(Hi! If you’re new here and you’re looking for more information about the John Edwards story, I mean non-story, our entire non-coverage is here.)
A Deceiver reader — perhaps responding to my annoyingly smug statement in my previous “John & Rielle” post that I know how to use Google, unlike 99% of the journalists in the U.S. — points out that you can find more information about the mysterious Bob McGovern via… Google. D’oh!
If you’re just joining us, McGovern is the gentleman who last week allegedly rented two rooms at the Beverly Hilton (and served as a one-man shuttle service) as a favor to John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, the baby girl who Edwards says isn’t his, and the veritable legion of National Enquirer reporters waiting outside. McGovern is also listed on the “board of directors” of Being Is Free, Hunter’s once-deleted, now-resurrected website. And he may be the “Bob” who Hunter once described as her “savior, healer of all healers.”
Who is this guy?
I think we might be able to find out. If you go to the Google cache of MargaretSweet.com, which is the site for an astrologer named, aptly enough, Margaret Sweet (who’s also a friend of Hunter’s), there’s a page called “Helpful Dudes.” But despite the plural, apparently there’s only one dude who Margaret Sweet considers helpful:
Robert (Bob) McGovern - Healer
Bob McGovern is an intuitive who has worked as a healer since 1988. He works with energy in the area of the emotional fields. He uses philosophy, psychology and the intuitive to find resolutions that move people back into alignment with the universe and into a place of peace, harmony and joy.
Bob uses the intuitive to help people with a variety of life issues, including relationships, career and health. His knowledge of the past and the future helps people find balance in the present. He is able to separate out surrounding negative energy, which allows people to have a clearer perception of their own options and choices. He works to empower people so that they can respond to the challenges of daily life with greater discernment and fuller understanding.
That really does sound intuitive, doesn’t it?
The “Helpful Dudes” page also lists McGovern’s Santa Barbara phone number and mailing address, which are current as of June 12, but I don’t think it’s good netiquette to give out that sort of info in blog posts. Although if you’re, say, a newspaper reporter and you have a few free minutes in your busy day, maybe you could click this link, call the guy up, and ask if he’s the same Bob McGovern who’s in the middle of this non-scandal? And if so, maybe you could see if he cares to comment on the whole non-situation? Just throwing that out there; I’m not a journalist and I’m not really sure how you guys do what you do. Sorry if I’m overstepping my bounds.
(8/2 Update: According to the 7/31 McClatchy story on Frances Quinn Hunter’s fatherless birth certificate, the baby was born in Santa Barbara. And the Enquirer says McGovern and Hunter drove to the Beverly Hilton from Santa Barbara. Is that what they call a corroborating detail? Also, as of today, the Google cache of the “Helpful Dudes” page has been updated, and McGovern’s contact info is gone. Did you already save a copy to your hard drive? I did.)
Anyway. Strangely, if you go to the “Helpful Dudes” page now, all you see is this:
As we discover them…
This page last updated on Thursday, July 24, 2008
What a crazy random happenstance! Bob’s contact info was taken down just a couple of days after the big Enquirer story broke. Wait! Shhh. I’m sensing… negative energy… inability to find balance… an unstoppable narrowing of options and choices…
Just to make this as clear as possible:
- Rielle Hunter lists astrologer Margaret Sweet as a friend and associate. Or at least she did before she tried to wipe the evidence off the Internet.
- Margaret Sweet lists Bob McGovern as a “Helpful Dude.” Or at least she did before she tried to wipe the evidence off the Internet.
- The helpful dude who allegedly registered those rooms at the Beverly Hilton is Bob McGovern.
You think Margaret Sweet might know anything about this story?
The more I learn about Rielle Hunter, the more I wonder if she joined the Edwards campaign because she thought he was this guy:
P.S. Speaking of mystery men, the baby’s birth certificate lists no father:
Asked Thursday why no father was listed on the birth certificate, Hunter’s attorney, Robert Gordon of New York, said, “A lot of women do that.”
Reminded that he and Hunter had publicly revealed the father’s identity two months earlier to the National Enquirer, Gordon said, “That’s a personal matter between them.”
Gordon declined to comment further.
And the Enquirer now claims that Edwards is paying off both Hunter and purported babydaddy Andrew Young. Sounds like Being Is not as Free as we thought… Allegedly.
P.P.S. If you send us a tip but don’t want to be credited, please say so.
