What ever happened to John Edwards?

[mwb970]

I'm expecting him to turn up on one of those VH-1 shows any day now. I never saw anyone disappear so completely so quickly! I never see him on TV or even hear him mentioned any more.

Wait a sec. Um... There was a guy named John Edwards involved in politics, right? Kind of handsome? "Two Americas"? No? Uh-oh. Maybe it was all a dream.

Never mind...

[Blackhatjack]

1. He is still working to promote anti-poverty programs and giving a few speeches...

... but for the most part taking a very low profile --much like Ted Kennedy did after his accident.

Edwards did a lot of good people will never know about, but that is ok ---that is how he and Elizabeth wanted it.

[Occam Bandage]

9. "Edwards did a lot of good people will never know about"

Not for lack of trying. He was one of the most shameless self-promoters in politics; he even tried to spin the lawsuits that made him tens of millions of dollars as him fighting selflessly for the little guy, and tried to spin his highly-paid work at a hedge fund backing subprime lending as research to help him learn about financial markets.

As for his charitable work? It's hard to take seriously when he canceled his scholarship program, stopped working with his UNC poverty center, and gave up on all non-paid speaking engagements after he stopped running for President.

[Blackhatjack]

53. Just because you have an opinion does not mean you get to make up your own facts..

I followed Edwards career for over 20 yrs and have personal knowledge that contradicts your assessment of his practice of law.

You criticize he and Elizabeth because they set up a pilot program in one of the poorest counties in the State of NC which sent several graduating classes to college. He and Elizabeth financed this effort to prove it could be done, and if he had been elected it would have been a model for a federal program he wanted to propose.

John and Elizabeth purchased a building and established a free computer learning center across the street from my son's high school to allow all students access to computer resources regardless of wealth.

When John and Elizabeth set up the UNC Poverty Center it did not cost UNC a dime. They raised and funded the entire program independently, and everyone who worked with them will verify that.

John and Elizabeth were both attorneys, made good money and gave back a substantial portion of it to those less fortunate.

Those are FACTS.

[Occam Bandage]

88. Your facts don't conflict with mine.

He set up programs. He promoted them heavily. He canceled/stopped participation in multiple programs once he stopped running for office.

[stunningkant]

11. Well isn't that just special...

I'm all warm and fuzzy inside.:rofl:

[ConcernedCanuk]

55. I sorta knew what your profile was gonna look like before I even checked

.
.
.



mods are on the job!

:thumbsup:

[cali]

17. Actually, I believe he's no longer connected with any anti--poverty program

Edwards did exactly what good that people don't know? And he certainly never struck me as someone who modestly kept their good deeds secret.

[Blackhatjack]

54. See post #53 above.

You don't have to like Edwards, but those are facts.

[waiting for hope]

57. Yes he is -

Q&A with John Edwards

Q&A with John Edwards
Jenna Stark

Updated: Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Herald: What have you been doing since the primaries?

Edwards: A variety of things. Speaking at venues like this. I have continued to work with the Poverty Center at the University of North Carolina, which I started a few years ago. ve been talking to and working with folks who are interested in doing entrepreneurial work in the area of poverty.

~Snip~

Watch it - your hatred is showing.

[Political Heretic]

82. That's 100% incorrect.

As been pointed out already.

[waiting for hope]

59. See Reply #57 - he's still at

UNC.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. Maybe he at least had the decency to lower his profile and not further embarrass his family.

By the way, Emily Litella did 'never mind.' Rosanne Rosannadanna did 'you're making me sick'

[Crunchy Frog]

7. That was Jane Curtin who said "You're making me sick" to Roseanne Rosannadanna.

Roseanne Roseannadanna would say "Well I thought I was gonna die". :)

[Bluebear]

10. Roseanne would say "She had this little ball of sweat hanging from her nose...

and I said, 'Hey! You! Flick that ball of sweat from your nose, you're making me sick!" :)

[valerief]

34. Did Gloria Vanderbilt have the toilet paper trailing from her foot? nt

[Gidney N Cloyd]

12. Both of those lines were Rosanne's.

[Common Sense Party]

66. Jane Curtain always told Roseanne "you're making us all sick."

[mwb970]

30. OMG, you're right!

I pulled a John Roberts and didn't check! I guess it's been longer than I thought....

Luckily, I was in time to change the picture. For posterity, you know.

[unapatriciated]

3. Oh, I thought you meant the guy who talked to the dead...

he disappeared pretty quickly as well

[valerief]

35. That charlatan pisses me off. nt

[elleng]

4. It WAS a dream, Rose;

HIS.

:banghead:

[Occam Bandage]

5. He found out that paying off a mistress while your wife has incurable cancer

doesn't play well in Peoria.

