short of 99%.


* Are the Edwards still together? Technically, they are.

DBKP interviewed some residents in the Edwards' neighborhood who say that the couple does not live together. One said that "John does not live at their home, but does watch the kids." Edwards spends a good deal of time during the fall and winter at their residence on Figure Eight Island. Figure Eight Island is a gated private oceanfront community close to Wilmington NC.


* Andrew Young, the political aide-cum-father, readies publication of a tell-all book, complete with John Edwards-Rielle Hunter sex tape revelations.

The basic problem with the book: how much can we believe from the man who (through his attorney in December 2007] claimed he was "the father of Ms. Hunter's unborn child"? [UPDATE: JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL!]

Strangely, at the end of the day, Young may come out the best of the bunch.

Though he lied, he only did so in that December 2007 statement and in exchanges with the National Enquirer's reporters. Both John and Elizabeth Edwards, Rielle Hunter and the media continued their deceptions--sometimes to the public and to themselves--repeatedly.

Andrew Young, though partially motivated by profit, could at least say that he did what he did because of someone in whom he believed.


by Mondo Frazier

Crossed fingers image, courtesy http://www.newyorkpersonalinjuryattorneyblog.com

John Edwards Affair: Rielle Hunter in N. Jersey, Out of Cash

John Edwards Affair/Scandal:
Rielle Hunter Back in New Jersey

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It's the East Coast for Frances Quinn

The National Enquirer's reporting that Rielle Hunter has left her fancy digs in Santa Barbara for something a little more plebian: New Jersey

The Enquirer had previously broke the story about how Hunter, John Edwards' mistress, and love child/daughter, Frances Quinn, were receiving hush money payments of $15,000 a month from Fred Baron--who was Edwards' campaign finance chairman.

When Baron suddenly passed away from a lethal cancer on October 30, the $15K payments to the Hunters stopped.

After her $15,000 monthly payments stopped with the death of money man Fred Baron, John Edward's mistress blonde divorcee Rielle Hunter abandoned the lavish $3 million home that was being rented for her in ritzy Santa Barbara, California, sources tell The ENQUIRER.

Now she and her 10-month-old daughter Frances, who she privately says is Edwards' love child, are living with her longtime friend Mimi Hockman in South Orange, about 20 miles west of New York City, according to insiders.

The Enquirer, was called "tabloid trash" by the former North Carolina senator when the tabloid ran the story about Edwards' affair with a pregnant Rielle Hunter last December.

But after Edwards was cornered by Enquirer reporters leaving Hunter's Beverly Hilton hotel room after visiting her and Frances Quinn in late July, Edwards finally confessed on ABC's Nightline on August 8. Edwards admitted that he had lied, though he didn't admit being the father of Frances Quinn.

But Hunter has privately confided that Edwards is the father of the bouncing bundle of joy that was Frances Quinn Hunter.

With no money coming in from money man Baron, will Hunter publish her tell-all book that she's been rumored working on for "insurance"?

Will Hunter move back in with her former Midline Groove partner, Mimi Hockman--a resident of the Garden State?

Readers will likely get some of those answers over the next several months: if Rielle doesn't get any dough soon, it's likely that some publisher will be getting a manuscript chock-full of all the details that John Edwards has been able to keep hidden thus far.

And, can a DNA test for little Frances Quinn be far behind?


by Mondo Frazier
image: National Enquirer

John Edwards Affair: Edwards Attempts Political Resurrection

John Edwards Affair/Scandal/Coverup:
Democrat Party Pariah Attempts to Resurrect
A Political Career in Shambles



Former VP candidate Speaks for First Time in Months

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John Edwards is hoping that a third media blackout is the charm to resurrecting what remains of his battered political career.

• The first media blackout was by a protective Mainstream Media which protected both Edwards and MSM news customers of all news about Edwards' affair with mistress Rielle Hunter. It ran from November 2007 through August 8 2008, when Edwards 'confessed' on ABC's Nightline.
  
  
• The second media blackout as imposed by the Democrat Party. After Edwards' Nightline appearance, he was still under the illusion that his services were needed at the Democrat Convention in Denver. He was mistaken and prominent Democrats told him--both publicly and in private--"Thanks, but no thanks. Stay away."
  
