Rumors, Smears, and WAGs

Confession: when the Rielle Hunter story broke in the Enquirer (the first Rielle Hunter story to break in the Enquirer, I mean) I thought we should pass on it. It was the Enquirer; it was just the sort of salacious thing that sounds more true the more the accused denies it; it was hard for me to believe that someone who has 24-hour press coverage and a well-known coif could be that stupid. And I felt bad for the cancer-stricken wife and his confused kids.

Well, here we are again.

PRESIDENT OBAMA has been caught in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, DC Hotel with a former campaign aide, sources say.

And now, a hush-hush security video that shows everything could topple both Obama’s presidency and marriage to Michelle!

A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions. While Baker has insisted in the past that “nothing happened” between them, the ENQUIRER has learned that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Click over and read the rest, I'll wait.

So notice. The story is based on: (1) a video tape that no one has seen; (2) money offered by "anti-Obama operatives" to find witnesses to this event that may not have happened; and (3) an old 2004 event, not a recent tryst.

It looks to me like the Enquirer just recycled the old Vera Baker story that made the rounds during the campaign. Also, note the Enquirer has sharply "updated" its article to remove many of the details of its original report. Joyner has the original version at the link.

But... [ace]: The story really didn't "make the rounds" during the campaign. It was shopped to ABC and the Enquirer, and ABC, I'm told, didn't bother with it but in turn shopped it to a British paper, which did run it. Blogs mentioned it (including this one) but no media in America touched it.

I doubt much will come of this, but just on a personal level, I'm happy the National Enquirer is running it, just because it makes me look like less of a nut for pushing it.

This old Confederate Yankee post has details about the allegations. It seems like the Enquirer has the same story with the same particulars, but are slow-rolling their release. Like, we know the hotel in question is the Hotel George, but the Enquirer just says "a hotel" for now.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:13 PM

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