Charles Krauthammer Asks A Question That's On My Mind
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in 2008 | John Edwards | Sisyphus — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Why is John Edwards even in the race?
. . . He stays in the race because, with the Democrats' proportional representation system, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton might end up in a very close delegate race -- perhaps allowing an also-ran with, say, 10 percent of the delegates to act as kingmaker at the convention.
It's a prize of sorts; it might even be tradeable for a Cabinet position. But at considerable cost. His campaign has been a spectacle.
Read on . . .
Edwards has made much of his renunciation of his Iraq war vote. But he has not stopped there. His entire campaign has been an orgy of regret and renunciation:
¿ As senator, he voted in 2001 for a bankruptcy bill that he now denounces.
¿ As senator, he voted for storing nuclear waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Twice. He is now fiercely opposed.
¿ As senator, he voted for the Bush-Kennedy No Child Left Behind education reform. He now campaigns against it, promising to have it "radically overhauled."
¿ As senator, he voted for the Patriot Act, calling it "a good bill . . . and I am pleased to support it." He now attacks it.
¿ As senator, he voted to give China normalized trade relations. Need I say? He now campaigns against liberalized trade with China as a sellout of the middle class to the great multinational agents of greed, etc.
Breathtaking. People can change their minds about something. But everything? The man served one term in the Senate. He left not a single substantial piece of legislation to his name, only an endless string of votes on trade, education, civil liberties, energy, bankruptcy and, of course, war that now he not only renounces but inveighs against.
The Edwards campaign is, of course, is the result of ambition overwhelming common sense. At the rate with which he is attracting ridicule, I am not sure that Edwards will even have the opportunity to play kingmaker or queenmaker. Power brokers have to be respected, after all.
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Charles Krauthammer Asks A Question That's On My Mind 2 Comments (0 topical, 2 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
I said that Edwards was just doing this to get out of the house. He is a joke without a punchline. He is a scumbag ambulance chasing hack. He was a horrible Senator, destined to serve only one term. He is the lawyer version of a robber baron, sitting on a pile of loot. He uses his dead kid for political points. He uses his wife's cancer for political points. He is a prophet without a message, faith or power.
America will never elect an ambulance chaser President.
And Edwards is nothing more than a successful ambulance chasing hack.
to the state of North Carolina.
Say what you want about Elizabeth Dole or Richard Burr, but they are vast improvements over what we had.
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I'm not voting for Ron Paul because it's not expressly prescribed in the Constitution.
-- Mark Hemingway, The Corner (NRO)