Edwards: little more than a pretty face

Townhall ^ | July 12, 2004 | Diana West

[MadIvan]

I find myself in a curious emotional state over the announcement of a winner in the John Kerry veepstakes. The hackles on the back of my neck, raised up by the ghastly sound of a hundred news anchors cooing, have long settled since the Democratic presidential nominee announced that John Edwards was his running mate.

My ensuing calm has ended in a surge of confidence that Bush-Cheney will defeat Kerry-Edwards come November. Why, then, am I so darn mad?

First, more on the hackles. They are simply natural reactions to the Voice of the Democratic National Committee -- a.k.a., each and every news network (sans Fox) -- as it cranks up the big build-up on the Kerry-Edwards ticket without mentioning the political bottom line: that John Kerry, the most liberal U.S. Senator last year, picked as his running mate John Edwards, the fourth most liberal U.S. Senator last year.

Such reportorial reticence wasn't evident four years ago when George W. Bush tapped Dick Cheney for the veep spot. As the Media Research Center reminds us, the media hammered home Cheney's conservative voting record from Day One -- with all consternation, and no cream puff. This week, all we get is journo-junk food. NBC's Carl Quintanilla promotes Edwards' "rock star status." ABC's Kate Snow laments that business groups plan to "beat up on" John Edwards' background as a trial lawyer. ABC's Peter Jennings asks Edwards, "What were you like as a kid?" And, "I gather you were a hell of a lawyer."

Such penetrating questions may (or may not) explain why Jennings gets the big bucks, but nothing explains why Edwards is the man to stand that one heartbeat we hear about away from the presidency. And this is the point that dispels all goose bumps: John Edwards may be Peter Jennings' idea of a good lawyer, but a career of arguing cases before North Carolina juries, even augmented by five years in the U.S. Senate, has in no way given John Edwards the foreign policy expertise essential to supporting or possibly assuming the presidency in the middle of this global war on jihadist terrorism. The bankruptcy of Kerry's first presidential judgment is staggering. This, for Bush supporters, should be a relief.

Edwards is a guy, who, according to the Charlotte Observer, only started "subscriptions to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Economist and the New Republic" in 1998 when prepping for his Senate run. Maybe that's why, as Charles Peters reported last year in the Washington Monthly, Senate candidate Edwards didn't know Leah Rabin was Yitzhak Rabin's widow -- or even who Yitzhak Rabin was. The Israeli prime minister who famously shook Yasser Arafat's hand on the White House lawn and signed the Oslo Accords was assassinated in 1995 -- three whole years before the news subscriptions started arriving at the Edwards household.

Edwards has denied the Rabin gaffe, but as frontpagemag.com's Ben Johnson reports, others abound. He writes: "When asked about ... a U.S.-E.U. dispute before the World Trade Organization, Mr. Trade-War replied, 'I'm not sure I even know what you're talking about.'" Or how about Edwards' unforgettable duck when a question about relations with the Islamic world came his way during a Democratic presidential debate? Then running to become commander-in-chief of the war on terror, Edwards put it this way: "I would never claim to be an expert on Islam. I am not." The media were already coming to his rescue. ABC reported at the time that in response to the question on Islam, "Edwards deftly admitted he was no expert ..." (Too bad no network ever reported that Dan Quayle "deftly" failed to spell potato.)</p<

This may be a first, but I can only agree with John Kerry about John Edwards. Or at least with what Kerry said before he changed his mind. "This is not the time for on-the-job training in the White House on national security issues," Kerry said of Edwards earlier this year. And he was right. But, as even the New York Times noted, "While Mr. Kerry insisted he would name a running mate whose qualifications to step in as president during a time of war were unassailable, he chose a 51-year old who has served just five years in the Senate." Guess Kerry changed his mind about that, too. Prizing the pretty hair and toothy smile of the happy class-warrior -- all calculated to give the Kerry campaign stump appeal -- Kerry has chosen a presidential stand-in dangerously deficient in international expertise even as the United States is engaged in a dire international struggle.

And he knows it. Which should make a lot of Americans mad.

[MadIvan]

Agreed. Kerry is simply not serious about the Presidency and governance. But then again, perhaps he's been too absent from the Senate to learn anything about it.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[GeronL]

bump

[The Scourge of Yazid]

90% of votes and the clock's still running.

