Each party has one candidate which I cannot stand, even when I agree with them on some issues, due to their hypocrisy and willingness to say anything if they believe it will help them politically. Among the Republicans, it is Rudy Giuliani who is unacceptable despite his social liberalism. As for the Democratic version, I repeat my wish from the previous post that John Edwards would just shut after reading this news report on him speaking at the National Urban League Conference:
“If you’re looking for what’s wrong in Washington, why the system is broken, why the system doesn’t work, one perfect example is what’s been happening just over the course of the last four days,” said Edwards, who spoke before Clinton and Obama.
“We’ve had two good people Democratic candidates for president who spent their time attacking each other instead of attacking the problems that this country is facing,” Edwards said to a mixture of groans and applause.
I’m not sure who appointed John Edwards The Decider of what other candidates are allowed to say. I imagine that might be a skill he picked up while helping to write the Patriot Act. If Edwards is trying to portray himself as a Democratic Ronald Reagan with his version of Reagan’s 11th Commandment, he is hardly in a position to do so. It was Edwards who tried to win points at the New Hampshire debate by attacking the other Democrats for their positions on Iraq until Obama reminded him of where the two stood before the war when it counted. This comment from Edwards is simply just another thinly disguised attack on his political rivals, even if he would like to pretend otherwise. I bet what bothers him is not that they are fighting, but that their fight is soaking up so much of the coverage this week, leaving him out.
Related Post: “They” Are Out To Shut Up John Edwards
Update: John Edwards, Attack Dog
John-boy the Silk Pony has truly flipped his wig, or rather his well-coiffed locks! What a narcissistic autistic solipsistic self-centered pretty boy! Oh yeah, his issues with “poverty” which he studied intensely while earning half a mil working for a sub-prime rip-off mortgage hedge fund!?
How can anyone take Mr. Elizabeth Edwards seriously? If he were a GOP-er, he’d be laughed off the air, the stage, and the campaign trail. But the Dhimmi-crats love him when he calls the GWOT a “bumper sticker.”
It is a good thing that the Democrats have several other candidates to choose from, and a shame that even Edwards looks better than the people the Republicans are putting up.
“Shut up John”? Sheesh, Doc, that mike make some folks wonder who appointed you The Decider of what candidates are allowed to say.
I think everyone in every camp could agree that Democratic attacks are best aimed at Republicans. There’s been enough ‘go ugly early’ already, especially when the fight between Clinton and Obama is essentially contrived, because no real difference exists.
Shaun,
This is a blog. Blogs regularly present views on what the candidates say, making it fair game for me to comment on what Edwards said. Use of “shut up” in the title was a play on Edwards’ own comment from the previous post. With the bulk of readers coming from subscribers to the RSS feed, it often helps to have a snappy title to increase the chances the full post will be read.
The differences between Cllinton and Obama on diplomacy are minimal if any. However, the differences between the candidates on Iraq are much less than Edwards tried to make them appear when he attacked other Democrats. Candidates will attack other memebers of their party during a nomination battle. If a candidate were to take a consistent position that this shouldn’t be done it would be one thing. One of the many reasons I find Edwards lacking in integrity is that one day he comes out saying this while on another day he is the one launching the most specious attacks on other Democrats.
I’m afraid that I don’t see that Edwards is either qualified or ethically fit to be President and I would have a real problem voting for him if he gets the nomination.
I agree that it’s unnecessary to single out Clinton and Obama, but I don’t see Edwards’ strategy as being anything more than an attempt to figure out what he can say that will set him apart from the other candidates, especially his two biggest rivals, who seem to be more popular than they deserve to be, given their complicity in the run-up to the Iraq war. The barbs that strike you as hypocritical all just sound to me like variations of “Hey voters, I’m not like them, I’m better”, which he seems to have forgotten he has demonstrated fairly consistently and effectively in this campaign without resorting to ad hominem. If the examples you’ve provided thus far are his “attacks” then I’d say he’s got a bigger problem than fomenting a perception of hypocrisy: his bite basically has no teeth.
Edwards’ strategy is to try to set himself apart. In this case he was not very honest in the manner in which he did this. It is true that his bite has no teeth, as there is so little substance to him.