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Washington Post: No More Mr. Nice Guy (12/11/07) by Dana Milbank
A nasty little piece on John Edwards points out that the candidate's speeches are short on policy details (as opposed to, say, the imaginary candidate who goes through a detailed PowerPoint presentation on healthcare?). He writes that when Edwards "thumps the lectern and speaks of the need to 'end this war' in Iraq, he omits the fact that he voted to give President Bush the authority to start the war." Given that Edwards' anti-war rhetoric is almost singularly defined by the fact that he's ashamed that he voted for the war, it's unclear how one could conclude that he's trying to fool anyone. But of course, Milbank saves space for the easiest attack:"What America needs right now is America needs a fighter," says the candidate, who was a trial lawyer and a Democratic senator from North Carolina. "Let me tell you why we need a fighter. There's a wall around Washington, and we need to take that wall down. The American people are on the outside, and on the other side—on the inside—are the powerful, the well-connected and the very wealthy." Sounds like a bit of class warfare—coming from a man with a 28,000-square-foot house, $30 million in assets and a $400 haircut.
Count on a mainstream instrument like Milbank to keep alive the No. 1 cliche of campaign 2008. You can imagine how he would have reported on FDR.
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