The Two John Edwards

How the '08 hopeful's PlayStation misstep undermines his "Two Americas" meme.

Jeff Taylor | November 17, 2006

p class="MsoNormal">Everyone loves a good hypocrite; they make us feel superior just for being consistent, if not competent. Accordingly the Internets are getting a good snort out of Wal-Mart basher John Edwards getting caught looking for Wal-Mart to hook him up with a Playstation 3. o:p> /o:p> /p> p class="MsoNormal">Edwards explains that an overzealous campaign staffer – is there ever any other kind? – took his family's longings for a Playstation 3 a little too seriously. A call was placed to Wal-Mart to see if the Edwards clan could somehow jump to the front of the line for season's hottest gotta' have gift. Aside from the staffer's positively insane decision to reach out to a Raleigh Wal-Mart given all of Edwards' repeated slams of the company, nothing too surprising here. Just garden variety American ruling class behavior. o:p> /o:p> /p> p class="MsoNormal"> o:p> /o:p>But Wal-Mart took that request and did something very unusual – it went on the offensive, issuing a mocking