[kentuck]

6. Edwards had a great message for the Democratic Party...

Unfortunately, he was not the best messenger for that message. He was a low-down dirty dog for the way that he treated Elizabeth. However, that does not minimize the message he had about the "two Americas" and the poor in America. All the Democratic candidates at the time, including Hillary and Obama, adopted his message to a large degree. Only time will tell if he will ever have any political viability. He still has a lot of work to do to rehabilitate himself with his family and his former supporters, in my opinion.

[Occam Bandage]

14. Edwards was late to the message party. Claiming the others copied him

is a sad bit of comfort proposed by and for Edwards supporters. Edwards only became a progressive after Hillary outflanked him to the center and the establishment (where he is naturally most comfortable, being a New Democrat), and Obama grabbed all the charismatic-outsider attention. Between the two of them, they had basically covered all the ground Edwards was hoping to stake out for himself (and which he attempted somewhat successfully to capture in 2004). He was forced to tack to the left, though doing so required him to apologize for just about every position he had ever held before.

It's true he's long talked about poverty. However, he wasn't much of a populist or a progressive, despite the talk. Rather, he believed that centrist policies would be best for poverty relief; as a Senator he gave a rather good speech to the DLC explaining how DLC policies should be packaged as poverty relief to help win rural states. His focus on poverty, of course, made it easier for him to tack to the left. You claim Hillary and Obama adopted his message. When it comes to poverty, they didn't. Hillary and Obama continued to focus on the middle class exclusively, knowing that pretty much everyone considers themselves "middle class," whether they earn $25,000 or $250,000 per year. Obama's late-campaign policy proposals did focus heavily on poverty relief--but on urban, and not rural poverty relief as Edwards preferred to focus, and more heavily borrowed from the Chicago Democratic establishment than from anywhere else.

As for the rest of the message wars? Edwards spent the entire campaign playing message catch-up. Hillary talked electability? Here comes Johnny, talking about how electable he is. Oh, wait, here comes Obama and he's talking about "change." So here comes Johnny, talking about how he can give "real change." Or maybe "smart change." I can't remember which was his knockoff and which was Hillary's.

As for policies? Edwards supporters loved to claim everyone else had ripped off his health-care plan, and that everyone else's health-care plan was terrible. Amusing implications aside, Edwards' plan, Clinton's plan, and Obama's plan were all pretty much the Democratic 2006 platform on health care, with a few tweaks and paint jobs.

Edwards was very charismatic, though. And he did talk about rural poverty relief.

[karynnj]

40. The Democratic health care plan of 2006 was very close to the 2004 platform

which Edwards mocked as unaffordable in 2004.

Your post is fantastic in explaining why Edwards ended up where he did.

[Withywindle]

72. And all for naught, because Obama is MORE charismatic.

Very fortunately for us all. We dodged a bullet. :scared:

[V4Edwards]

107. He was the first to use the word "change"

(Wish I could change my username)

When Edwards announced his run for the presidency at the end of Dec 2006, I immediately went to his website. I knew I already supported him but I wanted to read up on the details. This was BEFORE Obama announced for the presidency. When I saw the website I was immediately struck by this one phrase: "bold, transformational, change". I had never seen a politician use this phrase and I have remembered it ever since. Later when I heard Obama talk about "change", I couldn't believe it - not that there is a copyright on the word "change", but I figured that clearly everyone knew that Edwards had that on his website. And even though I am so happy now that Obama is president, I couldn't help but feel that someone in his campaign co-opted (stole???) Edwards' theme.

So just for the record, Edwards did use the word "change" first.

[kentuck]

108. (Wish I could change my username) ?

You only have 20 posts? When did you choose your name??

[Occam Bandage]

109. Every politician uses the word "change" from time to time.

It's a common word. It's a very common word. It's about as common in politics as "protect," "hard-working families," "believe," "opportunity," and "values." There's a difference between saying "I'm going to change things" and between using the word "change" as a recurrent theme, just as there's a difference between having the word "values" pop up from time to time, and running with "values" as your core theme and slogan.

Before Obama began pulling ahead in Iowa, "change" was a word like any other to Johnny. Once Obama began to demonstrate he had a winning formula, Edward started humping that word like it was a campaign staffer.

Saying that Obama "stole" it from Edwards because Edwards had it in one sentence on his website is just fucking nuts. I'm sorry. It's not just "irrational," it's not just "misguided," it's fucking nuts.

[hfojvt]

18. I do not regret supporting the message

unfortunately, the message has faded away as much as the messenger.

edit: but apparently Elizabeth's book is coming out, so she may be making the rounds.

