DOWNFALL – AT 8:13 A.M. ET:  Both ABC and CNN are reporting that John Edwards will be indicted on criminal charges today.  From ABC:

Unless a last-minute deal comes through, John Edwards will be indicted today on criminal charges after a two-year investigation seeking to connect the former senator to an allegedly illegal scheme to cover-up his extra-marital affair, ABC News has learned.

The case against Edwards, which called on more than 100 witnesses, will seek to prove that hundreds of thousands of dollars were allegedly used illegally to seclude and support his mistress Rielle Hunter, so Edwards could continue his campaign for the presidency in 2008.

Criminal charges are likely to be filed today against Edwards, unless a last minute deal is reached. His attorney Greg Craig arrived in North Carolina last night to consult with Edwards.

The federal investigation of Edwards began a few months after the National Enquirer had cornered him at a Beverly Hills hotel in October 2007. The supermarket tabloid began to run a series of stories alleging that an adulterous affair occurred between Edwards and Hunter, his former campaign worker.

COMMENT:  ABC is to be commended for acknowledging the work of the National Enquirer.  But isn't it remarkable that it took a supermarket tabloid to bring down a presidential candidate?

The Edwards case is a stunning example of the double standards in the media.  The same media that could send reporters to Alaska to rummage through Sarah Palin's garbage asked no serious questions about John Edwards, an avowed liberal, and John Kerry's running mate in 2004.  Edwards had made millions as a trial lawyer specializing in medical malpractice cases.  Now, there certainly are legitimate malpractice cases.  But Edwards had allegedly gotten rich by using junk science to destroy physicians, but the press never pursued any meaningful investigations.  Had Edwards been a conservative Republican, I doubt if he could have ever gotten away so unscathed.

It finally took a supermarket tabloid to expose this man.  The New York Times was busy trying to pin a romantic affair on John McCain, and other outlets made destroying George Bush, Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin their life's work.  Meanwhile, Edwards remained a major national figure. 

What if Edwards had made it to the White House?  Fortunately, he didn't.  But another man, about whom few serious questions were asked, did.  America is today paying the price for the scandalous press bias in favor of Barack Obama in 2008.  The media never learned its lesson.  It never learned because it doesn't want to learn.  It is in the bias business, the business of "making a difference," and it has no interest in changing.

June 3, 2011