  When Edwards attempted to resume speaking engagements after the Dem convention to keep himself in the public eye, he was again counseled to cool it. Edwards then issued a statement that he didn't want to be a "distraction" to an Obama campaign which had considered him as a top-tier VP candidate--before his ABC mea culpa. He canceled his remaining speaking engagements until after the election.
  
  
• The third media blackout has been imposed by Edwards himself. Edwards spoke at a closed-door appearance at Indiana University November 11. Recording devices and cameras were banned from the speaking room. Spontaneous questions were off-limits as well.
  
  Mary Catherine Ham says that Edwards, "only took written questions submitted beforehand, and the affair didn't come up. We shall have to wait."

Ham's assessment of an Edwards' comeback:

Can he make a comeback? Democrats were angry at him, not because he cheated (as they made sure to stipulate, so as to avoid being pegged as insufficiently non-judgmental), but because he endangered their electoral prospects. Surely, he'll stick around as a middling speaker, but in the Age of Obama, how does a sullied Southerner the Dems don't even need to gain the Bubba vote forge a path back to prominence?

Sounds like a good call to us.

DBKP: The John Edwards Scandal Library Over 120 DBKP stories on the affair/scandal/coverup from December 2007.

CNN's Andrew Mooney wonders about an Edwards' comeback as well--and also uses the 'P' word: pariah.

The man who had been considered a major contender for the Democratic nomination instantly became a pariah in his own party and didn't merit so much as a mention at the Democratic National Convention a month later.
...
But with the 2008 presidential election officially in the history books, Edwards may be looking to accomplish what a handful of other national political figures have been able to do: successfully re-emerge from an embarrassing public scandal that by all appearances has left his political career in ruins.

But Edwards' future just may hinge on how he goes about re-entering the public sphere. While it remains a long shot that Edwards will ever run for office again, he could re-emerge as a powerful voice for a set of issues he championed during the Democratic presidential primary: poverty and healthcare.

One wonders how effectively Edwards can talk about poverty when the multi-millionaire trial lawyer's experiences for decades have been more of the penthouse variety.

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SANCTUARY AMONG THE RESTROOM STALLS

The Mainstream Media blacked out all mention of Edwards' affair with Hunter for almost nine months. Even after reporters from the National Enquirer--an Edwards' nemesis throughout the affair--caught the former Democrat presidential candidate leaving Hunter's Beverly Hilton hotel room, the MSM refused to report on the spectacle of Edwards barricading himself in a public rest room at 3 am to escape the Enquirer's inquiring minds.

Edwards, who campaigned on the morality issue--he included his family and cancer-striken wife, Elizabeth prominently at campaign trail appearances--denied the allegation the Enquirer reports of his infidelity in October 2007.

Then, after a November 2007 interview in which Edwards boasted of "staring down the National Enquirer", the former NC senator didn't have to answer any unpleasant questions from a decidedly un-curious MSM for nine months.

All of that ended with the Enquirer's reporters attempting to question Edwards in the early AM on July 21 in the Beverly Hilton. Though Fox News confirmed the confrontation a few days later, the MSM--except for a few newspapers--banned mention of the incident to their readers/viewers.

Edwards kept a high profile for several days, until MSM reporters from NC newspapers attempted to question Edwards after he spoke at an AARP symposium in Washington DC in late July.

Edwards ducked out on the reporters--escaping through a side entrance--and immediately ducked out of public life, retiring to his palatial spread outside Chapel Hill, NC. When he re-emerged from hiding on August 8, public statements appeared within minutes of each other from Edwards, wife Elizabeth and Edwards' campaign money-man, Fred Baron.

Parts of all three statements were later found to be disingenuously-parsed at best; falsehoods at worst.

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RIELLE BABY DRAMA
HUNTER KNOWS ALL, WRITES ALL?



Edwards denied being the father of Rielle Hunter's infant daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter--he still denies it--even after the Enquirer published pictures of Edwards holding Frances Quinn in a room at the Beverly Hilton. Skeptics, however, will point to Edwards' previous denials of the affair itself as proof that what Edwards alleges is not always reliable.

According to the National Enquirer, Rielle Hunter is writing an explosive tell-all book about her affair with Edwards--as a sort of insurance policy, in case her money payments stop.

Rielle Hunter aka Lisa Druck the 44 year-old divorcee, former videographer and mother of Edwards' love child plans to publish the bombshell tell-all only if the "hush money" she's been receiving ends, sources reveal.