[stunningkant]

8. You know, his father worked in the steel mills and he can just see him now...

exiting the chain link fence (*narrows eyes to look sincere*)

:rofl:

[Adelante]

19. Bye, asshole

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Adelante]

28. LOL - another one

[H2O Man]

36. Bye-bye

[devilgrrl]

13. He's been shamed from humanity in the way that I wish Newt Gingrich had.

:popcorn:

[nxylas]

23. The old double standard at work

You could also mention Rudy Guiliani, Rush Limbaugh and a host of others. Funny how members of the party of family values seem to be able to survive scandals that are enough to end the political career of a Democrat.

[yardwork]

47. Very good point.

[verdalaven]

103. No kidding,

You know, the double standard speaks volumes for how the Dems are perceived by everyone, including the those in the republican party. We are held to a higher standard, because we hit that higher standard more often than the R's. It is like being the only sibling in a family who gets straight A's and is yelled at for getting a B, while your sister is praised for finally getting a C in one of her classes.

In a way, that is sort of flattering. :)

I am a glass half full kinda Dem.

Edited because it is early.

[krabigirl]

117. Yep, although I disagree that anyone needs to be shamed.

Politicians and people in power often cheat. But yeah, of course, when it's a Republican, they get free passes.

[SoCalDem]

15. No doubt, he's "spending more time with his family"

and waiting to stage a come-back someday.

He'll be the Norma Desmond of politics in a decade or so.

Elizabeth's luck will eventually run out, and then for a while, he'll be the grieving widower, which will buy him some goodwill...until people google and are reminded of the stunt he pulled "back in aught-eight".

Republicans get away with this stuff all the time, but Democrats just don't. Had she been in good health when he did it, he could have recovered from it, but he will always be the guy who cheated on and lied to a desperately ill wife..and who used her to play up the family-man image.. for campaign benefit..

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[enlightenment]

21. "Make nuisances of themselves here"

nice . . . very progressive of you.

[Alexander]

22. The truth hurts.

"nice . . . very progressive of you."

Edwards was never a progressive, he just talked like one.

And he conned a lot of people who didn't look at his record - or care about it - into believing in him.

[enlightenment]

56. If you say so.

Since you have it all neatly wrapped up - to the point where you can make nasty, condemning statements about others who simply didn't agree with you at the time.

Liberalism and the Democratic party are supposed to be big tents, but they've gotten smaller and smaller in the last year - with self-proclaimed arbiters like yourself deciding who gets to come in and who doesn't. Those who don't fit your model get reduced to nuisances.

Nice.

[Alexander]

77. I'm sorry that you never bothered to look at his record.

There, do you feel better now?

I deal with facts. Not my fault if you get so caught up in smoove Johnny's hair and rhetoric that the facts escape you.

"Liberalism and the Democratic party are supposed to be big tents, but they've gotten smaller and smaller in the last year - with self-proclaimed arbiters like yourself deciding who gets to come in and who doesn't."

Actually I like the idea of a big tent, and even supported Specter joining the party. We need to placate various interests if we are to stay in power and change the country.

What I don't care for is someone presenting themselves as progressive without actually *doing* anything progressive. Which is what Edwards did, and his fans bought it hook, line and sinker.

But continue to play the victim if that's what makes you feel better.

[enlightenment]

80. Alexander, you know nothing about me, or my

choices before, during, or after the primary. You do not know what I think nor what level of information and knowledge I possess. You have chosen to make this personal and assume that I attempting to defend or protect my position vis a vis John Edwards.

That's your choice, but it certainly isn't something that I care to engage in with you. You are entitled to your opinion - and I am entitled to believe that you are not entitled to pronounce sentence on those who do not hold the same opinion.

Feel free to continue elevating your opinion to statements of fact - but you'll have to excuse me if I choose not to come along for the ride.

[Alexander]

83. That makes two of us.

Spare me the morally superior act. Can you play any other tunes?

[Occam Bandage]

24. Edwards actually won two primaries in '04, not one.

He won the state in which he was born and the state in which he built his political career.

[Alexander]

26. I stand corrected, not that it was very relevant.

He still lost - badly - in both of his presidential runs, because people knew he was a fake.

[Adelante]

29. Well, 1.5 maybe

One of them took place after he dropped. It was an organized beauty contest with very few voters to pressure Kerry into naming him VP. Pure PR.

[Alexander]

38. Good point. Edwards won NC like Dean won Vermont.

After the race was already over.

[Adelante]

44. Yeah, but Dean's was a clean win

Edwards's win was staged from start to finish. Al Sharpton threatened to sue the State Committee over it. Some of Edwards's strong supporters in the state didn't even know it was happening or they would have voted. As it was about 10,000 people voted out of millions who could have. It was all very controlled by the State Dems and the trial lawyers. Anyways, it meant nothing except to his play for VP.