Correction: In my last few posts, I’ve been assuming that someone put Rielle Hunter’s site back up after she took it down. But as Ed Driscoll points out, it’s actually from the Egyptian mirror site for the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. It’s been there the whole time. Hunter (or whoever) took down the page from the American mirror site, but didn’t take it down from the Egyptian one. Anybody know how many Wayback Machines there are? Because I get the feeling this copy of Rielle’s site is going to disappear too…
Ahhhh, the OTHER John Edwards! I know it’s childish, but he’ll forever be the Biggest Douche in the Universe to me.
Hope someone scribbled down that contact info before they got rid of it, I would love to see what this freak has to say.
Layers upon layers…
I bet THAT John Edward saw all of this coming.
Margaret Sweet site just this second deleted BOB page.
I saved the screen capture with old and new page.
never mind. I just figured it out. What are you laughing at? yer dealing with the general public here, we are not that smart….
I have to say after spending an inordinate amount of time reading Rielle’ s entire Bring is Free Website, John Edwards is in deep weed. He must have had “Please Ruin My Life” engraved on his forehead the night he met this completely off the charts Vapid individual. This woman was waiting for him to come along. (Not HIM necessarily, just a rich, gullible, sex starved, egotistical empty suit.) Although she professes to be over her obvious quest for celebrity, the eventual conclusion her brain came to (through a long, torturous process of deduction) was to disprize herself of the notion that she had to pay for “it” (enlightenment, that is). Obviously, she blew a ton of money on her quest. She now realizes it would be best to have someone else pay for stuff. I think this is essentially her shift. So, when she finally ends up meeting Johnny Edwards in a bar (what was he doing in a bar in NY? Where were his handlers?) she exudes all the superficial sexual tension crap she exudes on this website and he is immediately in over his head. (I have to digress here and comment that the comparison between Elizabeth and Rielle is odious. Elizabeth is Plato to Rielle’s Paris Hilton) Anyway, the duo (Rielle and Bob) are working this scam like the grifters they probably are. They can see a big pay day coming. This is a former um, person, um, who liked to take drugs for, um, fun, who is now stuck smack dab in middle age and all her blonde, cutsie, sexuality isn’t going to work for her much longer. She has to realize this. The 40’s hit you hard if you are still trying to be an actress. She resorted to the “save for retirement at warp speed” methodology, ie: find someone else to pay for it. John Edwards probably does not know what hit him. I will bet Elizabeth actually felt secure in the knowledge that Andrew Young was the father and was convinced it was all a scurrilous attempt to oust wonder boy from the race. I can’t express enough the ick factor I feel when I think of Elizabeth and Cate. They probably feel as if they have been punched in the stomach, run over by a steam roller, etc. The absolute horror for this to be happening at the end of Elizabeth’s life is unbearable to contemplate. I think this is a BIG part of MSM’s reluctance. But this whispery rumor mill is indeed becoming at lot like the Chinese Water torture. The situation is what it is and he is caught and needs to confess. If there is any chance John is not the father, he must deny it, for Elizabeth. But I think we all know it is too late for that. He needs to rip this bandage off. If he truly loved Elizabeth and looks at this as the big FU of his life, he HAS to rip it off now. For Elizabeth. So SHE can try to wrap her head around it and decide how to deal with it in the short amount of time left to her. He is such a twerp.
Bob McGovern is an intuitive who has worked as a healer since 1988. (Scam artist and Enquirer, got gossip? we pay big bucks, setup man since 2008)… [Phone number and address deleted. Did you not see the part where I said that's not cool? I linked to the cached contact page, that's sufficient. -- Simon]
Know him? Hustler. Con artist.
He’s no healer. She’s no actress. Both just aging con artists who think they are too good for the real jobs most of do everyday?
What’s an intuitive anyway?
If McGovern set up Edwards for the Enquirer, why did they name him in the story?
What I find deeply sad is that nearly 46 million Americans nearly made this scumbag the Vice-President of the United States.
There were warnings from many corners about his lack of morals, integrity and scruples, but as usual the MSM and liberals wrote it off as “right-wing” attacks. Just like the many advance warnings about Bill Clinton which also proved to be all to true.
I know many people try to claim it is only about sex, but in what world would you want someone who thinks so little of someone that has stood beside him for 30 years and is dying that he would cheat on her with some skank, anywhere near any near the 2nd most powerful position in the world?
