Hitjob Alert: AP is asking if Edwards is real or phoney?

[illinoisprogressive]

Simply put, I am appalled. While the media fawns over one of our candidates as perfect they are doing their best to ignore or torpedo other candidates.
The AP, can you believe it? has a column by a well known print journalist, Ron For asking if Edwards is real or phoney.
I thought of just putting the link on but, I will give you a taste and you can decide.
Yes, I am an Obama supporter but, those who know me, know I really like Edwards and have him as my second choice for president and have championed him here.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070919/D8ROCOC80.html

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) - John Edwards' presidential campaign is not so much about the "two Americas" as it is about the two John Edwardses.

One image of Edwards is that he's a champion of the embattled middle class and poor, an up-from-his-bootstraps populist waging war against special interests who favor the rich and established.

The other take: He's a phony.

Which is it? Is the Democratic presidential candidate a man of the people, as he says, or the fake his rivals call him?

It may be that Edwards is not quite either caricature - that the answer, like much in politics, is less black and white than gray, and discerning voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will give Edwards his ultimate gut check.

"It's just politics," Edwards said of the questions about his sincerity. "I know who I am. I know I haven't changed at all. I'm the same person I've always been."

His rivals are working behind the scenes to exploit the "three Hs" - haircut, house and hedge fund. Edwards' $1,250 haircuts, his new 28,000-square-foot estate in North Carolina and his consulting work with a hedge fund that caters to the super rich undercut his everyman image.

Some who call Edwards a hypocrite assume that a multimillionaire trial lawyer can't be an authentic advocate for the poor and working people. That's nonsense. You don't need to be blind to help those who can't see or crippled to aid those who can't walk, and wealthy families like the Roosevelts and Kennedys had no problem connecting with working-class voters.

But those fabled Democrats never made lame excuses for making money, as Edwards seemed to do when he claimed to take the lucrative hedge fund job because he wanted to learn more about financial markets.

The political opportunism of the Kennedys and Roosevelts - as brazen as it was - seems in the rosy glow of hindsight to be less of an issue than it is with Edwards.

[SteppingRazor]

1. I dont see this as a hit piece.

:shrug:

There's not a single untrue statement in the story, which spends just as much time painting Edwards' detractors as purveyors of "nonsense" than it does attacking Edwards. Overall, it's a pretty fair piece.

[tired_old_fireman]

2. Now the haircuts are $1,250?

I thought they were $400.

This article is a giant "some people say" article. It's not journalism.

[Adelante]

3. The $1250 figure came out later from the hair cutter

It included airfare from west to east coasts, I believe.

[abq e streeter]

5. He's so vain,

he probably thinks this post is about him...........I'm actually an Edwards supporter, just couldn't resist this one.

[laureloak]

4. Edwards' business success just adds to his appeal.

BTW, this article just makes the writer look stupid.

[Apollo11]

6. The right-wing are scared of Edwards

I don't know anything about his consulting work.

I don't like the idea of living in a big house with no trees nearby.

On the other hand, I like John Edwards positions on the issues.

And his strong 30-year marriage also counts in his favor.

[Mass]

7. Unfortunately, it does not surprise me and should surprise nobody.

The media do the hit job for the right and nobody protests. Generally, people react when it is their guy who is attacked.

Kudos for you for this thread!