How could DU'ers be fooled by John Edwards? (Please see apology)

[saras]

10. Why not list everyone who came out for the war at the same time on the same page?

It's a much more fair, much more honest way of looking at how Democratic politicians dealt with the issue at the time. But to judge Edwards about the war, we need to compare him to other Dems about the war at the same historical point. Edwards' positions on other issues are irrelevant. And if Edwards was wrong, then EVERYONE with that position was EQUALLY wrong, and deserves EQUAL opprobium.

As for phony, there are different styles of phony. ALL middle-class behavior is phony, to a really profound extent according to nearly everybody who doesn't participate. I have never, in my over fifty years, seen a politician who was NOT phony, not even on the small-town level. The best ones are straight up about it - this is my public mask, and I try to manage it appropriately, neither too informal nor too formal. The worst don't know they're phony, and have an "authenticity" shtick. The next worst are plastic robots with shorts in their wiring (both kinds of shorts).