[karynnj]

41. NC had a caucus and it was after Kerry was the defacto winner

This was simply a "favorite son" victory. There were very few people willing to caucus when the result didn't matter.

[mnhtnbb]

20. Elizabeth is going to answer the question on Oprah on Thursday, May 7th

when she will discuss her new book which is being published the next day.

[10lives]

27. Finally she gets a chance to get out from all the bullshit!

:bounce:

[karynnj]

42. Wellcome to DU

The fact is that what is happening is the opposite of that. Getting out of all this BS would be doing something like the job she has (I think with teh Center for American Progress) on healthcare policy. If she were going on Oprah, either alone or as part of a team, lobbying for healthcare with a promise that JRE would not be mentioned - that would be the case.

Here, she is dredging the muck up again - and it is leaving both her and JRE looking worse than before. Look at just one issue - in talking about it, she gives a timeline - but her timeline is different than JRE's. The difference is not insignificant. His means she knew before the official kick off and hers afterward. Not to mention, if she really wanted him not to run why did she take a more prominent role than she did in 2004 and why did she agree to be an attack dog. In addition, if she learned at the very end of December and wanted out, why not use her March cancer diagnosis to get out?

[amandabeech]

52. I really liked Elizabeth in both campaigns,

but airing all this dirty linen in public just seems kind of bizarre to me.

Perhaps she wants her own money.

Perhaps the hurt is just that deep.

[Quantess]

68. The name was a dead giveaway....

10 lives is dead now.
;)

[EmeraldCityGrl]

115. Edwards jeopardized the 2008 election had he been nominated...

Elizabeth had full knowledge of what was taking place and allowed it to continue. She's an enabler and I have no sympathy for either
one of them. This would have all come out eventually the we would have gone down with them.

[davidwparker]

31. As an Edwards supporter, I want my money back.

[Catchawave]

70. Me too....

:hi:

[Liberal813]

112. Do you really feel that way?

In reading some of the visceral comments posted on this thread, it seems as though my computer has switched over to the Freepers website. I suppose this is what Edwards had in mind when he stated, last August, that people should feel free to beat him up over this matter. Nevertheless, to err is human, to forgive divine.

[msongs]

32. trolling motel rooms looking for "friends"? nt

[kimmerspixelated]

33. I loved Edwards!

It hurt like hell to not vote for him with his name appearing on the ballot in the primaries.I think he was exposed by the press because someone didn't want him to become attorney general, which might have happened, and he would have been really powerful in that position. Unfortunately, he turned out to be just another man who began thinking with his Wang-A-Tang! Just HAD to have some new stuff...jerk!

[cali]

39. bwahahaha. he was self-serving, corporatist sleaze.

that's how he voted in the Senate. That's how he lived his sleazy life with his hedge fund crap and his disgusting energy sucking mega mansion. he's a pig.

[earth mom]

48. But it's ok with you for Obama & Clinton & Congress to be corporatists? Which they most certainly

are.

ALL OF THEM are living high on the hog and have huge houses that cost a million plus. Have you questioned any of them about their energy use or the money they have in the bank?

HELL NO you haven't.

Nice double standard you got going there. NOT! :eyes:

[cali]

50. none of the them have freakin' 30,000 sq ft house

or even half that size. And a million dollar house isn't even a big or fancy house in many places. The problem with wittle johny hedge fund was always his complete and total hypocrisy. he's a sleazy phony. he never gave two shits about the poverty issue.

[earth mom]

62. Edwards isn't in office, he doesn't have to excuse his lifestyle to YOU or anyone.

Michelle Obama on the other hand, should know better than to parade around in shoes that cost more than most people in this country EARN IN A WEEK!!! :wtf:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5581201

[cali]

63. lol. really? you're criticizing Michelle for wearing expensive shoes?

too funny. don't forget Mr. Four Hundred Dollar Haircut. And he was running when he built the house and had his precious little haircut.

[earth mom]

65. Michelle Obama is the first lady. She is rubbing her wealth in peoples faces which is wrong.

Especially since this country is in a depression, not a recession.

FYI-Edwards haircut was a wrong move too, but he apologized for it and took a lot of shit for it and no doubt learned his lesson.

The question is, will Michelle Obama apologize or acknowledge that she screwed up?

I will applaud her if she does, just like I applauded Edwards for admitting he was wrong too.

[Alexander]

85. She paid for those shoes herself, unlike smoove Johnny who billed his contributors.

The two don't even equate.

Another Edwards apologist.

[cali]

104. Edwards $400 haircut was paid for with campaign funds

no one is suggesting that Michelle's shoes were. If they were, I'd want an apology too.