Session's not over yet.

[beyond the sea]

Ann Coulter on Edwards:

In one of Edwards' silver-tongued arguments to the jury on behalf of a girl born with cerebral palsy, he claimed he was channeling the unborn baby girl, Jennifer Campbell, who was speaking to the jurors through him:

"She said at 3, 'I'm fine.' She said at 4, 'I'm having a little trouble, but I'm doing OK.' Five, she said, 'I'm having problems.' At 5:30, she said, 'I need out.'"

She's saying, "My lawyer needs a new Jaguar ... "

"She speaks to you through me and I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel her. I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you."

Well, tell her to pipe down, would you? I'm trying to hear the evidence in a malpractice lawsuit.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde on the death of Little Nell, one must have a heart of stone to read this without laughing. What is this guy, a tent-show preacher? An off-the-strip Las Vegas lounge psychic couldn't get away with this routine.

Is Edwards able to channel any children right before an abortionist's fork is plunged into their tiny skulls?

John Edwards: The political equivalent of breast implants.

[beyond the sea]

Edwards put it this way: "I would never claim to be an expert on Islam. I am not."

"But I am a channeler......especially for big bucks."

[hang 'em]

Well, I don't guess you have to be smart or moral to get rich.

Just chase some ambulances or rich widows and sooner or later --baada bing bada boom --you've got it made.

Is the sex as good as the money John (s)?

[beyond the sea]

Edwards: little more than a pretty face

Not even (a pretty face). Take away that ice cream man/50's hairstyle and the guy is a 51 year old scheister. His wife is more competent that he is...... but John Kerry doesn't like to grab her a**.

[MEG33]

I thank God for our British allies.

[Watery Tart]

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The Democratic Party, including as it does most of the entertainment media, is great at second guessing a Republican administration. But, being socialist and therefore enamored of the idea of greatness but contemptuous of the discipline of setting priorities and delegating authority, a Democratic administration enters office with fine ability to blame problems on its predecessors but with no ability to actually do the job.

• Thus, the "great" FDR Administration which, having no idea of how to cure the Depression into which Hoover had bungled, spent years trying anything and everything - the single guiding principle being always to blame Herbert Hoover for the situation.
• Thus, the Kennedy/Johnson Administration which ran to the right of Eisenhower on national defense but bungled the Bay of Pigs and foundered entirely in its micromanagement of Viet Nam.
• Thus, the Carter Administration which left the economy in a shambles of Hooveresque proportions and turned Iran from an ally to an adversary.
• Thus, the Clinton Administration with its permanent campaign, its trail of abuses of office, its record of military ineptitude in Mogadishu, and its inability to identify and confront the threat of Al Qaeda.
• And thus, the Kerry/Edwards ticket - with a brief command of a single Navy boat as an entry-level officer as its entire executive resume. That's a description of John Kennedy as well, and Kennedy has a glorious image. But, to coin a phrase, an overage-in-grade senator like John Kerry "is no John Kennedy."

[lainde]

bttt

[no dems]

"She speaks to you through me and I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel her. I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you."

IS THIS A "FOR REAL"? IF SO, THIS ONE THING WOULD SINK THE KERRY/EDWARDS TICKET TO THE BOTTOM OF THE ELECTORAL OCEAN ON NOVEMBER 2. IF THIS IS LEGIT AND NOT A SATIRE, THEN WHERE IS THE MEDIA EXPOSURE OF THIS? SOMEBODY HELP THE BOY OUT HERE. I'M BAFFLED AND CONFUSED.

[Skibane]

Not even (a pretty face). Take away that ice cream man/50's hairstyle and the guy is a 51 year old scheister.

[Carolinamom]

It's real. That little seance got him mega $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

[Jhensy]

[MadIvan]

Ah, but Damien was more clever.

Regards, Ivan

[Happygal]

I can't believe this guy is 51!
That's kinda creepy - he's some sort of man/boy!

Is anyone else thinking botox?

[beyond the sea]

seperated at birth?

[beyond the sea]

IS THIS A "FOR REAL

Of course. Do a search here on FR for an artcle with "junk science" in the title. You'll find it.