Fred Baron, the wealthy Dallas ex-trial lawyer and former fiancé chairman for Sen. Edwards failed presidential bid died Halloween Eve, Oct. 30, from complications of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. Baron had admitted paying Hunter's bills and also those of Andrew Young, another Edwards' crony who claims the baby is his.

Now that Baron is dead, Rielle, who has no job not source of income, realizes her serial payments could end unless Edwards makes them directly -- which so far he has refused.

Before he died, Baron maintained that the money he was doling out to both Hunter and long-time Edwards' operative, Andrew Young--who initially claimed Hunter's baby was his--was from his personal money stash and that Baron was making the payments without Edwards' knowledge.

ENQUIRER: "Now Rielle is writing an explosive tell-all memoir that blow the lid off the whole steamy affair and cover-up - a book that could keep her and her love child rolling in greenbacks for years to come.

"Rielle views the book as her personal insurance policy," an insider divulged.

"She's been keeping a journal since she began her affair with John."

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DIRTY DIAPER DNA

Rumors abound over the possession by the Enquirer of one of Frances Quinn's dirty diapers. From Did John Edwards father child of Rielle Hunter? The latest poop:

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."

David Perel told DBKP: "There's a lot of ways to go on DNA testing."

"I'm not saying we have material for DNA testing. But if we did, at some point we'd be interested in having a test done."

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Edwards appeared in San Francisco on Wednesday at a private debate with former Bush honcho, Karl Rove, in front of a group of bankers. Two nights, two speaking engagements, one question: Does John Edwards really think he has a political future?

Some former staff members are doubtful.

But even as Edwards is appearing to take the first steps toward a comeback, former supporters -- many of whom where blindsided by his admission of infidelity -- may be unwilling to give him a second chance this soon.

"I wish he would keep himself locked in a cave for a year," a former senior staffer to Edwards' campaign said. "The best strategy he could adopt right now is to stay below the radar and just be quiet and let people move on."

One wonders what John Edwards would do with himself without politics. He speaks on political subjects and clearly was comfortable in the limelight. Sources tell DBKP that Edwards "isn't much interested in returning to the courtroom any time soon."

Edwards is not the only one hoping for a comeback. Others also wait for an Edwards' resurrection. Edwards' return to the spotlight might touch off a cottage industry of tell-all books by others involved in the Edwards' affair: Andrew Young, Bob McGovern, Pigeon O'Brien, perhaps even Andrew Baron.

Interested or not, John Edwards may not be the one who makes the call between a return to politicis or the courtroom: a political career seems likely to be wishful thinking.

Especially, if Rielle Hunter cashes in her "personal insurance policy" and publishes her tell-all book.


by Mondo Frazier
images:
* national enquirer
* dbkp file
* aycu26
* Doug Ross@journal

John Edwards Scandal: Edwards, Hunter, Young, Baron and Karma

KARMA COALITION
John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, Andrew Young, Rielle Hunter, Fred Baron




The saying goes that good karma is like a boomerang; the more good karma one spreads, the more you get back in return. However, to those associated/affiliated with John Edwards and Rielle Hunter, the opposite seems to be in play.

Take, for example, Elizabeth Edwards, the wounded spouse in this tawdry affair. Denied a run for the White House by primary voters, the Democratic Convention was supposed to be the Edwards’ centerpiece for health care reform.

Instead, due to the fallout from John Edward’s tawdry escapades, a prime-time speech slot was hastily rescinded. Worse, while Elizabeth Edwards received an initial burst of goodwill and enthusiasm from disappointed Democrats, that goodwill disappeared in the night like will o’ wisp through inopportune interviews where it was revealed that Elizabeth had been complicit in her husband’s perfidy.

As for John Edwards, he’s certainly kept a low profile these past months, at one point even being banished from the family home, and he canceled a slew of lucrative speaking engagements. Rumors persist that after the election, Edwards intends to mount a “comeback.” How he intends to do this remains unclear at this time; a round of Oprah, Leno and Letterman, perhaps?

---

Over 120 stories about the John Edwards Affair/Scandal/Coverup:
Library of DBKP John Edwards Stories

---

Rielle Hunter seems to have drifted off the reservation, the frenzy around her seemingly abated. Tabloid press and gossip sites which ran Rielle Hunter 24/7 have, by all appearances, called off the dogs. Even the National Enquirer seems off the hunt. If there are any more bombshells in the Edwards-Hunter arsenal, perhaps the NE is holding it until after the election.

