Confirmed: John Edwards Co-Starred in Preggers Porn Video

Since our last post on the subject of John Edwards, a few more details of the alleged porn video have leaked out. First off we can scratch the "alleged" part. Edwards' mistress confirmed its existence by filing an injunction against ex-Edwards aide and tell-all book author Andrew Young releasing the tape.

Thesmokinggun.com has the documents:

According to an affidavit filed yesterday in North Carolina Superior Court, Hunter reported that she was having an "intimate relationship" with Edwards in 2006, and that the video was made around September of that year.

ABC News reports more details. Namely that the woman in the video is large and in charge:

Though Young never saw the woman's face in the tape, he said she was "visibly pregnant" and was "wearing a bracelet" and a "thumb ring" typically worn by Rielle Hunter.

"It's her jewelry," Andrew Young's wife, Cheri, told ABC News. "It could be on another woman with the same jewelry."

The Washington Post meanwhile notes a fascinating possibility. There may be multiple videos out there starring Edwards:

It remains unclear if Hunter's 2006 tape is the same one that Young claims to have found. Young admits the pregnant woman's face is never visible in the tape. Furthermore, Hunter gave birth to her and Edwards's daughter, Frances Quinn, more than a year after she says her 2006 "private" video was made.(Emphasis added.)

So Edwards has a thing for making amateur porn videos starring himself with pregnant chicks? Nahh, probably not; I'm guessing it is Hunter in the tape and somebody is just confused over the dates.

Oh, the ABC story has this other great tidbit:

Young claims that Edwards even called upon him in late May 2007 to convince Hunter to terminate her pregnancy.

"The senator tried to convince her to have an abortion. ... He tried to convince me to convince Rielle to have an abortion," Young told Woodruff.

"She [Hunter] asked me if I were in her shoes what would I do. And if I said, 'I'm pro-choice, but after having had three kids, if you're asking me what I would do, no, I would not do it,'" Young recalled of his conversation with Hunter.

Young claims that Edwards was infuriated with him for not convincing Hunter and stressed that he was not certain the baby was his because Hunter was a "weird slut and a freak." (Emphasis added.)

Stay classy, Edwards.

Senator Bow Chicka Wow?

Former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards is doing relief work in Haiti right now in a fairly obvious attempt at rehabilitating his name, i.e., get good press. Well, work hard senator.

Gawker reports that Edwards made a sex tape with the mistress that he knocked up:

Sources have told us that, in the throes of their affair, John Edwards and Rielle Hunter made a sex tape that contains "several sex acts." And that his aide, Andrew Young found it on an unmarked DVD.

The tape, say both our sources, is explicit and reveals that Edwards "is physically very striking, in a certain area. Everyone who sees it says 'whoa'. She's behind the camera at first."

And that is of course just the thing you want to leave lying around if you are running of the United States. Even Bill Clinton is shaking his head and saying, "Fucking amateur ..."

If it sounds like I am taking an unseemly delight in Edwards' troubles it is because I am. He is a lying, sleazy, narcissistic scumbag whose champion of the downtrodden pose is complete pr bullshit. I don't have the slightest doubt that he would not be in Haiti if there were not reporters and cameras to see him. And yet twice, if history had been slightly different, he would have gotten in the White House. What a country.

Quiet Fade Into Obscurity Or Flaming Death Spiral?

As far as John Edwards' once-promising political career goes, the answer appears to be the latter. In fact, it is now achieving Lindsay Lohan-levels of self-destruction.

Cheating on your cancer-stricken wife is bad; knocking up your mistress is worse; creating an elaborate cover-up to keep said career alive is Nixonian; but having to admit that your earlier emotional mea culpa was an elaborate lie is in a class all by itself:

[A] federal grand jury in nearby Raleigh is investigating whether any crimes were committed in connection with campaign laws in an effort to conceal his extramarital affair with a woman named Rielle Hunter. At the same time, Mr. Edwards is moving toward an abrupt reversal in his public posture; associates said in interviews that he is considering declaring that he is the father of Ms. Hunter’s 19-month-old daughter, something that he once flatly asserted in a television interview was not possible.

