Small Lies and Big Lies

It wasn't entirely surprising that the story of John Edwards admission of an affair with Rielle Hunter broke on a Friday night. It's part of a long history of Friday night news dumps where bad stories are leaked on a Friday to avoid major news coverage. That strategy doesn't exactly work out as planned, and it didn't work out here, partially because ABC News made it public earlier than Edwards had hoped. In fact, Edwards was pissed that ABC News ran the story as early in the day on Friday as they did.

I called it on Friday that this was purposefully leaked on Friday, particularly as news of war in Georgia and South Ossetia broke out along with the Olympics opening ceremony would serve to bury the story somewhat. Still, Edwards wanted the story to break even later on Friday because the media managed to start a feeding frenzy in time for the evening news. He wanted to manage every aspect of the story, even as the National Enquirer had let everyone know the basics months ago.

The media is still coming to grips with its stunning failure to pursue the story.

Yesterday, I reported that Rielle's sister was demanding that Edwards come forward and take a paternity test yesterday. Rielle isn't too keen on that, but I think there's a strategy behind this. It puts additional pressure on Edwards to admit fatherhood and keeps the story alive as suspicions swirl about what exactly Edwards had been doing behind Elizabeth's back all these months.

Huffington Post also puts a dent into the Edwards timeline of when and where he first met Rielle. Well, if Edwards is making the big lies, the small lies are easy. And Elizabeth's actions are also being questioned by those on the left.

I suspect that the media will take a much closer look at Edwards' travel itineraries and compare them with those of Hunter to see if there were other rendezvous. Watch for more dumpster diving as well.

Deceiver has a few questions, including what happened to Rielle's website. Far more interesting is the money trail - why was Edwards paying Rielle in 2007 even though she was out of his employ in 2006.

Overlawyered has a more important question of Fred Baron, whose money appears to have been spread a cone of silence. Did he violate federal campaign finance laws? And why has no one asked Edwards why he would have met Rielle in the dead of night at the Beverly Hilton if he sought to keep this story quiet. There are far more laid back and secluded places to meet.