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Eminentoes
John Edwards, RIP
He’s thinking about a comeback.
“I don’t think God is through with me,” John Edwards said after his criminal trial on campaign finance reform ended with a hung jury. Maybe not, but American politics certainly is. Edwards may yet return to his lawyer career but Richard Nixon will return to public office before he does.
The amazing thing is that anyone ever thought he was a political star in the first place. Edwards has one of the most remarkably unimpressive political résumés of any person to become a major political figure in the last few decades. That serious people thought he was ever prime presidential timber is a greater indictment of our political system than any of Edwards’s own transgressions.
And yet many supposedly savvy pundits lavished praise on Edwards: Here’s Slate.com’s William Saletan in 2003 pondering why Edwards’s presidential foray was going nowhere:
Why Edwards hasn’t climbed out of the pack is a mystery to me. Beyond his superficial assets — good looks, youth, Southern heritage — he’s got an agile mind and a natural ability to relate to people. He’s put together a sensible set of policies… (maybe) Edwards will get to carry his banner into the general election. But if he doesn’t, whoever beats him should pick it up and carry it in his stead.
Here’s a thought: If the politician is failing despite his many fine qualities maybe you should reexamine whether he really has those qualities.
Let’s review the record:
The foundation of Edwards’s reputation is that he was allegedly a brilliant trial attorney, a kind of living, breathing John Grisham character taking on the big and powerful for the sake of the poor and downtrodden.
So the story goes. Edwards did win some pretty big cases against big corporations. It has never been clear — to me anyway - why this was more laudable than righting wrongs that do not involve deep-pocketed defendants. I mean, a person screwed out of their savings is suffering the same whether it was done by MegaEvil Co., or a single con artist. Somehow though the latter cases don’t seem to attract as many lawyers like Edwards. But I digress…
We are supposed to believe that Edwards was a great orator and won those cases through the sheer brilliance of his closing arguments. Well, I don’t buy it. Real life is not like the movies. Surely the facts in those cases and the relevant law had as much to do, if not more, with the verdicts. My guess is that Edwards’s real brilliance was sniffing out those cases and latching onto them (and their contingency fees) before other lawyers.
If Edwards was such a great orator, then why haven’t any of his speeches been remembered? The only one we do remember is his “Two Americas” spiel and the main reason for that is it renders his hypocrisy so clear. Note to political journalists: Convincing a captive audience of 12 people who are required to render yes/no judgments is not the same thing as winning over the masses.
Remember, Edwards won only one political race in his entire career: his 1998 Senate race in North Carolina. Granted he won office on his first try, but he was running in what turned out to be a terrible year for Republicans (having overestimated the public’s eagerness to impeach Bill Clinton). He ran against Lauch Faircloth, a crusty caricature of an old-time southern pol who was essentially Jesse Helms without charisma. Even so, the race was close, with Edwards edging Faircloth out just 51-47%. In 2004, rather than face potential defeat, he opted not to run again.
Once in office, Edwards distinguished himself mostly by making it clear how little interest he had in being a legislator. He had his sights set on the White House from the start and couldn’t be bothered with the tedious process of passing noteworthy bills or associating himself with any particular issue or cause besides himself.
Nor did he show particularly sharp political skills. His most noteworthy action as senator was voting for the Iraq War resolution, on the apparent belief this demonstration of bipartisanship would boost him. He spent most of the rest of his political career apologizing for it to any Democratic audience that would listen.
With less than one term under his belt, Edwards made his first presidential bid in 2004, only to have Howard Dean steal his thunder. Edwards got a second chance when eventual nominee John Kerry picked him to be the vice presidential candidate. The theory was Edwards would help the Democratic ticket make inroads into southern red states. On Election Day, he couldn’t even put his home state in the donkey party’s column.
In his 2008 White House bid, he ran a perpetually distant third in the Democratic primary. Edwards by this time had reinvented himself into a tough-talking blue-collar populist. He proceeded to lose the blue-collar vote to that noted voice of the common man, Hillary Clinton. This was as Clinton herself was flailing in her efforts to stop Barack Obama’s momentum.
Working class people took one look at this ambulance-chasing pretty-boy saw him for the shallow hack he was and paid him no mind. Edwards’s real constituency was his fellow wealthy upper-class whites, the types who populate the New York Times editorial pages and opinion journals like Slate.com and the New Republic. His “Two Americas” line appealed to their liberal guilt and sense of noblesse oblige. There just aren’t nearly enough of them to win an election.
Thank God.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (28) | Leave a comment
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Kitty | 6.4.12 @ 6:26AM
The amazing thing is that anyone ever thought he was a political star in the first place. Edwards has one of the most remarkably unimpressive political résumés of any person to become a major political figure in the last few decades. That serious people thought he was ever prime presidential timber...
