Edwards caught in another “inconsistency”?
posted at 3:05 pm on August 11, 2008 by Allahpundit
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I don’t think this proves anything, actually — although it may help us figure out who the Enquirer’s sources are.
Other loose threads are also unraveling Edwards’ account.
After Edwards was caught by The National Enquirer visiting Hunter in late July at the Beverly Hilton, the former North Carolina senator said Friday that that rendezvous was only arranged last minute.
“I had been in Los Angeles that day to do an event with the mayor, and that afternoon I got a call in my hotel room from a gentleman named Bob McGovern. … And he asked me to come and meet with them.”
But a National Enquirer reporter told FOXNews.com in July that they got a tip “a while ago” that Edwards would be at that hotel, and that “we had some time to implement a plan.”
Without going into specifics, the reporter said the tip came within the week, suggesting the tabloid had more than an afternoon to organize its stakeout.
How is that a “loose thread,” though? There’s nothing necessarily inconsistent about McGovern and Hunter renting the rooms at the Hilton in advance and then waiting until the last minute to invite Edwards. Granted, they’d have shelled out a few hundred bucks for nothing if it turned out he couldn’t make it due to a scheduling conflict or whatever, but then they’ve got Fred “The Best Friend Anyone’s Ever Had” Baron to help pick up the slack. Conceivably this gives us a clue as to who tipped the Enquirer off about the meeting — but, er, what clue does it offer? Like I said on Saturday, from the way Edwards described it, it sounds like Hunter and McGovern were shaking him down, which would point to them being the tipsters. Until, that is, you remember that the Enquirer’s also claiming, without any evidence thus far, that Edwards met with Hunter at the same hotel a month earlier in June. So here’s a theory: Someone who works at the hotel, probably at the front desk, spots Edwards there in June and phones the Enquirer with a hot tip. “Terrific!” say the editors. “Let us know if/when he, Hunter, or McGovern make any reservations in the future.” A few days before the July meeting, McGovern calls to make a reservation, the news is passed on from the front desk to the Enquirer, and the Enquirer cuts a check to their mole in due course as thanks for a job well done. The alternate theory, that Hunter and McGovern tipped the paper off, doesn’t make sense unless you can explain why they’d want the Enquirer to be there for the second meeting but not for the first. Assuming, of course, that the paper wasn’t there for the first meeting in June, which we really don’t know yet.
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So Edwards claims he went to see Bob McGovern there last-minute…and was there seeing him until 2 AM?
SECOND LOOK AT COULTER’S CPAC COMMENTS!
MB007 on August 11, 2008 at 3:09 PM
A hotel to avoid!
leftnomore on August 11, 2008 at 3:12 PM
Someone took that grainy photograph. I suspect McGovern or Reilley.
Sue on August 11, 2008 at 3:17 PM
But what about Fred Baron?
benrand on August 11, 2008 at 3:17 PM
Mrs. Edwards was the tipster.
Brat on August 11, 2008 at 3:20 PM
Hunter still thinks that ultimately she and Silky will be together. To prove he is the father now would remove all doubt he is a lying shyster. Silky has brainwashed her into doing anything he wants in order to save his butt. Elizabreth is playing the same role for this two-faced loser. Tools, just tools.
volsense on August 11, 2008 at 3:23 PM
The joint appearance in LA, with Mayor Villaraigosa took place on July 21, 2008, and the press release about it happened at 4:00p.m. - thus, Edwards’ overnighting-in-LA is explained, officially.
It would be interesting to know what his “official” schedule was that day, if he flew privately, commercially, why he didn’t just fly back home after the appearance, why he stayed in the hotel afterwards, and a slew of other things which normally happen after a business appearance.
It’s also interesting that he said in the ABC interview, when asked if Mrs. Edwards knew about his meeting in the hotel, the July one, he replied something like “yes she knows, I told her afterward” - after the National Enquirer cornered him and it was all over the news…
Entelechy on August 11, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Is Edwards behavior consistent with the story he’s telling? For me the situation is Clintonesque where John Edwards thinks he can talk his way out of the worst of the behavior. He can’t so there is this constant dribbling of information with a new story for each wrinkle. Already we’ve gone from denials about an affair and a hotel visit to a surreptitious meeting. We’ve gone from statements about Edwards knowing nothing about where Hunter was getting money to comments about the sugar daddy might be somebody on his staff or a supporter. This just keeps getting more and more like Bill Clinton the sequel.
highhopes on August 11, 2008 at 3:25 PM
This is all just a huge distraction from the trainwreck that is Obama. Watch his poll numbers rise because he has a challenger in the MSM spotlight. Less time spent of the O’Gaffe, the better his chances.
carbon_footprint on August 11, 2008 at 3:27 PM
I think that was either a lie, or that she already knew. Every woman I’ve known who has stayed with her husband after finding out he cheated, has a private detective on his a** constantly after that.
