However Bad Things Get, They Could Always Have Been Worse If John Edwards Had Become President

Nick Gillespie | June 17, 2009

The Wash Post has a piece about former senator and presidential candidate John Edwards (D-N.C.) in which the philandering Tarheel convicts himself of being a massive jerk simply by opening his mouth:

"The two things I'm on the planet for now are to take care of the people I love and to take care of people who cannot take care of themselves"...

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, residents who had been foreclosed on after Hurricane Katrina by subprime lenders owned by Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund that Edwards worked for and invested with, have not received the special assistance that Edwards promised after their troubles were reported by The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal in 2007....

Among the homeowners were Ernest and Ollie Grant, whose storm-damaged house faced foreclosure by Fortress-owned Nationstar Mortgage, on an adjustable rate loan that shot to $1,200 per month. The Grants say that after months of waiting for Acorn to call them, they reached out on their own and found a helpful employee, "Miss Kristi," who got their monthly payment down to $649.

But six months ago, Nationstar started sending letters saying the payment was going back up above $900. The Grants called Acorn back, but Miss Kristi was gone, and others there provided no help. With their home finally fixed up, they are again worried about losing it. They bristle at Edwards' name....

In 2007, Edwards said he had gone to work at Fortress because his family needed the income, despite holdings then estimated at $30 million. But in the interview, he said he was no longer fixated on finding lucrative work. "When I'm on my deathbed, I don't think I'll be thinking, did I work enough or earn enough money," he said. He plans to return to El Salvador next month. "Whether I'm digging a ditch or hammering a nail, I don't have any pride in this anymore, I just want to help," he said. "If I can help the most by working quietly, that's what I'll do. If as time goes by I can be more helpful with a public role, that's what I will do. "

More, if ya can stand it, here.

Bonus video: Edwards speaking about the forgotten man in front of a Christmas tree, circa December 2007.

Comments

creech|6.17.09 @ 4:19PM|#

Another do-gooder who wants to feel good by going to El Salvador and digging a ditch "to help." Why not take the money it will cost you to go to El Salvador and donate it to some organization that will hire an unemployed Salvadorian to dig the ditch? For what it costs some high school kid to travel to Costa Rica or somewhere to spend a week "helping the poor natives put a roof on their clinic" so it looks good on his or her college application, you could hire a carpenter for a year who will actually develop (if he or she doesn't already have them) skills that can be useful for life.

24AheadDotCom|6.17.09 @ 4:28PM|#

i have to give Reason crdit for something: in one of my first of many anti-Edwards posts, back in 2004, I h/t'ed Reason.

However - of course - unlike me, Reason had no clue about how to discredit him. The way to do that - absent the NationalInquirer - was to point out his lack of concern for American workers.

|6.17.09 @ 4:34PM|#

Slow news day, Nick?

Edwards is history. No need to give him any more coverage.

-jcr

|6.17.09 @ 4:36PM|#

The two things I'm on the planet for now are to take care of the people I love

Anyone care to guess who is at the very tippy-top of that list?

Interesting little tid-bit in the post about the uselessness of ACORN, no?

|6.17.09 @ 4:37PM|#

This is an interesting what-if article, even if I personally disagree with it. Here's another good article from the Stimulist, comparing Rush Limbaugh to a previous spokesperson for the Republican party, Father Charles Coughlin. If you think Limbaugh isn't going too far with his speeches against the current administration, you need to read this:

http://thestimulist.com/blowhard-2-blow-harder/

|6.17.09 @ 4:39PM|#

If Edwards had won the election, the pinkos wouldn't be able to tag anyone who opposed him as a racist.

-jcr

|6.17.09 @ 4:44PM|#

If Obama had a southern accent he would sound quite a bit like Edwards.

Ben Kenobi|6.17.09 @ 4:45PM|#

What a self righteous jackass.

|6.17.09 @ 4:49PM|#

Video from December 2007? Let's see, that would be while he was orchestrating the massive and expensive cover up to hide the mistress he knocked up.

He says "take care of the people I love" and exactly who would those people be? First and foremost it would be John Edwards. Then maybe Hunter and their daughter. Obviously not Elizabeth, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack Edwards!

The Angry Optimist|6.17.09 @ 4:50PM|#

Argumentative Liberal -

That link is vacuous and worthless. What did you find so compelling in there?

alan|6.17.09 @ 4:53PM|#

This is an interesting what-if article, even if I personally disagree with it. Here's another good article from the Stimulist, comparing Rush Limbaugh to a previous spokesperson for the Republican party, Father Charles Coughlin.