[dionysus]

122. your bitter tears are nectar to my soul. you ain't got shit... MOs fucking shoes... FFS...

:rofl:

[Occam Bandage]

89. Michelle earned every dime. Better than Johnny's little whore Rielle can say. nt

[dionysus]

121. i find bitter edwards supporters to be so hillarious. sorry smoove johnny was a fraud...a two bit

phoney punk...

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Alexander]

126. These people can't admit they were tricked by a con artist.

So they take it out on the people who were never fooled.

:rofl:

[karynnj]

43. I doubt he would have been picked for AG

It was his fans who thought he would be a fantastic AG. The idea that he has fought corruption is not real. Even among disgraced politicians who cheated on their wives, Eliot Spitzer beats him in a walk on this.

Give me ONE thing Edwards did to fight corporations or provide a tool to fight corruption or one thing he investigated. I don't think there are any.

[Muttocracy]

87. The Spitzer comparison is a good one

Similar hypocrisy, what they did viscerally upsets me, but I miss Eliot Spitzer because of what he did as Attorney General of NY. Spitzer was far more qualified to have run for president some day for that matter. Edwards had no such record.

[JoePhilly]

37. He's home doing what every elizabteh wants him to do ... if he's smart.

[earth mom]

45. Edwards made a PERSONAL mistake and was killed off by dinos who hate his populist stance.

:(

[cali]

46. still on that tired old song and dance

eh?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[earth mom]

49. Yep, if only to bug the hell out of you.

:evilgrin:

[Alexander]

51. Edwards would be considered a DINO here if people looked at his actual record.

For example, he never saw a war or a free trade agreement he didn't like.

Alas, too many DUers chose to ignore that pesky voting record and instead listened to his lofty rhetoric, which he mostly borrowed from other people anyway.

[quiller4]

67. He introduced legislation to eliminate mandatory minimum

sentencing as well as legislation to correct the disparate sentencing of crack and cocaine offenses. I don't see either of those as DINO positions. I don't believe anybody really owns political rhetoric but plenty of language from his 2004 campaign was recycled by others in 2008.

After I read your post, I looked up Edwards' ratings by the Children's Defense Fund and the ACLU--few sitting senators rated better than he.

He opposed CAFTA although he was not then a sitting senator. He spoke out against the Caribbean Basin Initiative but that was before he entered the senate. That initiative is what destroyed the pharmaceutical industry in New York.

[Alexander]

79. So did Biden, who authored the RAVE Act and created the "Drug Czar".

Yet even though he admitted to using it in the past, Edwards didn't support decriminalization of marijuana. Same reason he opposed gay marriage - the "family values" bullshit he peddled while cheating on his cancer-stricken wife.

"I don't believe anybody really owns political rhetoric but plenty of language from his 2004 campaign was recycled by others in 2008."

And plenty of his 2004 rhetoric was recycled from others several election cycles back.

"After I read your post, I looked up Edwards' ratings by the Children's Defense Fund and the ACLU--few sitting senators rated better than he."

Oh really?

"Rated 60% by the ACLU, indicating a mixed civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)"

Yeah, 60% is about as good as it gets. "Mixed" indeed.

Let's review some of Edwards' other votes, shall we?

Voted YES on loosening restrictions on cell phone wiretapping. (Oct 2001)
Voted YES on restricting rules on personal bankruptcy. (Jul 2001)
Voted YES on defunding renewable and solar energy. (Jun 1999)
Voted YES on Bush Administration Energy Policy. (Jul 2003)
Voted NO on more funding for forest roads and fish habitat. (Sep 1999)
Rated 37% by the LCV, indicating a mixed record on environment. (Dec 2003)
Cosponsored 2002 Iraq War Resolution. (Nov 2007)
Voted YES on killing a bill for trade sanctions if China sells weapons. (Sep 2000)
Voted YES on permanent normal trade relations with China. (Sep 2000)
Voted YES on extending free trade to Andean nations. (May 2002)
Voted YES on granting normal trade relations status to Vietnam. (Oct 2001)
Voted YES on deploying National Missile Defense ASAP. (Mar 1999)
Voted YES on authorizing use of military force against Iraq. (Oct 2002)

Yeah, Edwards is just a beacon of liberalism, isn't he?

"He opposed CAFTA although he was not then a sitting senator. He spoke out against the Caribbean Basin Initiative but that was before he entered the senate. That initiative is what destroyed the pharmaceutical industry in New York."

It's easy to talk tough when you're not in the Senate to vote.

Given that Edwards apologized for voting for trade with China, the Bankruptcy Bill, and the Iraq War, what should we believe? His words or his votes? As we saw last year, his words are meaningless - even in his "confession" he lied about the child, who is most likely his. So I'll trust his voting record, which leaves much to be desired.

