John Edwards is Terrible

The amazing thing about this story is not that John Edwards had an affair - I've never liked him very much, and he's always seemed a little sleazy to me - but that Mickey Kaus was right about something. He's been pushing this story for months, and he actually got it right!

Ann Coulter, meanwhile, is corresponding with the human race from her swamp-lair in bizarro world:

The mainstream media's reaction to the National Enquirer's reports on John Edwards' "love child" scandal has been reminiscent of the Soviet press. Edwards' name has simply been completely whitewashed out of the news.

Ah - a very calculated and careful statement. Of course, nobody is ignoring the story of the affair - just look at the big headlines on the front pages of (among many others) the NYT and WaPo, as well as huge red type on the lefty site HuffingtonPost, advertising "JOHN EDWARDS INSTANT BIG NEWS PAGE...READ ALL ABOUT IT." And that's on a night when the story is competing with the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and a possible war between Russia and Georgia for news coverage. But Ann is upset about the lack of coverage of the love child story, which remains (as of now) a tabloid story that Edwards, even as he admits his infidelity, is denying. He's even offered to be tested for proof.

But why does that even matter? The MSM has the verifiable details of his affair, and that's enough for now. If there's any truth to the rumors about a love child, it will become news as well. Ann knows that - after all, she's not dense, but she's made a pretty good living exploiting people who are.

More on this topic from Steve Clemons and Lee Stranahan. Andrew Sullivan provides his readers with one public figure's thoughts on a similar situation:

"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," - John Edwards, on Bill Clinton, 1999.

Hypocrisy never looks good on anyone.