Trippi refutes claim Edwards staffers knew of affair

Tweety is slobbering all over himself over this, so thought Trippi should set the record straight.


Trippi refutes claim Edwards staffers knew of affair


(CNN) – Joe Trippi, a former top aide to John Edwards, is sharply refuting a report a handful of campaign staffers knew about the former presidential candidate's affair and had plans to sabotage his White House bid, telling CNN Monday the claim is "complete bull s**t."

"No one that I know had such a plan, I wasn't involved in a plan like that, it didn't exist, it's a fantasy," Trippi said in a phone interview.

Trippi, a close advisor to Edwards during his Democratic presidential primary bid, also said if any campaign staffer actually knew the affair was true they were "not only malpracticing John Edwards but the country as well by not doing the right thing, going to him, and telling him he had to leave the race."

The comments come a day after ABC News reported several Edwards campaign staffers "in the inner circle" began to believe rumors of an affair were true in late 2007. According to the story, the group had devised a "doomsday" strategy to sabotage the campaign if Edwards looked as if he would win the Democratic nomination.

But Trippi, who worked closely with Edwards' most senior advisors, including Campaign Manager David Bonior and Deputy Campaign manager Jonathan Prince, suggested he would have been aware of a plan if one existed.

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http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/11/trippi-refutes-claim-edwards-staffers-knew-of-affair/

Part of the problem with imagining such an "In case of impending victory, break glass" strategy is that it is difficult to figure out who the anti-Edwards conspirators might have been. Pollster Harrison Hickman and 2004 press secretary Jennifer Palmieri were so loyal to Edwards that they helped him prepare for his ham-handed confession on "Nightline" last summer. Top campaign strategists Joe Trippi and Jonathan Prince were still so committed to the cause that they were on the road for the last-gasp South Carolina primary at a time when Edwards' chances of winning the Democratic nomination were only a tad better than Rush Limbaugh's. Trippi, by the way, told CNN Monday, "I wasn't involved in a plan like that. It didn't exist. It's a fantasy."

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/05/11/debunking-the-edwards-doomsday-conspiracy/