[posted by Justin Levine]

Well isn’t this special….

Rielle Hunter, the former presidential campaign aide who had an affair with John Edwards, said yesterday that she will not pursue DNA testing to establish the paternity of her 5-month-old daughter, despite the former senator’s offer to participate in such a test.

In a statement provided to The Washington Post, Hunter said through her attorney that she would not take a genetic test “now or in the future.”

The attorney, Robert Gordon, called Hunter a “private” person who is “not running for public office” and would not comment further on the media frenzy engulfing her.

“She wishes to maintain her privacy and her daughter’s privacy,” he said in the statement. “Furthermore, Rielle will not participate in DNA testing or any other invasion of her or her daughter’s privacy now or in the future.”

Now let’s remember what Edwards said: “I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established.”

And let’s re-examine what he told ABC News before Hunter’s latest announcement: “I would welcome participating in a paternity test. I’m only one side of the test, but I’m happy to participate in one.”

Let’s look at the phrase again:  “I’m only one side of the test, but I’m happy to participate in one.”

That is a curious fact to point out if you are trying to come clean to the press. “I’m only one side” of a paternity test. You need two willing participants to be sure about the results.

Let’s also recall that there is no name listed for the father on the child’s birth certificate.

The reasonable conclusion to be drawn: Edwards already coordinated his statements with Hunter before he went public with them. He told ABC News that he would be willing to take a paternity test knowing full damn well that Hunter herself would later refuse to take one. That way, he could pretend to be putting everything out in the open, when in fact, he is still a lying sack of crap.

Why is Hunter doing this?  Only one of two reasons.  (1)  She still wants to protect Edwards, and naively thinks that the truth can still be hidden; or (2)  She is still being paid off by Edwards and/or his political operatives and needs to take this position because she still wants to collect the money.

This is all obvious by now. The lies by Edwards still stink here. But he, Hunter and most of the media still insist on treating me like I’m an idiot.

I know that most of the media think that the story is over now that Edwards has admitted to the affair, but thank goodness we still have the Enquirer to shake the truth out. If the media were still interested in this story, they would realize that Edwards’ denial of paternity still leaves many unanswered questions, and they would now be hounding political operative Andrew Young and/or his attorney to answer some direct questions.

Let’s remember:

A December statement attributed to Young’s Washington attorney, Pamela J. Marple, said, “As confirmed by Ms. Hunter, Andrew Young is the father of her unborn child. Senator Edwards knew nothing about the relationship between these former co-workers, which began when they worked together in 2006. As a private citizen who no longer works for the campaign, Mr. Young asks that the media respect his privacy while he works to make amends with his family.”

Now that Edwards continues to deny paternity, that makes Young’s statement still very newsworthy. Is anyone trying to track him or his attorney down to re-confirm all of this? Because once again, if this is true, then that would have to mean that Hunter carried on two separate affairs with married men within the Edwards camp within a short period of time. People will think that she is a political-hungry whore if this is true – that’s why we need to clear the air on this (and why Hunter’s own family is calling for the paternity test, even if Hunter herself is not).

But the media STILL aren’t interested in  getting the truth. They are only interested in getting the memo of official statements from the participants, re-printing them, and then shrugging their shoulders since they are ‘aren’t able to confirm’ anything else. They still consider the reporting of common sense conclusions to be ‘rumor mongering’ since they don’t have an actaul signed confession from Edwards, Young, Hunter, et al.

For the record: I don’t think Hunter is a political-hungry whore. Rather, I think that Edwards continues to lie and that she is being complicit in helping him try and maintain his lies.

I only ask one thing from the media and our politicians –  DON’T TREAT ME LIKE I’M AN IDIOT.  Why does that seem to be so tough?

– Justin Levine