John Edwards has had many poses in his life. He was a millionaire North Carolina trial lawyer for a couple of decades, then he ran for the US Senate in 1998 as a moderate "DLC"-type Democrat. In that ideological incarnation he didn't just vote in favor of the Iraq war, he co-sponsored the Iraq war resolution.
That centrist pose held for him through 2004, when he ran for president. He managed to get John Kerry to pick him as his vice presidential running mate, on the promise that he could deliver some Southern electoral votes. It didn't happen: the Kerry-Edwards ticket was blanked out in the South by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
After that defeat, Edwards, preparing to run for the presidency again in '08 (what else did he have to do--take care of his infant children? take care of his cancer-stricken wife?), Edwards decided to veer way to the left in pursuit of the nomination; he announced for president this time around in Katrina-afflicted New Orleans, using poor black people as a campaign prop. And in the last year or so he has recanted his Iraq war vote, even as he has been pushing big tax increases and other liberal schemes, including mandatory national health insurance and a return to school busing--the classic dopey liberal scheme of the 70s.
These were big ideological shifts, but it was all easy for Edwards, because that's what trial lawyers do: they say anything, they take any position, to win.
And besides, Edwards could say that he was totally keeping faith with what mattered most to him, which was... Edwards. Especially his foppish handsomeness, which is undoubtedly his greatest asset. As this video makes clear, he kept focused on feeling and being pretty. So, of course, this self-proclaimed "man of the people" was not only getting $400 haircuts, he was actually charging them to his campaign--until he got caught. Of course, he can afford it himself, since his trial-lawyer boodle has been supplemented by overseas investments and doing no-show work for a hedge fund.
Now Edwards has a new schtick: blasting Rupert Murdoch, and blasting Hillary Clinton for taking a small campaign contribution from Murdoch, when he himself took nearly a million dollars from Murdoch for a book.
But here: In the spirit of I-report-you-decide, I will let The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz detail just what a hypocritical fraud Edwards is:
But now that Murdoch's News Corp. has struck the $5-billion deal for Dow Jones, John Edwards is upping the ante. Edwards was the first of the Dems to refuse to debate on Fox News, which won him plaudits in the lefty blogosphere, and here's the latest:
Former senator John Edwards, who has been throwing punches at Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News Channel, demanded yesterday that the other Democratic presidential candidates return contributions from Murdoch's media conglomerate.
"John Edwards will never ask Rupert Murdoch for money -- he won't accept his money," said a statement e-mailed to supporters.
Not so fast, Murdoch's people say. His publishing unit, HarperCollins, paid Edwards a $500,000 advance -- and $300,000 in expenses -- for his 2006 book "Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives."
"We assume the senator is going to give back the money from his advance," News Corp. spokesman Brian Lewis said.
Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz said his boss donated the book payments to charity and that the expense money went to staffers and vendors. Citing the announcement that prompted Edwards's e-mail -- Murdoch's $5 billion deal to buy Dow Jones -- Schultz said, "This is about whether or not Murdoch should expand his media empire and use the Wall Street Journal to further promote his right-wing agenda."
The Edwards demand was aimed squarely at Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has received more than $20,000 from News Corp. executives, including $2,300 from Murdoch and $4,600 from company president Peter Chernin. Sen. Barack Obama has gotten $2,100 from Chernin. Lewis noted that Chernin appeared, at Edwards's request, at a 2004 fundraiser for the Kerry-Edwards ticket.
While the Edwards mailing accused Fox of trying to "demonize the Democratic Party and call it 'news,' " he has boycotted the cable channel only since Jan. 23. Before that, Edwards appeared on Fox programs 33 times.
So, John Edwards, before you demand that Hillary return $20,000, why don't you return the $800,000?