We all know why the MSM is not covering this mess and it has nothing to do with Elizabeth Edwards and everything to do with covering for their glowing adoration all things liberal and their fawning over John Edwards in 2004. If a Republican of any level was involved in such a circumstance, NBC, CBS and ABC would have 2500 reporters camp out all over looking for evidence and would air multiple segments coloring every conservative and Republican with the scandal.
Question: in the first story, the Enquirer named McGovern when they said they did not know the driver of the car. How did they know his name? And if McGovern drove Edwards, wasn’t he driving him back, too? This is what happened: McGovern went to the elevator with Edwards, told Edwards he would get car, went down, told Enquirer Edwards was coming that way they were ready and that way McGovern is not in the photograph. They weren’t paying for a picture of Edwards with some old has-been.
I see what you’re saying, Greg, but if McGovern had some sort of deal with the Enquirer, wouldn’t he want his name kept out of it?
The real father? From Hunter’s defunct website:
Her descrtiption of Randy Bruck
Randy is a Healer in Malibu, California who practices Energy and Body Healing, as well as various Indigenous Healing Arts such as Native American Sage Smudging and Aboriginal Didgeridoo Therapy. Randy is a gentle giant with strong hands and a caring heart.
Take a look at him at the website Simon linked above.
The real hypocrite here is the so-called “real news” correspondents. They sanctimoniously disparage The National Enquirer while at the same time totally ignore a story of candidate deceit.
I do recognize that The National Enquirer has a less-than-savory reputation, but it has broken some major stories surrounding O.J. Simpson and Natalee Holloway.
Hope, or Change. Sometimes ya gotta choose.
After perusing Rielle Hunter’s old website, it’s apparent that there are several more “friends of Rielle” that the “lamestream media” could hunt down–if they care enough to do so:
Margaret Sweet: http://www.margaretsweet.com/pages/contact.shtml
Lisa Goldman: http://web.petabox.bibalex.org/web/20060202225424/beingisfree.org/wise.html
Shiva: http://web.petabox.bibalex.org/web/20060202225424/beingisfree.org/wise.html
Randy Bruck: http://web.petabox.bibalex.org/web/20060202225424/beingisfree.org/wise.html
Sample questions the lamestream media could ask “friends of Rielle”:
“You are listed on Rielle Hunter’s old website at http://web.petabox.bibalex.org/web/20060202225424/beingisfree.org/wise.html as a ‘helpful wise guy.’ Apparently, Rielle knows you. Do you know her?”
“If so, how did you meet her, and how long have you known her?”
“What do you know about her relationship with John Edwards?”
“Do you know if it is true that she and John Edwards had an affair and a child together?”
“If it is true, do you have anything to do with the coverup of her alleged affair with John Edwards?”
“Are you one of the National Enquirer’s tipsters?”
Just for starters.
LogicalUS: I find deeply sad the same things you do: A man who in midlife–lacking morals, integrity and scruples–running for nearly the highest office in our land–dipped his wick into a “fling,” ruined his political future, shamed his cancer-stricken wife and their natural children, and now has to own up to the consequences of his personal behavior.
I’m a “right-of-Attila-the-Hun” conservative and recovering Republican, but I feel so much sorrow over this turn of events in John Edwards’ life. Sin in ourselves and others is always an occasion for sorrow, because all of us are born prone to it, and none of us could stand if every detail of our lives were made known.
Edwards forsook the “wife of his youth,” as the Bible speaks of, for a piece of younger, more attractive tail–and now he’s in a world of hurt. He’s getting the “screwing he gets for the screwing he got.” And it wasn’t worth it.
But there is now an innocent baby born of the Rielle Hunter-John Edwards affair, and her interests and well-being, as well as the interests of John and Elizabeth Edwards’ legitimate children, must be paramount. Their parents made mistakes, but let not their mistakes be visited upon the children.
Dems and “progressives” like to say that one’s personal life doesn’t affect one’s public life, but it does. Democrat Eliot Spitzer is a prime and recent example; so are Republicans Larry Craig and Mark Foley. Character counts and morals matter, no matter the letter (D or R) behind one’s name.
And this John Edwards scandal just goes to show that no matter how much “sexual freedom” our nation preaches and pretends to embrace, sexual scandals and marital infidelity still matter–and they can still destroy prominent politicians’ lives and careers.