I can say the same thing about Obama.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 6.4.12 @ 7:28AM
The amazing thing is that anyone ever thought he was a political star in the first place. Edwards has one of the most remarkably unimpressive political résumés of any person to become a major political figure in the last few decades. That serious people thought he was ever prime presidential timber...
He was simply another hand puppet loved by the main stream media who concealed information about the affair from the public.
Edwards would be welcomed back with open arms by the main stream media.
The situation highlights the real problem for the main stream media. They, like the government, like to pick the winners and losers.
In the end, it never works out for the public.
chuck| 6.4.12 @ 7:36AM
Of course the ambulance chaser was a liberal shining star. Liberalism is all about looks and feelings, not if the damned thing works or not. Look at the other liberal icons, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Kennedy, Hillary. What has any of them done that has actually worked? $5 trillion further in debt and the economy still sucks.
Liberals like to call us middle-class white working stiffs a bunch of stupid red-necks, but we knew John Edwards, and Bubba Clinton for that matter, were a couple of lying sacks of dog squeeze the first time we heard them speak.
benny havens| 6.4.12 @ 7:36AM
OK, he gave his mistress money and it wasn’t illegal. Did she pay her taxes?
janetd| 6.4.12 @ 7:40AM
Kitty,
I thought the same thing!
Let's not overlook that the real person pulling the strings behind the John Edwards drive to the WH was Elizabeth Edwards. I think she was a helluva lot smarter then he but even more consumed by the scent of POWER. John Edwards is vacuous simpleton whose worst fear is going bald.
Drunken Sailor| 6.4.12 @ 12:23PM
Same could be said of the Clintons. Seems to be a Democrat political trend.
c. j. acworth| 6.4.12 @ 7:47AM
"God is not through with me yet."
No, he's not, you dirtbag. Maybe you should start walking around with a lightning rod over your head.
Doctor Right| 6.4.12 @ 7:48AM
" Edwards has one of the most remarkably unimpressive political résumés of any person to become a major political figure in the last few decades."
True, but in Edward's defense, to become a highly successful ambulance-chaser he had to work for a living.
Additionally, no one handed Edwards anything based on the color of his skin.
That alone makes his resume far more impressive than the present occupant of the White House.
Occam's Tool| 6.4.12 @ 1:47PM
Dr. R:
I suppose that's true, which is why I enjoy watching him suffer. Watching a Malpractice attorney get his reputation and life torn to bits amuses me.
Louis Jenkins| 6.4.12 @ 8:46AM
Edwards is thinking about a comeback? Maybe he will, while shaving one morning soon, get a really good look at himself and realize that the Democrats, and the public in general, are finished with this shyster lawyer. Compared to Obama he's a sterling politician, however, compared to most Democrats he's with the lowest of lows. He had a moment in the sun, now it's time to retire Mr. Edwards, and go back to your practice and your McMansion near Chapel Hill. Yes, God is not finished with him. It's called the judgement.
Peppermint Tea | 6.4.12 @ 8:59AM
The only question left is whether he will marry his mistress, or just move her into the house.
Actually, by producing a love child, he did something that no abortion-loving Democrat could imagine doing. Obama? Clinton? Pelosi? None of them would have allowed an political embarrassment like a love child to happen. He is the lone moral man in the Democrat Party.
My guess it that the WOMEN on the jury were the ones holding out for acquittal. They want to insure the love child and the reality-show mistress were taken care of.
Yeah, why not. The Breck Girl had been thoroughly neutered as a politico.
chuck| 6.4.12 @ 10:58AM
"He is the lone moral man in the Democrat Party."
No, in all likelihood he was unable to convince her to get an abortion. The little bastard is her meal ticket for life.
Anthony| 6.4.12 @ 9:04AM
Let's hope the Justice Department tries this fraud again and gets a conviction.
The jury in the first trial appeared to be an O.J. wannabe. When you have alternate jurors dressing in the same fashion, and alleged highschool flirtations going on, justice is indeed elusive.
At least they were hung on most of the charges, so that Edwards can get tried again. Problem is, his lawyers will now be pushing for a plea deal that involves neither a felony nor jail time.
Try the fraud again, just to insure that his days as a politician are OVER!!!
Try the bastard again until you get it right.
John Navratil| 6.4.12 @ 12:21PM
Anthony,
I'm no lawyer but was persuaded that Edwards was paid privately. Hans van Spakovsky argued credibly (he is a former FEC commissioner) that while the payments may not have gone through the campaign, they were criminal under FEC rules. Many thoughtful conservatives were divided on the point.
I'll agree that Edwards is a slime-ball of the first order. But if the issue is so murky that a jury couldn't decide, do we have the bright line that the rules should have provided, or do we have just another demonstration that a raft of rules defies clarity and can be gamed?