Andrew Young, the ex-John Edwards staffer and alleged “father” of Baby Frances Quinn, is supposedly back in North Carolina, along with his wife and other children, awaiting the completion of his million-dollar mansion, the one he built with no visible means of support.

Unfortunately for Fred Baron, the Texas lawyer and Democrat big wig who financed Hunter and Young’s cross country trips and manse rentals out of the goodness of his heart, he’s in the battle of his life.

According to his son Andrew, the elder Baron was recently diagnosed with final stage Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow, and given days to live.

After initially being denied access to Tysabri, a last chance experimental drug undergoing clinical trials, despite entreaties by President Bill Clinton, Senator Ted Kennedy, Senator John Kerry, Senator John Harkin, Lance Armstrong and Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach (head of the FDA), Baron is now receiving the drug under the auspices of The Mayo Clinic.

---

NOTES:
* Does John Edwards plan on trying to resurrect his political career? Apparently so. The ex-VP candidate and NC Senator has speaking engagements planned for after the election, starting with an appearance at Indiana University on November 11.
* Elizabeth Edwards says that her condition has not worsened, according to reports. She continues to speak in favor of socialized health care.
* Rielle Hunter is rumored to be co-producer of a movie, a move some are saying is one of the quiet payoffs for remaining quiet over the paternity of her daughter.
* The New York Post is rumored to have new photos coming out in the near future of Rielle Hunter and daughter, Frances Quinn.
* Andrew Young, according to some sources, has moved into his new multi-million dollar home. He is still reported to be without visible means of support.

---

by CB
images: file

CB writes at PJ MacIlvaine. "Confessions Of A Very Sweet Screenwriter/Journalist/Mommy/Proud Bleeding Heart Liberal"

Sarah Palin on Obama-Ayers: As Fast as Others Uncover, The MSM Covers Up

Barack Obama, Bill Ayers and the Mainstream Media
Lies, Damn Lies, AP "Analysis" and CNN "Fact Checks"




The AP, which has put in yeoman's work as a mouthpiece of the Obama campaign, will be billing the campaign time-and-half for DOUGLASS K. DANIEL's "Analysis: Palin's words carry racial tinge".

Daniel not only attacked Republican Vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, for bringing up the connection between Barack Obama and domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers--in effect, the AP hack calls Palin a liar.

Then he called, in effect, a racist.

Her reference to Obama's relationship with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground, was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were "pals" or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.

"Douglass, I tawt I taw a racist!"


After the AP and CNN's (Non-Performance) on the John Edwards Scandal, why would they expect their readers/viewers to trust them?


Daniel might amended his sentence to "no evidence that the AP could uncover".

The AP, readers will remember, is that shining star of investigative journalism that imposed a blackout on John Edwards' scandal news for ten months--in the midst of Edwards running for president. After Edwards confessed, the AP scrambled--not to check out leads or follow the Edwards hush money trail--but to try and excuse its lack of investigation, reporting, ethics, standards and basic human curiosity.

Shorthand for the AP's performance in the John Edwards affair/scandal/cover-up:

CYA + BS = AP

Guess who the AP's chief apologist in explaining why the "news" organization didn't report any John Edwards' news--until he gave them his blessing and confessed?

Why, it was Douglass K. Daniel!

ALSO at DBKP: Click on banner to access 100 DBKP stories and videos on the John Edwards scandal.

First, Edwards confessed. Then Daniel confessed that "Reporters found Edwards' affair tough to prove.

Well, AP reporters found it tough to prove.

Just like Douglass K. Daniel finds that there is "no evidence" that Obama and Ayers were "palling around".

As in the John Edwards affair, it's too tough for the AP to assign a reporter to the Obama-Ayers story: that might result in an AP reporter giving his bosses some unpleasant news.

Better to let others do the heavy lifting, then send in Douglass K. Daniel to apologize later for the AP not doing its job.

"Douglass, come quick! There a racist over there!"

Patterico is sick of Any Argument Against Barack Obama Is By Definition Racist:

I’m sick of the race card being played whenever someone criticizes Barack Obama. Making the Ayers connection is hardly a racist ploy, but that’s what we’re being told by the AP today. There is literally no argument you can make against this man that will not be countered by cries of racism.

IF YOU CRITICIZE BARACK OBAMA OVER BILL AYERS, it's because you're a racist! sayeth Glenn Reynolds.

