I really would like to be able to like John Edwards. He more than any presidential candidate carries the banner of economic populism and speaks to the issues I care most about. But he also seems just a tad too slick about making excuses. That’s been very much on display after a recent NY Times investigation of a DC-based non-profit he created in 2005. Rather than just explain the financial dealings that had been brought into question, Edwards rallied his supporters to denigrate the reporter’s integrity. He has erected such ridiculous straw-men that you’d think you were listening to a Fox News commentator.
I haven’t been buying Edwards’ huffing and puffing. In fact, I had a strong hunch from the outset that Edwards tried and failed to play a cheesy game of bait-and-switch with the Times…and he was using that failed stunt to rally his supporters. This evening, I discovered that my original hunch was exactly right. It doesn’t exactly redound to Edwards’ credit.
This whole matter is becoming increasingly shabby. Left-wingers are so sick of seeing Democrats smeared by the big right-wing Noise Machine that many sprang instinctively to Edwards’ defense, unwisely I believe. Certainly the epithets you see flying around the internets are unwarranted. The facts don’t look very good for the candidate, and perhaps that is why he has concentrated instead on pounding the table.
Unbossed 6/25/07
http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1594
