I can't stand John Edwards. I never could stand John Edwards, but

[cali]

this articles left me gobsmacked. The bias is so over the top it reads like parody.

John Edwards appears confident as defense rests in his trial
John Edwards, a fallen legal and political star, appears unbowed in court as a lurid tale plays out in his campaign finance fraud trial.


May 16, 2012, 6:34 p.m.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — His political career is wrecked, his reputation is destroyed. He poisoned his marriage, and his martyred wife died knowing he cheated on her and lied about it to the world.

And yet Johnny Reid Edwards has behaved as if he owns the courtroom where the Justice Department has been prosecuting him the last three weeks. He strides into court, his face tanned, his hair perfectly in place, his suit crisp. He grabs his counsel's arm and orders him to object to a prosecutor's question. He whispers to his lawyers, writes furiously on a legal pad and studies the jurors who hold his fate.

Edwards, a honey-voiced North Carolina lawyer who made his fortune persuading juries to award huge sums to injured clients, is accustomed to winning in courtrooms. And on Wednesday, as his lawyers rested their case after calling just seven of the 65 people on their witness list, he projected confidence that he will once again prevail.

His legal team is betting that, although evidence portrayed Edwards as a cad, prosecutors didn't prove that he broke federal campaign finance laws in an attempt to cover up an affair.

<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-john-edwards-20120517,0,1119975.story

[gratuitous]

1. Still waiting for coverage of John Ensign

Let's see, Senator banging aide's wife, aide sent off with big bucks from Mom and Dad, Senator resigns in disgrace, questions about inappropriate spending of campaign and office funds, and nary a peep from the popular media. Gee, what could possibly explain the difference???

[Blue_Tires]

3. Like I said before, I just want someone to jam a microscope into Palin's finances after this is over

[Nye Bevan]

6. 1. Ensign's wife was not dying of cancer.

2. Ensign was not a Presidential candidate.

[malaise]

15. That's coming sooner than we think

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002696666

[Blue_Tires]

2. The media just love it because of the tawdry angle

If JE was on trial for using campaign funds to buy a yacht or finance some side business, very few would care...

[karynnj]

11. I would - it violates the very purpose of CFR

The media - it may be both the tawdry, but also - for much of the media - it could also be a sense of personal betrayal because so many of them, even if they were for others, were very invested in the stories they wrote of the Edwards as the perfect couple - and Edwards as a golden boy with all Clinton's savy and without the bimbo erruptions. They were wrong on both counts and may be unhappy that they were taken in completely.

[deadinsider]

4. I actually really liked Edwards; woulda voted for him over Obama

Now, not so much.

My big thing in life is loyalty. I really, really believe that (maybe that's why I'm a commie).

Anyway, he succumbed to the big money with a big head.

Very, very disappointed in him. All the good rhetoric. Freaking liar...

You don't do that to a dedicated partner.... end of story.

[MatthewStLouis]

9. I liked him too. My wife never did. She realized he was a little too polished and slick...

My problem was, I listened to what he said on the campaign trail: a real populist message aimed at the middle class.

I also agree with you about loyalty. That's one of the biggest issues in our country. Plenty of loyalty to the top. No loyalty back down the ladder. People in business always talk about how important loyalty is, yet when things get hard, or Bain Capital gets hold of your company, they give you the pink slip.

[deadinsider]

12. Loyalty: Number One commandment comrade!

That's the thing, yeah?

This country is all f'ed up because everyone is out for themselves due to this neo-liberal economic BS!!!

The tea-baggers are right in one thing: something is wrong with the country that I thought I was in... but they are swayed by this "well, if it's not past my nose, I don't see it" crap. I discussed things with a lot of tea partiers, and every time I get them to see things my way; I'm a freaking pinko commie for poop's sake!!! It comes down to informing them respectfully without sounding like an arrogant prick.

Recently I was talking to one that brought up the Mexican immigration problem. Well, I said: "We gonna build a fence or whatya think?" He was like "yead, that's what we need." But then I said: "Well, that stinks cause you're all against the Federal Gvt so I guess the stare your in could build one but the state next door may decide not to (maybe they don't hae the money; you those deficits are important right?) and then those dang Mexicans will just come through there. No answer. Buncha thinking going on... like maybe the Federal Gvt is needed (duh).

And another demographic (like they're different) is the Ron Paul supporters. Talk to them. They make more sense than the T-baggers, but still you get that cognitive dissonance going on. "I'm voting Ron Paul. He's agains big government!" They have this insane logic that free enterprise (laissez faire capitalism) equals freedom for the everyone (yet that, to them, does not equate to the laborers for some mysterious reason). Then you ask them: "So what do you think of Wall Street, or the Federal Reserve (fave one here cause it 'private'). "Screw the Fed, we need to go to the gold standard. End the FED!!!" Yo, fun guy, the Fed is PRIVATE! They'll bitch about coorporations and then bitch about 'over-regulation' in the same sentence. That's where I'm just lost. Another thing: these f'ers rail against 'socialism' and 'communism' (though I bet, when asked, they couldn't explain the difference to me) but have no idea that there conception of 'small government' is very relative to classical 'anarchy' and 'communisim'.

Anyway, I typed enough... hope there's not too many spelling or grammatical erros.s...

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. "His political career is wrecked, his reputation is destroyed."

Well that was the goal after all, so mission accomplished.


Good job MSM

[Fawke Em]

8. Um... did the media make him cheat on his dying wife?

Did the media make him take this money to cover up his affair?

I realize the M$M is full of shit, but, in this instance, they're simply reporting act he did to himself.

[cali]

13. the sociopathic little fuck did it to himself.

of all the obvious things about this, that is the most obvious.

Unless you actually think someone brainwashed him into being overweeningly ambitious.

[TomClash]

7. The morale of the story is . . .

. . . never utter the word that must never be mentioned.

[karynnj]

10. Wow - quite agree

Far from looking cocky and confident, Edwards looks pale, worried, and at least a decade older than he looked in 2008 in all the clips on the news walking into court.

Like you, I had no use for Edwards, was not happy that Kerry, who I deeply admire bowed to the powers in the party and media in picking Edwards. His complete uselessness on the campaign and later learning just how "rogue" he was on the campaign, made me rule him out with no further thought in 2008. The fact that the gentlemanly Kerry, when asked about the 2008 candidates throughout 2007 praised all of them - except Edwards and Richardson - of whom he pointedly said absolutely nothing.

Still, it really seems that the possible sentences if found guilty seem out of proportion with what he did. It is also weird given that since then Citizens United has essentially blown CFR away. But, at the time he did this, McCain/Feingold was the law. If you take Edwards' logic and expand it, ANYONE can give gifts - of any magnitude - to the candidate and pay gift tax on it. Then the candidate could self finance as much as he wants. If M/F was still in place, this precedent drives a truck through any constraint on major donations. (Not to mention, the reason for CFR was so elected officials could not be bought or sell access. This absolutely violates the spirit of the law.)

[Bake]

14. Of course Edwards is confident in the courtroom.

That's HIS arena! If he weren't confident, I'd be worried about him.

Plus, the prosecution's case was weak. I predict a Not Guilty verdict.

Bake