Well, of course. If you criticize Barack Obama over anything, it's because you're a racist. No doubt that'll hold true if he's elected President, too, which will call for strict anti-racism laws to keep such things under control . . . .

ALSO at DBKP: * Obama’s Ties to 1970’s Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers: Disassociation and Little Condemnation * Bill Ayers, Obama: No Mainstream Media Interest in The Obama Bunch * Vice Presidential Debate: Sarah Palin, Bill Ayers and Burned ROTC Buildings * Obama, Bill Ayers: N. Vietnam Awarded Ayers Ring Made from Downed US Plane * Obama, Bill Ayers: Mainstream Media Explain Away Obama Ties to Terrorists

Hindrocket, Powerline wonders if the Douglass smear piece isn't "The Most Bizarre Journalistic Malpractice Yet?"

When the McCain campaign ran an ad that had a white woman in it, it was denounced as racist. When it ran an ad that had an African-American man (Franklin Raines) in it, it was denounced as racist. Now the McCain campaign links Obama to a white man, the former terrorist, and still anti-American, Bill Ayers. That's racist too. I think we've exhausted just about all the possibilities. The only non-racist thing McCain can do, apparently, is concede the election.

Sarah Palin herself says, "“The Associated Press is wrong. The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn’t been talked about, and I think it’s fair to talk about where Barack Obama kicked off his political career, in the guy’s living room.”

Squelching news disadvantageous to Barack Obama, a headlong rush to Sarah Palin, rigged polls, exit polls, declaring Biden and Obama the "winners" of debates, incestuous interviews of other MSM Obama shills: is not all of this not more proof that the MSM is Actively Engaged in Voter Suppression?

Truthteller at NoQuarter slices and dices Daniel, line-by-byline: [Douglass K. Daniel of the AP is NOT a Journalist]

WASHINGTON (AP) - By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is “palling around with terrorists” and doesn’t see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.
And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.

[Sarah Palin’s discussion of Obama’s deep and controversial ties to Bill Ayers is not “unsubstantiated,” and it is certainly not an “attack.” Indeed, she offers a factual analysis of the available data, data Steve Diamond and others have made available to readers of No Quarter. And nothing about Sarah Palin’s words contain a “racially tinged subtext,” unless, of course, you are a compromised journalist who must project racism on everything you encounter in order to repress the racist impulses you compulsively disavow in your vain attempt to conceal your racism. I challenge Douglass K. Daniel to cite one sentence Sarah Palin utters that mentions or even alludes to race. Too bad he will fail, as she does not mention Obama’s race at all.]

John McCain, Sarah Palin and thousands
of their racist friends at a recent rally

CNN jumps in and tries to "fact check" Palin's remarks.

Verdict: False. There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now "palling around," or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are.

"I wish someone would ask [Obama] just once: "Then tell me, would it be ok for a child who was eight years old on 9/11--to then have a friendship with Osama bin Laden later in life as an adult"?
--comment at Free Republic on Obama's friendship with Bill Ayers
[From DBKP's Obama, Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers: The 'Tangential' Bill Ayers]

Readers will also remember how CNN leaped to "fact check" John Edwards: CNN didn't report a word until Edwards gave them permission by confessing.

CNN told viewers/readers what the "news" network thought of them when it was silent on John Edwards' scandal.

NewsBusters unloaded a double-barrel fact-check on CNN's "fact check" [McCain Camp Finally Expose Obama Ayers Connection, Media Quick to the Rescue and CNN Ignores Bernardine Dohrn's Terrorist Past While Defending Obama ].

For good measure, NewsBusters' Todd Warner Huston thinks Douglass K. Daniel's view of Sarah Palin is "idiotic".

Talk about an idiotic assertion, but the Associated Press just claimed that Governor Sarah Palin is a racist for saying that Obama used to "pal around with terrorists." According to the AP's Douglass K. Daniel, Palin is a racist because the word "terrorist" is construed now-a-days to mean a "dark-skinned radical Muslim" so that makes her a "racist" in his blinkered view.