Yes, I am gloating because, fuck it, it's fun.

This detail, also from the New York Times' Sunday story about Edwards linked above, has already been blogged in a couple of places, but c'mon, it's a beaut:

Mr. Young says that he assisted the affair by setting up private meetings between Mr. Edwards and Ms. Hunter. He wrote that Mr. Edwards once calmed an anxious Ms. Hunter by promising her that after his wife died, he would marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band.(Emphasis added.)

This is as good of a time as any to point out that Edwards's pose as champion of the poor and downtrodden was bullshit too.

Department of Schadenfreude

It appears that Elizabeth Edwards has kicked John Edwards out of the house:

"The wedding band is missing," the Washington Post reported yesterday after covering a speech the cancer-stricken mother of two gave in DC on Monday night. Edwards, the former North Carolina senator who ran for president twice, finally acknowledged three months ago that he had an affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter. He denies he's the father of Hunter's baby girl, although he has been spotted visiting mother and child. A source said Edwards is no longer living with Elizabeth and that the couple have separated. But reps for Elizabeth Edwards did not return calls and e-mails.

Trial-Lawyer-Turned-Politician Revealed To Be Lying, Hypocritical Douchebag; Blogger Not Surprised At All

Chalk another one up for the National Enquirer. John Edwards has been forced to 'fess up that there are two Americas: one for his wife and one for his mistress. He's denying paternity of the other woman's child though. Err, if that is so, then why visit her in a hotel room in the wee hours of the morning, John? Just happened to be in the neighborhood at 2 a.m.?

Adultery is essentially a private matter but when the politician in question has gone around making his family and his marriage a major reason to vote for him, you gotta believe he deserves all of the humiliation coming his way. Especially when you can dig up Lewinsky-era quotes like this:

"I think this President has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen."

Draft John Edwards

John Edward's supporters are making phone calls. Dave Weigal sums it up nicely: [empahsis mine]

Let's say, hypothetically, that Hillary Clinton keeps lucking out, that Obama keeps slipping into rotten news cycles and scandals, and that the two candidates keep knocking coats of paint off each other as they head into the summer? Wither the Democrats?

Of course not. Salvation is out there, says an e-mailer to Jerid of Buckeye State Blog.

"...got a phonebank from john edwards' supporters last night. they are telling people that a vote for edwards will still count and he will get delegates if he pulls 5% in ohio. that would, they say, give him more bargaining power at the convention."

This is not actually true. He would need 15 percent in at least one congressional district to get any delegates; more likely than not this is some trick to cut Clinton or Obama's vote totals in central Ohio. But there is a Draft Edwards movement, and this one has scored an awesome 100 signatures for the cause of injecting him back into the race.

Leave Me Alone And Mind Your Own Business, John Edwards

Via CNN:

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told a labor group Tuesday
that he would ask Americans to make a big sacrifice: their sport utility vehicles.

"I think Americans are actually willing to sacrifice," Edwards said during a forum held by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. "One of the things they should be asked to do is drive more fuel efficient vehicles."

The former North Carolina senator was asked specifically if he would tell them to give up their SUVs. He said, "Yes."

First of all, what is all this "would ask", "should be asked" and "would tell them to" garbage? If you're going to ask, John, go ahead and ask. The only sense I can make out of this conditional language is "if I get elected president."

Second, it's none of your damn business John.

Finally, his words have no real meaning. Does he really think that he can just ask all Americans to get rid of their SUVs and they will all do so? You're certainly not hinting at any coercion now, are you John?

And then he gets the infamous Al Gore treatment:

Edwards was asked during his appearance how he explained the contradiction
of asking Americans to sacrifice while he's living in a 28,000-square-foot
mansion.

He said he came from nothing, worked hard all his life, has always
supported workers and fought big corporations as a lawyer.

Oh, well then! Now that I know that it was big corporations from whom you extracted your fortune as a seedy trial lawyer, then sleep tight in that mansion, you badass.

What a douche.

Good thing he won't actually be nominated.

"We Can't Make John Black, We Can't Make Him a Woman."