That’s why I said she’s the tipster. She wanted him to get caught there.
Brat on August 11, 2008 at 3:29 PM
I tend to think Hunter or someone close to her (like her sister) is the tipster. Given her interest in being famous and her passion for Silky, this cover-up must be very galling. And after all, she has all the leverage here (the money stream continues under both the coverup and in the event that Edwards is shown to be the father). She undoubtly wants to stay on Edwards’ good side, hence the sister’s outrage on her behalf, but she can pretty much do whatever she wants.
Infidoll on August 11, 2008 at 3:30 PM
I’m waiting for the standard apology press conference. Big podium, spouse dressed nicely in a pants suit with a supporting look on her face, lots of “I’m sorries” but no real expression of guilt or acknowledgement of immorality. It’s worked for (in no particular order) Larry Craig, Eliot Spitzer, James McGreevey, David Vitter, and Bill Clinton.
The really sad part is that, among a portion of the population, this will be enough to want to give Edwards a second chance at public office.
highhopes on August 11, 2008 at 3:32 PM
Nah, in Bill Clinton’s case they had a stained blue dress, from a, er…you know…it rhymes with row, job, plus his lying under oath as the president… Here we’ve got a baby, potential illegal funds being transferred as hush money, extortion, and so much more, allegedly.
Clinton’s was belated puberty-like experimentation, and grown up deprivation.
Edwards’ is sadism, for this explanation
Entelechy on August 11, 2008 at 3:32 PM
I like this theory better, simply because of the media used. I mean who would call the Enquirer? They’re not exactly considered journalists, so anything sent to them wouldn’t really be believed.
Sounds more like something someone would do to try to get some extra money out of Edwards. It wouldn’t harm him enough to keep him from paying her off, but it would do enough to make him afraid of her.
As to having them at the second meeting only, maybe they were saving this as a trump card.
Esthier on August 11, 2008 at 3:36 PM
Why would Baron continue with the hush money now that Edwards has come clean about the affair? Shouldn’t we expect Hunter to be taken off the Baron payroll if there is nothing more to keep us from finding out about?
Sue on August 11, 2008 at 3:37 PM
If the point was to meet with Edwards, and I don’t see that Hunter and McGovern did anything else but meet with Edwards, it’s a long drive — 100 miles each way, with an infant, if you have no guarantee Edwards will show up. And I wouldn’t fault him for not showing up if they didn’t give him advance notice. So, it’s unraveling in the sense he’s a liar liar pants on fire.
Blake on August 11, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Fred Baron, Male Prostitute.
benrand on August 11, 2008 at 3:47 PM
Judging by her scathing rant bout Edwards, I think Kirsten Powers is the tipster.
swami on August 11, 2008 at 3:47 PM
I wouldn’t be surprised if Edwards didn’t arrange the joint session with Villaraigosa, as a front. I don’t believe the “last minute call” theory.
On the tipster, I’m inclined to agree that it was a hotel staffer.
Entelechy on August 11, 2008 at 3:47 PM
I’ll have to find it, but I’m certain the NE editor said they were ‘too late’ when they tried to get there previously.
That’s how it usually happens. Remember, this is Beverly Hills. Even UCLA medical center personnel got busted for giving information to the tabloids.
MayBee on August 11, 2008 at 3:48 PM
If he took her off the payroll, she would sue Edwards for child support and we would find out, not that we didn’t know already, that he lied about paternity and that he did not end the affair when he said he did.
Blake on August 11, 2008 at 3:48 PM
The tipster is either the sister or Hunter herself. The cat was out of the bag long before these rendezvous. This meeting was the final set up.
The sister for the obvious reason that her sister is being played for a fool and Hunter because she wants to hook him and potentially shake him free sooner rather than later. The woman wanted to do a TV show about having affairs with men to get them out of bad marriages….
TheBigOldDog on August 11, 2008 at 3:52 PM
Who cares how he got caught.He’s still a weasel.
jeanie on August 11, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Read the Newweek story. Jonathan Dalmer knew. I bet she was trying to get him to print the story and he declined. I bet she’s told several outlets and none of the MSM would brake it so she was forced to go to the Enquirer.