No Links between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers? What are connections between Obama and Ayers? Let us count the ways: * Obama and Ayers worked closely on the Chicago Anneberg Challenge When Obama made his first run for political office, articles in both the Chicago Defender and the Hyde Park Herald featured among his qualifications his position as chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation where Ayers was a founder and guiding force. Obama assumed the Annenberg board chairmanship only months before his first run for office, and almost certainly received the job at the behest of Bill Ayers. During Obama’s time as Annenberg board chairman, Ayers’s own education projects received substantial funding. Indeed, during its first year, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge struggled with significant concerns about possible conflicts of interest. * In November of 1997, William Ayres and Barack Obama participated in a Community Service Center’s monthly discussion series on issues affecting the city of Chicago. The University of Chicago News said, "Ayers will be joined by Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the University of Chicago Law School, who is working to block proposed legislation that would throw more juvenile offenders into the adult system . ." * Obama kicked off his political career by announcing at Ayers home. Stanley Kurtz again: "when Ayers and Dorhn hosted that kickoff for the first Obama campaign, it was not a random happenstance, but merely further evidence of a close and ongoing political partnership." * Hillary Clinton brought up that the Obama-Ayers relationship on the Woods Fund. Clinton is correct that both men served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based charity that develops community groups to help the poor. Ayers joined the board in 1999 and is still on it. Obama left it in December 2002 after nine years. * Obama and Dohrn worked for elite law firm Sidley and Austin and The Obama-Ayers Top Ten: Highlights of the 20 year Obama-Ayers Connection * Obama publicly endorsed Ayers book Obama was perfectly aware of Ayers’ radical views, since he read and publically endorsed, without qualification, Ayers’ book on juvenile crime. That book is quite radical, expressing doubts about whether we ought to have a prison system at all, comparing America to South Africa’s apartheid system, and contemptuously dismissing the idea of the United States as a kind or just country. This is not all: this is only what has been uncovered, despite the best efforts of the Obama campaign and the Mainstream Media to keep the whole issue under control. Fact check this--DBKP has.

The best of the rest responses:
* Little Green Footballs: Associated Press Hits Bottom, Digs
* SARAH PALIN RACIST!... AP Says VP Candidate's Attacks on Obama Were Mean & Racist
* Palin-bashing Associated Press cries “RAAAACISM!”.

Malkin notes that DKD was "Putting the "ass" in 'Associated Press"".

Finally, Jonah Goldberg at NRO, calls the AP "Outrageously Asinine":
"The whole argument ultimately depends on the assumption that Americans are too stupid and racist to make any meaningful distinctions about anything." (See "We the Sheeple" image above.)

Contrast and compare the AP and CNN's responses to Sarah Palin calling out Barack Obama on his unpleasant connections to Bill Ayers with their ten-month hiatus on calling out John Edwards.

CNN, AP, Time, Newsweek, the New York Times and the rest of the MSM were guilty of Missing in Action on the John Edwards story.

On the Barack Obama-Bill Ayers story, they're guilty of something that goes beyond the MSM's normal bias.


The McCain campaign's Tucker Bounds hits the bulls-eye:

"The last four weeks of this election will be about whether the American people are willing to turn our economy and national security over to Barack Obama, a man with little record, questionable judgment, and ties to radical figures like unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers. Americans need to ask themselves if they've ever befriended an unrepentant terrorist, or had a convicted felon help them buy their house -- because those aren't smears, those are true facts about Barack Obama." ---Tucker Bounds, spokesman McCain-Palin 2008

As quickly as those interested in the curious connections between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers--led by Stanley Kurtz and Steve Diamond--uncover information, the Mainstream Media just as quickly covers it up.

Douglas K. Daniel's attack, the New York Times' whitewash and CNN's "Fact Check" of Sarah Palin are only the first of many in this war of Big Media disinformation.



by Mondo Frazier
images:
* law.du
* onion
* aol
* lh5
* dbkp file

Mainstream Media Practicing Voter Suppression

Mainstream Media's Favorite Voter Suppression Methods
* Lie, Damn Lies and MSM Polls
* Projecting the Media Favorite as the Winner
* Exit Polls and Fraud
* Pro-Obama, Anti-McCain-Palin Bias
* Hit Pieces Masquerading as "News"




The Mainstream Media is conducting a none-too-sophisticated campaign of conservative voter suppression. It's Big Media's largest partisan campaign effort--ever.

Voter suppression is a form of electoral fraud and refers to the use of governmental power, political campaign strategy, and private resources aimed at suppressing (i.e. reducing) the total vote of opposition candidacies instead of attempting to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters. This method is particularly effective if a significant amount of voters are intimidated individually because the voter might not consider his or her single vote important.