The Breck guy is will not get a fair hearing because he is a white male, according to his wife. From the Edwards' camp:

"In some ways, it's the way we have to go," [Mrs.] Edwards says. "We can't make John black, we can't make him a woman. Those things get you a lot of press, worth a certain amount of fundraising dollars. Now it's nice to get on the news, but not the be all and end all."

Candidate Edwards, dogged by stories about his expensive haircuts and a YouTube video showing him primping before the camera, released a video set to the song "Hair," with images of Iraq and New Orleans and a tagline, "What Really Matters?"

Edwards: Can I Tell You That Story Again, I Have Never Told it Before

John Edwards has taken hits for being a hypocrite, as his rich and carbon-indulgent lifestyle, including $400 haircuts and a 28,200 square foot home, are frequent targets of attacks.

But what worries me most is that he is a trial lawyer actor and believes that US voters are the ignorant jury and will award him millions, I mean the presidency, because he is cute and has a $400 haircut. A book by Bob Shrum, who is a campaign loser, does include some interesting anecdotes in his book. According to Shrum, Kerry had qualms about having Edwards as his VP but grew

even queasier about Edwards after they met. Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story with him that he'd never told anyone else--that after his son Wade had been killed, he climbed onto the slab at the funeral home, laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he'd do all he could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade's ideals of service. Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me later, Edwards had recounted the exact story to him, almost in the exact same words, a year or two before--and with the same preface, that he'd never shared the memory with anyone else. Kerry said he found it chilling.

That scene reminds me of the scene in Broadcast News, when the integrity but not so handsome anchor was cast out and replaced by pretty boy John Hurt. Hurt manufactured tears in an interview, which was horrifying in those innocent times, while our displaced hero got trashed on gin in Georgetown. So if Edwards gets elected we are all getting trashing on gin in G'town, though I don't want to motivate you for that outcome.

Edwards: End the War Now.......And Bring Back Conscription

He's not a chickenhawk, but when you advocate conscription for young men, when you yourself wouldn't be forced to serve, there has to be a term for that. Besides populist pig. Which I'll admit, has a nice ring to it for Edwards.

Edwards also called Monday for spreading the burden of serving the country by mandating national service.

"One of the things we ought to be thinking about is some level of mandatory service to our country, so that everybody in America _ not just the poor kids who get sent to war _ are serving this country," he said.

After the event, Edwards said he had not meant to imply that only the poor go to war, only that everyone should serve in some way.

"We have people from all walks of life in America who are serving, including Reservists and National Guard," he said. "What we want to do is to have all Americans to have a chance to serve their country."

Some leaders of local veterans' groups also have deplored Edwards' call for war protests on Memorial Day.

For all the failures that we at home, and troops abroad have had to suffer through during this war, we can all be, and should be grateful to men like Milton Friedman who ensured that only volunteers would be asked to serve in our armed forces. The last thing we need is return to that collosal mistake. Full article here.

Update: I love it when politicians get mixed up in their own rhetoric. Notice how Edwards says

"What we want to do is to have all Americans to have a chance to serve their country."

What does that even mean? Anyone who is physically and mentally able to serve has the chance to serve. That's the magic of choice. What he should have said was, "What we want to do is force everyone who has the chance to be killed in war for our nation to take that chance." That would at least be truthful.

Is Jesus "Appalled" by John Edwards?

John Edwards recently said that Jesus

would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," Edwards told the site [beliefnet.com]. "I think he would be appalled, actually."

According to this line of thought, Jesus would likely be appalled by Edwards, who, story here,

succeeded last month in selling his imposing Georgetown mansion for $5.2 million

Edwards then went on to build a $5.4 million mansion in North Carolina!

What would Jesus say? Unlike Edwards, I don't proport to know (or care) what the divine ramifications are but the hypocrisy is obvious. Perhaps Jesus would say that Edwards could live in, say, a $1 million home and donate the other $4.4 million to charity, or to the federal treasury next time he files taxes, as he thinks that raising taxes is paramount to curing what ails the US. Go for it John! You have much more money than the rest of us do so please lead us by example before you ask us to cough up more.