TheBigOldDog on August 11, 2008 at 3:55 PM
There are simply too many suspects with motive who could have known in advance about the trip. Each of the Youngs and unknown friends, family members, nannies and housekeepers could be added to the list.
obladioblada on August 11, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Looks like another Karl Rove “Valerie Plame” leak to me.
GarandFan on August 11, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Hahaha! Medved is playing the Edwards interview. He refused to say when the affair ended. I know he said his wife was in remission and she went out of remission in March 2007. But, as Medved points out, he’s vague on the dates because not only did money go to Hunter for those fake videos, he also traveled around with him. Who paid for that?
Blake on August 11, 2008 at 4:13 PM
should have spent some of that $400.00 haircut money on lying lessons… or this guy might have gave him some pointers for free…
Kaptain Amerika on August 11, 2008 at 4:14 PM
The most damning evidence against Edwards is the money being paid to Young. If Young were really the father, wouldn’t a nice quiet paternity test have been a cheaper and more effective means of getting rid of the NE (and getting NE heat away from Edwards) than a lingering mystery and expensive cross-country relocations? And if the Young and Hunter families are hip enough to live together under the same roof, why be coy about the birth certificate?
The only people in America buying this BS are the MSM and Elizabeth Edwards.
Infidoll on August 11, 2008 at 4:17 PM
Obama is on vacation in Hawaii, so they need Silky Scumbag to act as a summer replacement.
Right_of_Attila on August 11, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Shouldn’t $400 haircuts bag you hotter chicks?
Chuck Schick on August 11, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Hunter would not call the press. She thinks Honest John aka “Love Lips” is going to marry her. LOL! She will soon be singing like a bird, when she realizes he will never marry her. A sister might actually go to the press for $$$$$$$ and because she could justify it by saying she is looking out for her sister and niece. When the cash cow dries up look for the real “tabloid trash” to begin.
bloggless on August 11, 2008 at 4:30 PM
How wondrous it is that modern medicine has been able to revive this dead horse so that it can be beaten again.
Dave Rywall on August 11, 2008 at 4:31 PM
Read the Newweek story. Jonathan Dalmer knew. I bet she was trying to get him to print the story and he declined. I bet she’s told several outlets and none of the MSM would brake it so she was forced to go to the Enquirer.
TheBigOldDog on August 11, 2008 at 3:55 PM
I think she EXPECTED him to report on their meeting and was disappointed when he didn’t. Call it a hunch.
Am I the only one who thought it was funny how Dalmer announced that, from the very first time he saw Hunter, he knew “she was news”? To paraphrase Seifeld (the car rental episode), anyone can RECOGNIZE the news, Jon, the important part is REPORTING the news.
Infidoll on August 11, 2008 at 4:32 PM
I thought you could only ‘give’ $11,000/year under the tax code - is Baron therefore picking up the tax tab, or is Hunter, and how was this all arranged? Baron just sends checks, she just cashes them, and nobody ever says anything about it to anybody else - nobody’s accountant or lawyer had a view on this, ahem, rather….unorthodox arrangement?
Puh-leez. This story is going to END John Edwards, as the affair, love child, and then, more damagingly, the cover-up come into focus.
His forst appearance was his chance, and he blew it.
Martin on August 11, 2008 at 4:33 PM
Maybe a negotiation at the first meeting did not go well, requiring more external pressure be applied to the squeeze.
Karl on August 11, 2008 at 4:34 PM
Well it is official John Edwards standards are too low for New York, and we know what New York will put up with.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/08/10/2008-08-10_john_edwards_is_a_liar_and_cheat_who_has-2.html
Dr Evil on August 11, 2008 at 5:01 PM
S&M: Birds of a fetish flock together.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on August 11, 2008 at 5:59 PM
JOHN EDWARDS: Pretty Boy Fraud.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on August 11, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Any time I catch someone lying, the first question I have is “What else?” Any one who does this to their wife will lie to anybody.
perroviejo on August 11, 2008 at 6:06 PM
Are we really calling this an “inconsistency” now? So he was consistent at one time?
perroviejo on August 11, 2008 at 6:09 PM
John Edwards’s biggest inconsistency of all—> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow1pwtFpvq8&eurl
Dollayo on August 11, 2008 at 7:01 PM
REILLE HUNTER AND JOHN EDWARDS: Co-defendents?
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on August 11, 2008 at 7:13 PM
In my opinion the tipster was most likely one of McGoverns buddies who sold him out.
malkinmania on August 11, 2008 at 8:21 PM