Is the blatant pro-Obama, anti-McCain-Palin Mainstream Media bias an attempt at voter suppression?

Some conservatives and independents--after listening to CNN, the AP and other MSM reports--may not vote in November. Perhaps, deciding that it will do no good--as they've been told repeatedly that the election has already been decided in Barack Obama's favor.

Previously, the MSM usually reserved voter suppression efforts to Election Day: calling Florida for Al Gore, broadcasting that the polls in Florida were closed in 2000 and the Kerry exit poll hoax in 2004. Before election day, the MSM contented themselves with publishing wildly-skewed polls, which strangely, always favored the Democrats by wide margins. [See below.]

POLLS SEEMS to SKEW WRONG--ONE WAY MSM polls from 1976-2004 [with the exceptions of 1984 and 1996] always work out wrong. And they prove to be consistently wrong in the same way: they predict victory for the candidate with the "D" after his name. 1976 Late July - Gallup Poll Jimmy Carter 62% Gerald Ford 30% Election Results Carter 50.1% Ford 48.0% ----- 1980 November Gallup Pre-election Poll Carter 44% Reagan 41% Election Results Reagan 50.7% Carter 41.0% ---- 1988 CBS-New York Times Poll Michael Dukakis 49% George Bush 39% Election Results Bush 53.4% Dukakis 45.6% ----- 1992 June 1992 Time/CNN Poll Ross Perot 37% George Bush 24% Bill Clinton 24% Election Results Clinton 43.0% Bush 37.4% Perot 18.9% ----- 2000 Sept 2000 Newsweek Al Gore 49% George W. Bush 39% Election Results Bush 47.9% Gore 48.4% by Mondo image: daytona beach real estate Sources: * General Election Polls: A History of Inaccuracy * Wikipedia

One of the most egregious example of MSM voter suppression tactics is the exit polls. This fraud reached its most distorted heights in 2004, when voters in the afternoon learned, via the major networks, that John Kerry was not only winning--he was winning in a landslide.

John Wambough wrote in January 2005 about the exit poll scam.

Shortly after 1pm on Election Day the National Networks' raw exit-poll data was posted on the Internet showing Kerry winning the National Election in a landslide. From the standpoint of the American voter, this data was projecting / forecasting / indicating the winner of the National Election and it was doing so before a single poll had closed in any state. Stringent Network standards for projecting or calling a state over the national airways mean little when the Internet is used as an alternative avenue for subverting the electoral process.

...

National Network disinformation tactics (telling the public the polls were closed when they weren't and telling the public that Al Gore had won the election when he didn't) proved highly effective in curtailing Florida voting in Election 2000. Many citizens of the Florida Panhandle know voters who chose not to vote once the networks (CBS in particular) announced that all Florida polls were closed and that Al Gore had won Florida and therefore the National Election. According to the Clerk for Elections, Okaloosa County, Florida: "In past elections, there was usually a rush of people coming from work, trying to get to vote before the polls closed" Soon after 6 p.m. in the Central Time Zone, voting volume dropped almost to zero in 361 polling places in the Panhandle.
--Election 2004: exit-poll disinformation hoax backfires?

When the obituary of the Mainstream Media is written, 2008 will go down as a year when all pretenses of objectivity were dropped. Not content to rely on the usual tactics of anti-conservative (Republican) stories, skewed polls and election day shenanigans, MSM editors are leaving nothing to chance, in what might be, their last hurrah.

The onslaught of pro-Obama, anti-McCain-Palin propaganda pieces, parading as "news" stories, far surpasses anything the MSM has attempted in years past.

A READER AT A MAJOR NEWSROOM EMAILS:

"Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into obama is derided or flat out ignored. The fix is in, and its working." I asked permission to reprint without attribution and it was granted.

Is it any wonder that three times more Americans believe in UFOs than trust the Mainstream Media?

Jeff G. at Protein Wisdom, asks Can 50 million Americans file suit for fraud?: "Because that would be the kind of big news not even the mainstream press could make disappear."

The Anchoress lays out an eerily-Apocalypic scenario “The fix is in, and it’s working…”

I suppose this is why print media and the press in general don’t care about their tumbling revenues; when The Pelosi gets the regulated internet and restricted Congress that she wants, and Obama gets his thugs and his Justice Department monitoring, intimidating and shutting down alternative media (and the dissenting voices we’ve been told are “patriotic” when a Republican is in the White House) the incestuous mainstream press will go back to being the only game in town. Pravda West.