[waiting for hope]

58. Very much like your tired old song and dance -

:popcorn:

[cali]

61. yeah, but I was right. I took so much shit here for calling him out as a phony

when he was DU's darling. I never could stand him. He smelled as fake to me as they come.

[earth mom]

64. Trouble is, you can't see that the rest of the politicians in this country are rich as hell

and could give a shit about the rest of us peons!

FYI-Edwards isn't a politician anymore, so he can do whatever the hell he wants now including wearing $540 shoes!

[cali]

73. neither of my Senators is rich or my rep in the house

I realize that they're the exception. And yeah, Edwards can do whatever he wants now. His lousy political career is deader than a doornail.

[waiting for hope]

74. Good luck with your defective nose -

And you are so wrong:

Q&A with John Edwards
Jenna Stark
Updated: Sunday, April 12, 2009

Before his lecture Tuesday, former senator and 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards spoke with The Herald about poverty, life after his 2008 presidential run and his plans for the future.

The Herald: What have you been doing since the primaries?

Edwards: A variety of things. Speaking at venues like this. I have continued to work with the Poverty Center at the University of North Carolina, which I started a few years ago. I have been talking to and working with folks who are interested in doing entrepreneurial work in the area of poverty.

~Snip~

http://www.browndailyherald.com/2.12235/q-a-with-john-edwards-1.1667630

[Alexander]

84. If only his DLC voting record matched his populist rhetoric...

you might be on to something.

But you aren't.

[Occam Bandage]

93. Which people ought remember. He was a DLC member every day he was in office.

He compiled an unexceptional, centrist, Wall-Street-friendly record in office. You'll note his supporters never point to his work when he was in power. Why? Because Johnny never walked the same game he talked.

[Alexander]

94. His supporters can't defend his actual Senate record.

Which includes:

Voted YES on loosening restrictions on cell phone wiretapping. (Oct 2001)
Voted YES on restricting rules on personal bankruptcy. (Jul 2001)
Voted YES on defunding renewable and solar energy. (Jun 1999)
Voted YES on Bush Administration Energy Policy. (Jul 2003)
Voted NO on more funding for forest roads and fish habitat. (Sep 1999)
Rated 37% by the LCV, indicating a mixed record on environment. (Dec 2003)
Cosponsored 2002 Iraq War Resolution. (Nov 2007)
Voted YES on killing a bill for trade sanctions if China sells weapons. (Sep 2000)
Voted YES on permanent normal trade relations with China. (Sep 2000)
Voted YES on extending free trade to Andean nations. (May 2002)
Voted YES on granting normal trade relations status to Vietnam. (Oct 2001)
Voted YES on deploying National Missile Defense ASAP. (Mar 1999)
Voted YES on authorizing use of military force against Iraq. (Oct 2002)

[cali]

113. look, he would say that

that's just a vague claim. And I don't believe a word that comes out of that liar's mouth. does UNC back up that claim? I couldn't find any independent confirmation of it.

My gut was dead right about slimy johny hedge fund.

[waiting for hope]

125. Prove that he's not -

Here's the number: [phone] ... Betcha you won't.

[Occam Bandage]

90. Edwards is nothing like a populist. Nothing. Not even close.

He was quite literally a member of the DLC every single day he was in office. He only ran as a "populist" in 2008 (after running as a centrist in 2004) because Hillary had the centrist Dem vote locked up.

[foo_bar]

101. it wasn't a "personal mistake" if the hush money was public dough

A federal grand jury is reportedly investigating whether former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., violated campaign finance laws by making payments to his mistress, Rielle Hunter.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/04/03/edwards/

According to the National Enquirer, multiple sources are now confirming their report from one week ago that a federal grand jury is investigating possible misuse of presidential campaign funds by John Edwards, which were said to have been used to pay off his mistress, with whom he had a secret love child.

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/9598

The Enquirer now quotes a source saying the probe is centered around whether Edwards used campaign money to cover up the affair. The IRS is also reportedly involved.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2009/04/shocking-report-john-edwards-investigated-grand-jury-mistress-payments

The federal grand jury met Wednesday April 1, 2009. Both the Justice Department and the IRS are involved in determining if their were any violations of campaign finance laws pertaining to any payments Edwards made to Hunter. Because these gatherings are secret and stiff penalties apply to anyone caught discussing the events with the public or press, no other information is known. The standard “cannot confirm or deny” phrase is in vogue.

The sordid accounting details of the campaign cash must be dissected before any charges can be made. Edwards has contended a supporter who passed away last fall, provided “the hush money,” and not his campaign treasury. The outcome should be interesting.

http://quipster.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/john-edwards-and-the-grand-jury-investigating-possible-campaign-money-violations/

It's difficult to respond to "dinos who hate his populist stance" after Edwards co-sponsored the IWR and whatnot, but there's people who still take Dubya's religious awakening at face value.

