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Copyright © 2008 Andrea Langworthy
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My sister and I talked last Sunday afternoon about the latest political scandal brought to light by The National Enquirer. “Dad was right,” she said, referring to my father’s penchant for the publication. An intelligent man with a journalism degree from St. Thomas and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from William Mitchell, Dad seemed an unlikely candidate to laud the paper often described as a “rag.” A supermarket weekly another lawyer, former senator John Edwards, recently called, “A trashy tabloid.” But Dad, who had an inquiring mind, received the Enquirer in his mailbox every week and gave subscriptions to his grown children.
Dad held the view that if it was in the Enquirer, there had to be some element of truth to it. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” he would have said. Which is what I thought, nearly a year ago, when I first read the Enquirer’s allegations about Edwards’ affair with a woman hired to make a video of him on the campaign trail. A woman he had met in a bar. A tryst Edwards denied vehemently, citing his love of only one woman, his wife, Elizabeth.
I wasn’t going to write about Edwards, Reille Hunter or their possible love child this week. Everyone else has. What could I add? But my deadline hangs over my head like a guillotine and the tawdry transgression is all I can think about. Not only was I stationed in front of the TV all weekend but I read everything about it in newspapers from Minneapolis to New York City. The only words floating in my head have to do with Edwards, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and the six-month-old girl many say will have a great head of hair.
It all started last Friday as I was working at the computer. An online pop-up caught my eye. John Edwards had admitted to the dalliance, it said. I turned on the television and jumped from CNN and MSNBC for the next few hours. In-between, I called everyone I thought might be near a phone and a TV so they could do the same. While not on the same scale, it was baffling and eerie at the same time — like learning of the death of Princess Dianna or John Kennedy Junior. Could this really be happening? I tried other stations to make sure. All reported Edwards had come clean to Bob Woodruff of ABC. Excerpts were aired and promos promised the entire interview would be broadcast on Nightline.
Now, this is an election year and my husband and I have recently discovered and become addicted to the political rantings of two MSNBC broadcasters, Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. I couldn’t wait to hear what the two of them would say on their shows that night. Then I remembered we had dinner plans with friends. I had already rescheduled this get-together three or four times and couldn’t cancel again. “I must really like the two of you,” I said, admitting I had been tempted to hurl myself down the stairs in order to have an excuse to stay home and keep abreast of the situation.
At the restaurant, I wanted to dwell on the topic but sensed the others wouldn’t mind changing the subject. Then, from the table behind me, I heard a woman utter the
E-word. I couldn’t help myself. I turned in my chair and leaned towards the woman and her friends to offer my expertise. “I’ve been on this assignment all afternoon,” I said. “If you have any questions about the Edwards’ story, just ask me.” After all, enquiring minds need to know.