That Not So Wacky, Wacky Krauthammer Posted by Michael Cohen

Today Charles Krauthammer wrote a piece slamming the demagogic and dishonest campaign of John Edwards and quite uncomfortably I find myself agreeing with virtually every word of it.

Today he plays the avenging angel, engaged in an "epic struggle" against the great economic malefactors that "have literally," he assures us, "taken over the government." He is angry, embodying the familiar zeal of the convert, ready to immolate anyone who benightedly holds to any revelation other than the zealot's very latest.

Nothing new about a convert. Nothing new about a zealous convert. What is different about Edwards is his endlessly repeated claim that the raging populist of today is what he has always been. That this has been the "cause of my life," the very core of his being, ingrained in him on his father's knee or at the mill or wherever, depending on the anecdote he's telling. You must understand: This is not politics for him. "This fight is deeply personal to me. I've been engaged in it my whole life."

Except for his years as senator, the only public office he's ever held. The audacity of the all-my-life trope is staggering. By his own endlessly self-confessed record, his current pose is a coat of paint newly acquired. His claim that it is an expression of his inner soul is a farce.

A cynical farce that is particularly galling to authentic and principled left-liberals. "The one [presidential candidate] that is the most problematic is Edwards," Sen. Russ Feingold told the Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wis., "who voted for the Patriot Act, campaigns against it. Voted for No Child Left Behind, campaigns against it. Voted for the China trade deal, campaigns against it. Voted for the Iraq war. . . . He uses my voting record exactly as his platform, even though he had the opposite voting record."

Yeah, I don't have a real problem with anything Krauthammer has written here, which I have to admit gives me a sort of queasy feeling.

Just to reassure my loyal Wacky, Wacky Krauthammer readers, I'm not going soft on the man. I still think he is a fundamentally dishonest polemicist, but I suppose today's op-ed proves the old adage that on some days, the sun shines on a dog's ass.

Enjoy the rays Chuck!

Comments

[Mike M.]

Okay, fine... he's a convert. At least he realizes that his votes on the Patriot Act and the like were wrong and he won't repeat his mistakes. Is your problem that you don't think people can change or that you really liked the old Edwards better?

[Gregor]

It is amazing that Krauthammer can get one right.

Edwards did well as a lawyer fighting on behalf of his clients, but his record in the only political office he held shows little evidence of this fight. So did he put his life-long struggle on hold in order to stay electable and run for President, or is his current rhetoric part of a role he's now playing to become President?

If a person wants a position of power, speeches are one way to measure how they will use it, but previous actions in a position of power provide better measure.

[WJW]

You guys crack me up...as if Clinton or Obama's record / length of service / flip-flopping is any better than Edwards'. Please.

[Michael Cohen]

Mike, its that I think the "new" Edwards is a huge phony.

[Mike M.]

I guess that reasonable, Michael. But I wonder how it is that a politician can ever change. My read on Edwards was that after the 2004 campaign he studied poverty, learned a few things and became energized and maybe a bit radicalized. As you say, his claim that this is "lifelong" might be reason enough to be suspicious. But I do want to believe that people can learn. Ah well, maybe I fell for a ploy on this one. Have a great weekend.

[Rodger]

Edwards, I think, is referencing his own personal class warfare. He sees himself as a little guy who fought his entire life against much larger forces. It's a populist bio and message, which certainly has more than a grain of truth. I don't see a phony.

Edwards went to college, unremarkable by itself, but he was the first person in his family to do so. Then, to top that, he went to law school. Soon, he became a plaintiff's attorney and started winning very large suits against corporate giants. He became one of the very best plaintiff's lawyers in his region -- and perhaps the US.

Like most one-term Senators, his accomplishments in that body were limited. He did sponsor legislation that was consistent with his personal history of fighting larger forces: the first anti-spyware legislation, an end to mandatory minimum sentences, and expansion of legal immigration.

If he's a phony merely because he's rich and for the little guy, then FDR was perhaps the biggest phony in the history of American politics.

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Edwards, I think, is referencing his own personal class warfare. He sees himself as a little guy who fought his entire life against much larger forces. It's a populist bio and message, which certainly has more than a grain of truth. I don't see a phony.
Edwards went to college, unremarkable by itself, but he was the first person in his family to do so.

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