John Edwards Won Father Of The Year Award, Nine Months Before Becoming A Father Again

Here’s John Edwards on June 7, 2007, receiving a Father Of The Year award with his cancer wife Elizabeth in attendance. Rielle’s Hunter’s child was born on February 27, 2008, making the gap between these two events 8 months and 20 days. In other words, Rielle Hunter was hiding in this podium and John Edwards was literally impregnating her while talking about Fatherhood.

http://wonkette.com/401669/john-edwards-won-father-of-the-year-award-nine-months-before-becoming-a-father-again

[krabigirl]

118. Yep, and by Puritanical Americans. Didn't know we had so many on the left.

[dionysus]

123. edwards is a complete and total fraud. and you bought it hook line, and sinker...

:rofl:

[a kennedy]

60. and as I say.....move along, nothing to see here....just the

little head steering the big head......AND I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS...... :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Odin2005]

69. He is hidding in shame for cheating on his wife while RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT!!!

Had he have been the nominee the news of his poor moral judgment would have left us fucked. His thinking with his dick completely destroyed his ability to be an effective progressive spokesperson because the right would have a field day with using Edwards to show that "libruls have no morals".

[krabigirl]

120. lol, like no other candidates have? He was just unfortunate enough to get caught.

Funny how sex=morals in this country. Obama supports WAR. To me, that is immoral, although I voted for the guy.

[DefenseLawyer]

71. He lost it all for the nookie.

Not the first and won't be the last.

[lib2DaBone]

75. He joined the Hair Club For Men..

Rick Perry

Blagojevich

[slipslidingaway]

76. Thought he was a fake and could lie while looking you straight

in the eyes.

[hyphenate]

78. Didn't people here ever get the message

that Bill Clinton's administration gave?

That What happens in their personal life should STAY in their private life? It's really pissing me off that people here want to keep the government out of their lives, but can't and won't let other PRIVATE CITIZENS have the same right. Mother of mercy, it's such a fucked up double standard when people bitch and moan about John and Elizabeth Edwards in such a condemning and yes, condescending fashion, but continue to criticize them long after they are out of the public eye. Right now, though, it is Elizabeth who is in the spotlight, and it's great, but they are still away from politics on the national level, and have gone onto other things which should afford them some respite from people who continue to caterwaul about their lives.

The way some people here talk, you would think that John Edwards was the anti-christ, and that he was the one who would press the red button to begin the nuclear war to end life-as-we-know-it. Indeed, by some of the responses here, the vitriol is so intense that it sounds like people hate Edwards more than they ever hated George Bush. Shit, man, there is another website to vilify Democratic politicians, and it might be more to the liking for people who won't give John Edwards a fucking break.

As Forrest Gump might say, "If you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't bother saying it at all."

[960]

86. Then Edwards should have paid off his mistress using his own money.

Because he used campaign funds, it is everyone's business.

[Occam Bandage]

91. When you pay off your mistress with public campaign contributions,

it ceases to be a private matter.

[Alexander]

95. Not to mention haircuts financed by his contributors.

Couldn't smoove Johnny pay for his own $300 haircuts? Isn't he rich enough?

"Two Americas" indeed. We know which America smoove Johnny lived in, and it wasn't ours.

[cali]

102. well, in all fairness, that remains to be seen.

not that it would shock me.

[Political Heretic]

81. He's working on real issues dealing with working class families rather than sucking off Wall Street

:shrug:

[Occam Bandage]

92. That's hilarious, given that Brave Crusader Johnny

is the only one of the Democratic 2008 Presidential candidates who actually, literally worked for a hedge fund, and what's more, for a hedge fund that massively invested in subprime mortgages while he worked there. More than any politician I can think of, John Edwards actually sucked the Wall Street teat. He didn't just play ball for them in the Senate (though he certainly did do that as well), he went to Wall Street for some fast cash preying on the poor between his Presidential runs.

Which is, of course, reflected in all the policies he actually promoted when he was actually in office. Unlimited free trade? Johnny was your man. NAFTA, Most Favored Nation status for China, you name it. If Wall Street loved it, John Edwards was over it like white on rice.

He's a fraud, a huckster, and a charlatan. He didn't give a shit about poverty relief any more than he gave a shit about his wife. Both were just means to an end, to be discarded whenever it was convenient. His charities were nothing but cynical attempts to build an image; it's no accident that he stopped showing up at the Edwards Center for Poverty Relief at UNC once he gave up on his campaign, and it's no accident that his scholarship program ended along with his Presidential ambitions.

