John Edwards Campaign, Air America, Politico

DRINK IT DOWN!

Silly Edwards Rhetoric Inspires Libtalk Kool-Aid Consumption







Above and beyond that of other Dem presidential candidates, what is it about John Edwards and his empty rhetoric that inspires so much libtalk Kool- Aid drinking?

For whatever reason, Obama, Hillary and the others just don't seem to command the same level of respect. Mention Edwards, however, and our "progressive" talk friends can't stop gushing, even to the point of embarrassing themselves.

To the Air America crowd, The Breck Girl's bogus "poverty tour" was out of real concern for poor people, rather than a cheap campaign gimmick. Nor will Elizabeth's weird boycott of tangerines generate on-air scrutiny.

From Rachel Maddow's Tuesday program, here's but one recent example:

RACHEL MADDOW: “I felt like the really good thing about Edwards last night was the fact that he did seem really genuinely outraged when he was talking about injustices and the plight of powerless people in America against interests like insurance companies and big business. He seemed like a real fighter, he seemed like really genuinely outraged and mad. I thought that made him seem more heavyweight than usual. I know you’ve been traveling with the Edwards campaign, how would you describe the level of optimism and how they feel about last night?

BEN SMITH, THE POLITICO.COM: Well I think you’re right, and I think you know what they think is that you know he wasn’t talking to the pundit class, he wasn’t trying to score through abstract points about foreign policy, that he was trying to present himself as an outsider, really.

[…]

MADDOW: And interestingly, it wasn’t that he was expressing so much anger or outrage with the Republicans so much and he did show a little bit of that, he said you have to keep the heat on Bush, certainly he said that with a lot of fire in his voice when he said it, but most of his people you have to stand up for in the Edwards worldview that was presented last night, the people you have to stand up to are business interests and lobbyists and big business, big corporations. And I think that’s a populist and although we brand that as “lefty”, it’s a populist message that could be bipartisan, could actually reach a lot of independents too.

SMITH: Yeah I think that’s right, and it’s also really (unclear) of who he’s been in his career and the way he’s cast his work as a trial lawyer suing big corporations and that has really become part of his message.

Yes, the only thing missing from that segment was "my name is John Edwards and I approved this message" added to the end. How much sucking- up can be crammed into one broadcast?

Note how Smith extends the Edwards campaign spin, recreating him as a heroic crusader against evil corporations, rather than a sleazy and greedy trial lawyer.

For the real truth about Edwards, take a look at this recent piece by Charles Hurt in the New York Post:

EDWARDS GOT RICH HURTING THE POOR


July 20, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - Trailing in the polls, John Edwards spent the past week telling the poor and downtrodden how much he cares about them.

He even insisted that his Kennedy-esque "poverty tour" was not part of his campaign to capture the White House.

Yeah, just like all those years he spent latched to the back bumper of an ambulance were all out of the goodness of his heart.

That and the $38 million fortune he amassed as the most successful personal-injury lawyer in North Carolina history.

What made Edwards such a brilliant attorney - and a pretty good politician - is his ability to look you in the eye while picking your pocket and convince you that's really not his hand on your wallet.

And so he stopped in the hinterlands of Wise, Va., to commiserate with the poor there who can't afford health care. Even if they could, they'd have to drive a hundred miles to find a doctor.

"We're here to help," Edwards assured them.

There are plenty of causes for this sad heath-care situation. But Edwards wasn't talking about one of the biggest causes - the cause he is among the most responsible for.

"The primary factor is liability insurance," said Dr. Stuart Weinstein, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Iowa. "It's either too expensive in areas like that or simply not available anymore."

Virginia's medical-liability insurance rates - driven largely by the very types of lawsuits that made Edwards a multimillionaire many times over - have more than doubled in three years, according to the nonpartisan Medical Liability Monitor.

In Edwards' home state, those premiums quadrupled. As a result, doctors have fled rural areas or quit practicing altogether.

After years of accusing conservative talk radio hosts of merely parroting partisan talking points, why haven't "progressives" provided a better example?


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Tangerine spoof: Rush Limbaugh.com