Slate’s Jack Shafer has an idea why the John Edwards “love child” story is being ignored by the media, unlike the Rep. Larry Craig “wide stance” airport bathroom story of a year ago:

So why hasn’t the press commented on the story yet? Is it because it broke too late yesterday afternoon, and news organizations want to investigate it for themselves before writing about it? Or are they observing a double standard that says homo-hypocrisy is indefensible but that hetero-hypocrisy deserves an automatic bye?

I think Shafer’s got it wrong. Hypocrisy is involved, but it’s not homo-hypocrisy. Party affiliation policy, more like. If Edwards was a Republican, like Craig, this would have been front-page-top news since Monday.

It’s not just the MSM that has ignored the story. I’ve been flat on my back with a bug for four days so I haven’t been reading blogs like I usually do, but I can find only two mentions of it, from The Meck Deck and Thunder Pig. The N&O‘s Under the Dome, supposedly the last word on politics in the state, hasn’t touched the story.

UPDATE: John at Power Line makes the point:

I personally don’t care whom Edwards sleeps with, but then I didn’t care about David Vitter, Jack Ryan, Dan Burton, Dan Crane, Henry Hyde, Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston–well, you get the picture.

UPDATE: The Charlotte Observer‘s Jim Morrill got comments today from the National Enquirer‘s editor David Perel for his Campaign Tracker blog. Perel made it clear the Enquirer has more in its quiver:

“Well, stay tuned, that’s all I can say,” he said. “Everything’s done incrementally. So I’m not going to tell you exactly what our process is. Perhaps my time frame is different than your time frame. I’m not worried about the rest of the media. I’m worried about us.”

(Link via The Meck Deck)