Actually I do not think any of the allegations as they stand right now would hold up in any court of law. Everything cited so far is circumstantial.
Why would you not believe the NE could be payed off? Are you aware that they are on the verge of Bankruptcy?
If you are so naive that you would doubt power brokers using media to spread untruths, well I am sorry for you. As an avid political junkie I have watched in abject horror over the years, how media outlets are increasingly used as mouthpieces for various special interest groups. The MSmedia is no longer an unbiased information source. The public is at their mercy. The general public better wake up soon and start holding them accountable. They do their corporate masters bidding. Smoke and Mirrors? just ask Karl Rove he is a master of it! Just remember my words from my earlier post. You will NEVER see legitimate pictures released or any actual true supporting documents, they will continue to titillate everyone with supposed new revelations released daily just to keep it on everyones radar until Obamas VP is announced. They are just buying time… after the VP announcement it will all conveniently go away, along with the Enquirer w/cash in hand after their mission has been successfull, having been richly rewarded they can now avoid bankruptcy.
FYI:
[A bunch of quoted, unattributed text deleted. Please just provide the hyperlink and a brief summary, if necessary. -- MGMT.]
I was unaware that newspapers could only report on things that are against the law.
Why would you not believe an astrologer could be?
Not anymore, we’re not, or you wouldn’t be reading this.
It’s certainly possible. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Hope you don’t mind if I quote you.
Has no one picked up on the fact that the MSM will ignore this story for 3-4 weeks and then when asked they will say”JE and love child? that’s an old story’ We report the NEWS! Friends let’s be honest- If your a left-wing wacko nut- you’re Golden with the MSM !!! Because they KNOW YOU CARE !!!!
@ Doe Jul 31st, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Doe, that’s beautiful analysis. It seems that Rielle and McGovern (and/or another “friend” of Rielle) are running a version of the Badger game, with National Enquirer supplying the cash and the photographers. Very clever. Rielle will “support” John’s stupid story — as long as he (or his finance chair) continue to “support” her financially. Meanwhile, McGovern can sneak out the back door with baby pictures, meeting times, etc., to keep the pot boiling.
Actually, the same thing happened to Alexander Hamilton in the 1790s, I believe. Some strumpet wound him up and then tried to blackmail him. The differences were: No baby and Hamilton confessed all when confronted by (as I remember) a Congressional committee. History doesn’t just repeat itself; it never changes.
The stoopid MSM is too librel to report on the National Enquirer’s scoops! Like when the Enquirer reported Bush was drinking again after Katrina! That shoulda been front page of your local paper and all over CNN and maybe even Fox, but nooooooooo. Damn librels. And then the Sun reported that George and Condi were humping like bunnies. Did the librel MSM pick up on that one? Nooooooo. Damn librels.
Please point out the word “liberal” — or, if you like, “librel” — at any point in my post.
Also, this story was true. It was loaded with facts that easily could have been checked by other reporters. They just didn’t feel like it, apparently.
I believe JEdwards took the huge risk going to the hotel to visit Hunter and his baby, because there were VERY important purposes for him. He had to convince her (perhaps indirectly) NOT to sell their entire story to the Enquirer for huge bucks, how she tricked him into her getting pregnant, all the sordid details, and he had to convince her NOT to take a paternity test for the baby, which would obviously prove him the father. As any skillful lawyer would, he probably convinced her that he really cares for her, perhaps loves her, and wants to take care of her and his baby but he has to respect Elizabeth — and therefore can’t do anything publicly. And if they can ever live together happily ever after, Hunter would have to respect Elizabeth as well for awhile, and keep the “fatherhood” issue private — which was already done with stage 1 re the fatherless birth certificate. Then maybe they can get together. And therefore he’ll be able to shout proudly to the media that he’ll be happy to take a DNA test — knowing full-well Hunter won’t let it happen with the baby. But for all this to work, JEdwards would have had to stress to her over and over that he’ll take care of her and his baby financially…….with more bucks and longer time-period than the Enquirer ever would.
This all must’ve happened at the hotel…….it just makes too much sense with all the timing. But it could all come crashing down for JEdwards if he can’t deliver on the future money to Hunter……and of course with reporters analyzing the money trail from every possible angle now…….it’s possible the money trail will dry up and Hunter will have to sell the story……..but this could be months or years. ? What do you think about this, Simon\ ? -SteveB