[Alexander]

98. Yep. I got bad vibes from him since 2003, and now I know why.

His behavior, both in Congress and in his private life, just confirmed my intuition.

[Occam Bandage]

100. I supported him in the '04 primary after Dean imploded.

I didn't think he was a progressive, a populist, or anything of the sort then. After all, he didn't pretend to be one at that point. I thought he was a moderate Democrat who could advance progressive political frames while remaining centrist enough on policy to draw wide public support in the South and Midwest. That was why I supported Dean, incidentally: Dean was a centrist who could defend the liberal aspects of his policies*. That isn't to say I support centrists in general, but I thought '04 was a year we would have to play defense as well as offense. Anyway, when Kerry won, I thought Edwards would be a good addition to a ticket for those same reasons.

Then he went AWOL during the '04 campaign, deciding not to use the lines and speeches Kerry gave him, and spending all his time arcing around small towns away from cameras and generally being a useless hunk of dead weight. Which was, of course, reflected in the fact that Edwards didn't deliver a single state for Kerry.

I was irritated enough at the fact that he completely failed to deliver in '04. I didn't want him anywhere near a Presidential race; in my eyes he had blown his chance completely, and should retire to the cocktail-party circuit. When he suddenly decided to apologize for his entire goddamn Senate career and act like a populist firebrand, it just irritated me, especially in how nakedly cynical the shift was.

He didn't become Mr. Progressive until Clinton had fully locked up the party establishment. It was only when it became evident that he couldn't get the party establishment financing this time around that he tried to run a populist insurgent campaign. And doubly galling was the fact that so many people actually believed he was progressive. When the majority of DUers began attacking Obama and Clinton for not being as "progressive" as the most centrist Democrat in the running, it was simply offensive.


*I have since realized that my 2004 beliefs in how to approach politics were a bit wrong-way-around. Of course, I'm not alone in that; 2004 was an ongoing lesson to Democrats in What Not To Do.

[waiting for hope]

111. Once again -

He is still at the UNC Center for Poverty:

Q&A with John Edwards
Jenna Stark
Published: Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Updated: Sunday, April 12, 2009

Before his lecture Tuesday, former senator and 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards spoke with The Herald about poverty, life after his 2008 presidential run and his plans for the future.

The Herald: What have you been doing since the primaries?

Edwards: A variety of things. Speaking at venues like this. I have continued to work with the Poverty Center at the University of North Carolina, which I started a few years ago. I have been talking to and working with folks who are interested in doing entrepreneurial work in the area of poverty.

Q&A with John Edwards

And the college scholarship program was a three year pilot program:

Pamela Hampton-Garland, the director of College for Everyone, said the Greene County effort was always designed as a three-year pilot.

"The program was a huge success," she said. "The numbers soared. The interest from students and parents and the community rose. It seemed the whole notion of college access changed."

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/higher_education/story/1160097.html

You can spout how much of a Cassandra you think you are, but stop spouting crap on things you know nothing about. A simple google search could have answered those questions.

[dionysus]

124. yeah, hedge fund johnny is a reaaaal hero to the working class.... hoookkayy

:spray:

[Canuckistanian]

96. He cheated on America

He made a personal promise to each and every citizen of the US that he would remain true to his wife.

He broke that solemn vow.

He's no better than pond scum.

[shimmergal]

99. Did he?

Please provide a citation to the quote/event where he actually made such a promise.

I'm not talking about him just saying he'd stand by her during the cancer. Did he actually, literally promise not to ever cheat on her?

I don't like how it all went down either, but there's no need to put words in his mouth that most of us never heard.

[Canuckistanian]

105. No, he didn't. My post was a collection of arguments I heard here

People here were rending their clothing and tearing their hair out about this.

It's almost as if Edwards had cheated on them personally.

He was a politician who had an affair. Big deal. Wasn't the first time nor will it be the last.

[cali]

106. I agree, but his affair would have posed a problem if

he'd won the nomination and it had come out in the general. I think that's why people are pissed. I always thought he was a corporatist phony.

[krabigirl]

119. Seriously. Glad to see I'm not the only one who sees the madness surrounding this.

[Withywindle]

97. God misheard me.

I said I wanted a PONY, not a phony!

[Dukkha]

110. plotting his next multi-million grab in his mansion

while pretending to be a voice for poverty.
But the gullible Edwards love fest still marches on for the few who act like fundies swindled by a televangelist yet still buy his snake oil.

[cali]

114. no kidding. it's just pathetic.

[krabigirl]

116. He screwed up in his personal life, but the Puritans with their pitchforks are determined to

ruin his entire life. It's like their sins are redeemed by burning him at the stake. Politicians screw around, didn't you know that? And guess what, we need to get a life in this country!