Anchoress reader Eric Schubert: "The Edwards debacle was proof enough of where the heart of the MSM lies, and lack of curiousity of the press about Edwards probably cost Hillary the nomination. And that shameful episode offers a warning to the MSM. What if Obama does have a skeleton in his closet (such as a shady deal or outright bribe) that is revealed after he wins the election? While the chance of this scenario is remote, imagine the backlash against the MSM if it could be shown that a reasonable investigation by the MSM would have easily revealed this secret to the public prior to the election?"

[
John Edwards and Sarah Palin did indeed get very different MSM coverage.]

John Hinderaker at Powerline agrees that the fix is in, it is working--and you knew it all along.

Sadly, it's true: it is indeed working. We live in a political system that has not yet been adequately described, but one might call it a "mediated democracy." Mediated by a self-appointed, generally ignorant but highly opinionated "elite" that is not elite by any conventional measure--income, intelligence, education, social position--but that successfully dictates the terms of political discourse even though it no longer controls (exclusively, anyway) the means of production of the news.

The MSM is "In the Tank and not even Trying", according to Confederate Yankee.

If you recall, several weeks ago Charlie Gibson used a doctored quote when interviewing Sarah Palin.

Gene Johnson of the Associated Press was the person (I hesitate to use the term journalist at this point) who purposefully truncated the quote to make it mean something entirely different, and so I contacted his superior, and noted he had clearly violated APs code of ethics by doctoring the quote.

After a period of silence, I asked the AP "In what way is altering a subject's quote to change the entire context of the quote, and present an entirely false interpretation of what the subject clearly said, not at odds with the Associated Press' ethics policy?"

The AP's response?

"[T]he remark could be interpreted in different ways".

Of course, when it comes to the Blogosphere, the AP's position is that they have no ethics.

Details about Barack Obama, the questionable tactics traced back to his campaign and his many questionable associates get the "John Edwards treatment" in the Mainstream press. [See also "Barack Obama: The Strong-Arm Tactics of Team Obama", "Sarah Palin, Hillary Attacks: Fear and Loathing in the MSM" and "Sarah Palin: Far Left French Foppery, Vampires, and Elitist Palin Attacks".]

As shown with the John Edwards affair/scandal/coverup, the AP's ethics are highly-situational. The Edwards story demonstrated not only the MSM's blantant failure to report, but also a damning indictment to even investigate allegations concerning a Democrat presidential candidate.

Allegations which were true.

CNN, CBS, NBC, Time, Newsweek, the New York Times grudgingly ran articles of the Edwards' affair only after John Edwards himself gave them the go-ahead on August 8. They have since descended into their comforting media blackout, with only ABC News pursuing the Edwards' money trail.

Is the MSM voter suppression effort coordinated?

Only in the sense that like-minded people are inclined to act the same way at different times and places. Just because cars get stolen on the same day in Florida, Wisconsin and Maine doesn't mean the thieves in those different locales are operating as a criminal conspiracy.

It only indicates that people who steal cars are active in all three states at the same time.

Is the massive MSM bias another attempt at voter suppression?

Does the Pope wear a beanie?

Will any MSM outlet question the tilted coverage in favor of Barack Obama?

Will Big Media be successful? What new tactics will the MSM unveil on Election Day 2008?

As always, the election day results will be the judge.

But Big Media has moved from reporting the news into injecting themselves into the political process, into becoming the news itself.

In Election 2008, they have dropped all pretenses of a disinterested, objective press.

The Mainstream Media, like the Chicago machine, are not content with watching events on Election Day unfold.

They want to be the kingmakers.


NOTES:

* It's interesting that the "voter suppression" article at Wikipedia cites "caging lists" as a form of voter suppression.

Caging lists have been used by political parties to eliminate potential voters from the other party's voting roll. A political party sends registered mail to addresses of registered voters. If the mail is returned as undeliverable the party uses that fact to challenge the registration, arguing that because the voter could not be reached at the address, the registration is fraudulent.

Huh?

That sounds like a good way to prevent voter fraud--unless the Wiki writer is a project director for ACORN.


* MSM PALIN ATTACKS

Patterico not only fact-checks the LA Times on Sarah Palin--something that might exhaust the resources of a small army working around the clock--he also provides comic relief by working in a reference and video to convicted conman, Larry Sinclair.


by Mondo Frazier
image: stealing democracy