PACs came into existence after Common Cause spearheaded rules limiting individual contributions to candidates. It certainly didn't get any money out of politics. The effort to do so is like throwing stones in a river to stop the water.
I suggest we stop the madness and merely insist on full disclosure of who is contributing what money to which campaign. Of course, it wouldn't have stopped Edwards from hiding his dalliance from the press, but then the raft of rules didn't or couldn't either.
Anthony| 6.4.12 @ 2:12PM
Again, I did not follow this case closely so I will not opine on the specifics. You may be right, however, I admit my prejudice is such that I could care less if he is subsequently convicted.
The jury was hung on 5 charges. My only comment was about the apparent misconduct by certain members of the jury.
John Navratil| 6.4.12 @ 6:57PM
Anthony,
Those shennanigans made a mockery of the jury. Fortunately, as I understand, they were done by alternates after the jury began deliberations. There were a couple of people who could stand a day in the pokey to be reminded of the importance of a jury in our system.
Cobalt| 6.4.12 @ 9:20AM
In the future, Edwards might try to fly too close to the sun, and his wings will melt and he will fall into the sea.
Anthony| 6.4.12 @ 9:56AM
Then he'll bring a class action law suit against the wing manufacturer.
Jeez, this bastard has me doing anti-lawyer jokes. HELP!!!!
CJW| 6.4.12 @ 9:54AM
I think the MSM and Dems are throwing Edwards under the bus to show they can be tough on a liberal Dem. Edwards cheated on his wife, had a child, and used campaign funds to support his babe.
Clinton cheated on his wife, sold pardons; Jessee Jackson had a child and supported his babe through Rainbow Coalition funds. Obama got money for his house from a Chicago crook (redundant?) Tony Rezko. Obama gave 500 million to his campaign contributors at Solyndra. Michelle spends millions of taxpayer funds to vacation in Spain. And so on.
Edwards is a diversion from the corruption and incompetence of Obama.
Who cares about Edwards. In the words of our friend from Miami, "he is small potatoes."
Anthony| 6.4.12 @ 10:00AM
"Hymen Roth always makes money for his partners"!!
May John Edwards find a pleasant spot in the Nevada desert.
CJW| 6.4.12 @ 10:16AM
Anthony
The Obama Justice Dept refused to prosecure the Black Panthers for voter intimidation yet it went full bore against Edwards on a mickey mouse campaign spending violation. Do you think Obama was influenced by Edwards runnng against Obama in the 2008 primary? This is the Chicago way.
"W"
Anthony| 6.4.12 @ 10:29AM
Agreed. However, I don' know how "Mickey Mouse" this all is. I did not follow this case closely, and there are five charges the jury could not agree on. Nothing this slime ball did was legal, just my own prejudice.
I keep thinking about poor Scooter Libby.
I put nothing past all these corrupt bastards. However, in nature snakes do eat other snakes.
JimP| 6.4.12 @ 10:08AM
Ah yes, "wealthy upper-class whites" and their guilt(s). Where might we all be without them?! These elites, of both parties, and their affected sense of noblesse oblige. I think it's fine that they want to do noble good deeds. Bully for them. The catch is that they want the rest of us to fulfill the oblige (obligation) part of their 'high' minded ideals. While we schmucks are on the hook to pay for their causes, they avoid the costs and maintain their lifestyle: and the causes never end or get resolved. True nobility means sacrificing your own time/resources/money and finding a way to accomplish a noble/worthy cause without burdening those less well off than yourself with the obligation to pay for something they did not directly choose to support- this includes the middle class of a republic.
Tom Kyba| 6.4.12 @ 11:53AM
Nothing and no one is slimier than Edwards. He is the perfect poster child for every negative stereotype ever created to describe lawyers. He is , in other words, a text book liberal.
ObamarStomper| 6.4.12 @ 3:12PM
Edwards got a Liberal packed jury and his acquital was a foregone conclusion. Of course the Justice Department lawyers were strictly Second String as well. Obama did NOT want an Edwards conviction, nor did HOLDER. What a sham!
Dick Nome| 6.4.12 @ 3:43PM
Edwards is and always been White Trash. He is what we used to call N-rich or now Afro-affluent (without being 'racist' as we know what the term is intended to mean). That point being clear, the prosecutor never had a firm case that was clear or worthy. Being a jerk and a slimey sleazeball is not illegal.
Crassus| 6.4.12 @ 9:42PM
I believe the term is now "Hip Hop Rich." We used to call it "Redneck Rich" in my neck of the woods.
marque lunettes de soleil | 6.5.12 @ 5:20AM
The amazing thing is that anyone ever thought he was a political star in the first place. Edwards has one of the most remarkably unimpressive political résumés of any person to become a major political http://www.ceinturesfr.com/cei.....-c-16.html figure in the last few decades. That serious people thought he was ever prime presidential timber is a greater indictment of our political system than any of Edwards's own transgressions.