Conservapedia: Gossip is Trustworthy!

UPDATE: Conservapedia has since removed the post from their "News" links. No notice that they did remove it, yet part of the discussion about it remains on the Talk Page for the main page. Typical.

"The Trustworthy Encyclopedia" provided in its "In the News" section a delicious report:

Does former Democratic senator and presidential candidate John Edwards have a love child? Is he having an affair? "Enquiring minds" want to know:

And linked to http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,391426,00.html.

The Conservapedia tease even alludes to the source of the "love child" story: Tabloid National Enquirer.

How newsworthy is it?

"His face just went totally white," the guard said, when Edwards was told the reporters were shouting out questions about Edwards and Rielle Hunter, a woman the National Enquirer says is the mother of his child.

And later:

Enquirer Editor-in-Chief David Perel told FOXNews.com his reporters caught Edwards visiting Hunter and her baby at the hotel earlier Monday evening. Perel said Hunter and Edwards have been occasionally getting together so Edwards can see the baby. Hunter came to Beverly Hills with a male friend, Bob McGovern, said Perel. Hunter and her companion reportedly booked two rooms under McGovern's name, and McGovern picked up Edwards to bring him back to the hotel.

Perel said Enquirer staff had been given information about the planned Edwards-Hunter meeting, and the tabloid sent reporters to the hotel in anticipation of Edwards' arrival. According to the Enquirer, Edwards was first spotted being dropped off at the hotel at 9:45 p.m. PT, about 25 minutes after reporters watched McGovern leave the building in his BMW.

Edwards went to Hunter's room and the two left the hotel together and returned 45 minutes later, Perel said. Edwards reportedly entered her room and stayed there until after 2:30 a.m. PT.

FOXNews.com could not independently confirm the Enquirer's allegations. Perel also declined to identify where the Enquirer received the information about Edwards' alleged visits.

Perel told FOXNews.com that after leaving Hunter's room, Edwards took an elevator to the basement, where he was confronted by two Enquirer reporters. He ran into the bathroom, where he remained until the security guard arrived.

The Enquirer says it has videotape showing Hunter entering the room where she met Edwards, and shows Edwards leaving the same room. However, the Enquirer has thus far declined repeated requests by FOXNews.com to release any photographs or videotape evidence of the incident.

So the story FOXNews puts forward is that the National Enquirer ambushed Edwards at a hotel, where he was meeting with a known acquaintance. He spent time with her and a male friend. The Enquirer got a head's up that Edwards would be there. The tabloid has footage of Edwards and Hunter, but refuses to release the footage.

I'm still trying to figure out how this is news and not celebrity gossip at this point. But Conservapedia feels it's newsworthy.

Later in the story, FOXNews provides these bits of information:

Last October, the Enquirer reported that several sources said a former campaign worker on Edwards' campaign had been having an affair with the former North Carolina senator. In an e-mail allegedly written by Hunter to a friend, she wrote that she is "in love with John," but it's "difficult because he is married and has kids."

And:

Hunter has said that the father of her child is former Edwards campaign official Andrew Young. The 41-year-old married father of three has also said he is the father.

Jerome Armstrong of myDD.com apparently asked Hunter about the allegations. This concocted story is just dirty politics and I want no part of it.

It's not conclusive either way. It's sloppy journalism at best. But this seems to be standard fare for "The Trustworthy Encyclopedia" to give in to political and ideological attacks.