Will the mainstream media cover the John Edwards love child scandal put out there by the National Enquirer? Is it exhibiting a double standard by giving blanket coverage to Larry Craig's bathroom antics, and ignoring Edwards's bathroom bunkering?
Oh, please. Edwards is a politician, which automatically puts him in the public eye. But, frankly, this is a tenuous pretext at best for covering his personal foibles right now. He is a private citizen. He is not running for president. He doesn't hold office, as Craig did -- still does! He didn't cop to committing a crime, then absurdly try to weasel out of it as Craig did.
It sure looks like Edwards is a hypocrite who misrepresented himself by showcasing his wife and kids so prominently in the campaign. But his campaign was unsuccessful. Voters didn't buy his arguments or his life story as reasons to elect him. In short, nobody cares about this now, except as celebrity gossip. And that's how it's going to play when the media picks it up, as it probably will.
The better question is, should the media have gone after this story more aggressively back during the campaign? Sounds like the answer is yes. It's not clear, though, that this would have made a difference: with everybody denying it, and no eyewitness evidence a la Gary Hart, or physical evidence a la Bill Clinton, it's very hard to sift the credible story from the hearsay in a situation like this.
An even better question: hasn't the National Enquirer heard of video cameras? This is the era of TMZ, man.
www.johnmcquaid.com/blog
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Posted July 24, 2008 | 10:58 AM (EST)