CNN considers the possibility that the media was part of a’conspiracy of silence’ or at the very least guilty of being to slow to act with information regarding the Edwards affair story. While the article comes to little conclusive it does provide some more valuable information, specifically that ABC was following the money-trail on Reille Hunter’s suddenly plush lifestyle and tracing it back to Edwards.

My take? A few months ago it was understandable for the larger MSM to be suspicious of the Enquirer’s reporting. Once the tabloid had reported that they had cornered Edwards and began openly asserting that the woman was his mistress and the baby was his child, the media was beyond wrong not to report on it. MSNBC’s site still has little prominently displayed on the story today. It would have been one thing for the Enquirer to suggest an affair and have Edwards give a luke-warm denial. For the tabloid to be so concrete in its assertions and have NO TALK of libel or slander from a lawyer was the major clue that the story had teeth. As the days passed, the Enquirer kept reporting and the lawyer ignored what would have been an easy lawsuit had it not been true, the insanity only grew.

Reports that LA Times bloggers were forbidden from discussing the story and a complete lack of coverage from the major networks and major papers suggests more than just caution but an outright desire to avoid the topic. While many Democrats have argued with me that we should not be covering this story because it is personal, Edwards himself was the one who held himself up on his character. He was the one who attacked Senator Clinton repeatedly over her honesty throughout the campaign leaving himself open to attack. At the very least this news story is further evidence that the American public is being completely underserved by its politicians and its media, at worst it is evidence of deeply rooted bias and conspiracy in reporting. You take whichever makes you feel better and run with it.