Thursday, January 03, 2008

Touche'--Edwards And His Special Interest Money

A couple follow-ups to our post yesterday on John Edwards' lame campaign message.

In "Edwards--Too Cute By Half" The Hill's Peter Fenn neatly sums up Edwards' hypocrisy when it comes to taking special interest money, and his not so cute evasions about the 527 groups supporting him.

Among the other indictments of Edwards' cynicism is his response to a question about a 527 group run by his former campaign manager, Nick Baldick, which has funnelled millions of dollars in support Edwards' way: "It’s my understanding that the guy who runs the organization worked for me years ago. Yes, that is true." Years ago? Baldick's consulting firm was under contract to the Edwards campaign last year.

Cut the crap, John.

One other observation: yesterday, when oil spiked at $100 a barrel, Edwards predictably said it was "just another example of how corporate greed is squeezing the middle class."

Corporate greed is not the cause of $100 barrel oil. The cause is Americans' lavish, addicted-to-oil lifestyle, and the rest of the world's attempt to emulate it. What's Edwards going to do--impose price controls on oil? That would be silly and result in rationing. There's no sign in Edwards or his campaign of any effort to conserve.

People criticize Hillary for "triangulation" and "nuance," but hearing Edwards' simplistic themes makes us appreciate Hillary's attention to detail. Wonky? Yes, but that's the way the real world works.

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