John Edwards tell-all book details leak: 'Fat rednecks' and a sex tape

Only weeks after the bestselling campaign book Game Change laid out for all to see the indiscretions and subsequent political implosion of John Edwards, the former aide/human shield who originally claimed paternity for Edwards’ illegitimate child has announced his own tell-all account of the affair. Andrew Young’s book, The Politician: An Insider’s Account of John Edwards’s Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down, was not originally intended to be released until next Friday, but a number of salacious, if unconfirmed, details have already been leaked, and the book will now go on sale on Saturday.

The book deals with Young’s facilitation of the liaison as well as his role in its aftermath and the ensuing cover-up, which Young contends was orchestrated by Edwards himself. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Young alleges Edwards had him handle making hotel reservations in order to accommodate the affair with Rielle Hunter, the mistress and, as Edwards finally admitted last week, mother of his child. “When I knew where the senator was staying,” writes Young, “I made reservations in my own name, faxed copies of my credit card and state identification card, and told the hotel staff that my ‘wife’ would be checking in on my account.” Young also goes for some particularly vengeful quotemongering by citing the once down-home candidate as railing against appearing at state fairs and having “fat rednecks try to shove food down my face. I know I’m the people’s senator, but do I have to hang out with them?” In an interview with Bob Woodruff for ABC News, the former aide talked of a sex tape involving Edwards and a woman who may be Hunter.