The National Enquirer is reporting that John Edwards is dishing out 15K a month to his lover/former lover (who knows?) Rielle Hunter as “hush money.”
Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not. Not in today’s California anyway. There’s a child involved (Frances Quinn Hunter, according to the Enquirer) and a one-time high-priced, high-income trial lawyer like Edwards with high net worth (28,000 square foot home!) would likely end up paying a lot more if he were dealing with the family courts and not “under the table,” as it were. Other states might be equally tough on this form of “dead beat dad.”
Rielle must surely know this. Could this be the explanation for the furtive meeting at the Beverly Hilton? Could it have been a negotiation and not a tryst? I certainly don’t know but it’s a possibility. Maybe the Enquirer will tell us. As Mickey Kaus indicates, the LAT is unlikely to be the source of any information. They don’t deal in the gutter. [Like www.rogerlsimon.com.-ed. Yes, like that.]
MORE: Kaus talks the talk on Edwards and “the undernews” here.
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
13 Comments
1. Lem:“It is the greatest mystery of all because no human being will ever solve it.”
This kid is not a good omen for the senator
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075005/
Jul 30, 2008 - 12:27 pm 2. glenn:Still watin’ for the pictures.
Jul 30, 2008 - 12:56 pm 3. Edith L.:Pictures-shmictures. I’m still waiting for Edwards to volunteer for a DNA test, which would put this thing to rest forever. Wonder why he hasn’t and wonder why Glenn above is ignoring the Fox News interview with Beverly Hilton security staff, which corroborates the story. Wishful thinking perhaps.
Jul 30, 2008 - 1:25 pm 4. promoguy:Edith, never thought of that DNA thingie. If it was me, and it wasn’t, I’d be yelling out that a portion of my body was on the way for a DNA match or mismatch.
Maybe they wanted a bit of hair, which would have messed up the hair freaks, well, hair.
Jul 30, 2008 - 2:06 pm 5. glenn:No wishful thinking, I hope the Enquirer has the slimeball nailed, I just want to see the look on Edwards face. Then I want to see him on National TV apologizing. Then I want to hear from all the feminists.
Jul 30, 2008 - 2:40 pm 6. promoguy:and then I want to watch the moving van pull up to her one bedroom apt in SB with all his stuff.
and then I’d like to see Elizabeth get all the medical help his money will buy.
probably some other ‘and then’s’ but that’ll do for now.
Jul 30, 2008 - 3:02 pm 7. Webutante:undoubtedly, you’ve hit the nail on the head here, Roger….expect lots more drama in the months ahead…
Jul 30, 2008 - 4:26 pm 8. glenn:You ain’t seen drama in this deal. And you won’t. It takes someone with gravitas to to create drama. John Edwards is a liteweight.(That was deliberate) The drama is going to come when President Obama gets his gut check, ’bout this time next year, and finds out that he isn’t the center of the universe. Or anyone with gravitas.
Jul 30, 2008 - 5:36 pm 9. Wanna See Rielle Hunter’s Old Site? at Deceiver.com:[...] Gawker, Dipdive, Sklar at HuffPo, Radar Online, Bloggasm, Kaus (naturally), The Week, LAist, DBKP, Roger L. Simon, Anorak, Conan O’Brien, and Jay Leno. And if you want to stay on top of our babbling about [...]
Jul 30, 2008 - 5:52 pm 10. Jay:I quite appreciate your hammering of Edwards, Roger. He has clearly aped the positions of a far less sexy, but tons more qualified, lefty politician like Russ Feingold to get where he is today.
Speaking of Feingold, he is, of course, an old friend of McCain’s, and I’d like to take an opportunity to clear up some remarks I wrote on McCain’s appeal to Jewish voters recently, which were incomplete.
My point was that McCain’s Christianity reveals a deep existentialism: that is, he lives in the moment and does not take his life for granted. These qualities, I think, are key to understanding the Jewish story through the ages.
Obama, in some ways, is like Bush: buoyant, comfortable in his own skin. This can be irritating, even to supporters like myself.
Jul 30, 2008 - 6:35 pm 11. Lem:..even to supporters like myself.
Now I’m really confused
Jul 30, 2008 - 9:46 pm 12. srlucado:Since Edwards seems to be an all-around hypocrite, it’s hardly surprising that he’d buy off his mistress on the cheap. Bad news for the kid, though (and aren’t they the ones who always bear the burden?).
Well, we always knew he was a member of the Bar Association–we just didn’t know it was the *Bar Sinister* Association.
Scott
Jul 31, 2008 - 10:04 am 13. Lem:All we know for certain is that a kid was born, everything else is Rashômon
Jul 31, 2008 - 1:36 pm