Fucking liar, from the entry for Coughlin on Wikipedia:


In January 1934, Coughlin testified before Congress in support of FDR's policies, saying, "If Congress fails to back up the President in his monetary program, I predict a revolution in this country which will make the French Revolution look silly!" He further stated to the Congressional hearing, "God is directing President Roosevelt." [5]

Coughlin's support for Roosevelt and his New Deal faded later in 1934, when he founded the National Union for Social Justice (NUSJ), a nationalistic worker's rights organization which grew impatient with what it viewed as the President's unconstitutional and pseudo-capitalistic monetary policies.

|6.17.09 @ 4:55PM|#

nationalistic worker's rights organization

That has an ominous ring.

|6.17.09 @ 4:57PM|#

There are two Americas. And both despise John Edwards.

alan|6.17.09 @ 5:00PM|#

More on Coughlin:

Among the articles of the NUSJ, were work and income guarantees, nationalizing "necessary" industry, wealth redistribution through taxation of the wealthy, federal protection of worker's unions, and decreasing property rights in favor of the government controlling the country's assets for "public good." [8] Illustrative of his disdain for capitalism is his statement that, "We maintain the principle that there can be no lasting prosperity if free competition exists in industry. Therefore, it is the business of government not only to legislate for a minimum annual wage and maximum working schedule to be observed by industry, but also to curtail individualism that, if necessary, factories shall be licensed and their output shall be limited." [9]

Sounds like almost every liberal I have ever known.

mark|6.17.09 @ 5:03PM|#

The funny thing is that there really are two Americas. The ones who 'work hard and play by the rules' and the ones who are screwing them over.

Federal Dog|6.17.09 @ 5:03PM|#

I still do not see how things could have been worse had Edwards been put in office. Obama makes Edwards look like a genius of sterling character.

alan|6.17.09 @ 5:04PM|#

There are two Americas. And both despise John Edwards.

Good one.

|6.17.09 @ 5:06PM|#

Oh what the hell, no place to put this in H&R today so I'll drop it here.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's wife is going down on a felony charge soon.

alan|6.17.09 @ 5:17PM|#

By the way, as if I even have to state this, I didn't vote for the Edwards. My hippie mum did, though. She thinks he is pretty.

|6.17.09 @ 5:20PM|#

The ones who 'work hard and play by the rules' and the ones who are screwing them over work for the government.

C'mon, mark. Say it plain.

|6.17.09 @ 5:33PM|#

You know the score, pal. You're not cop, you're little people!

Gimlet|6.17.09 @ 5:40PM|#

"Edwards is history. No need to give him any more coverage."

It's because we don't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore.

Peter|6.17.09 @ 5:56PM|#

The funny thing is that there really are two Americas. The ones who 'work hard and play by the rules' and the ones who are screwing them over.

But who is screwing who? The laborers who work as little as they can for their pay or the executives who take as much pay as they can for their work?

Or the government as R C Dean said, just screwing over everyone.

|6.17.09 @ 6:12PM|#

There are the screwed and the screwers.

Oddly enough, Penn Jillette just told a joke about this phenomenon on Penn Says: "Statistically, 9 out of 10 people enjoy a gangbang."

|6.17.09 @ 7:00PM|#

My God, if there were an Iraq angle, the couple in the story would have every buzz topic of the 2008 election covered:

hedge funds
foreclosure
adjustable rate morgage
ACORN
Hurricane Katrina
gay marriage (Ernest and Ollie?)

They're like Zelig.

|6.17.09 @ 7:26PM|#

an adjustable rate loan that shot to $1,200 per month.

Cry me a river. I pay $1300/mo RENT on a STUDIO APT.

Yes, that was after much hunting.

I don't want to hear it.

Mike Laursen|6.18.09 @ 1:43AM|#

In 2007, Edwards said he had gone to work at Fortress because his family needed the income, despite holdings then estimated at $30 million.

Hey, the guy has a lot of hair care expenses, alright?

Abdul|6.18.09 @ 7:17AM|#

plans to return to El Salvador next month. "Whether I'm digging a ditch or hammering a nail, I don't have any pride in this anymore, I just want to help,"

I had no idea our economy was so fucked up! A couple years ago, we were importing El Salvadorans to dig our ditches and do light carpentry, and now our nation's trial attorneys have to take unpaid internships in El Salvador!

Obama, won't you please bail out John edwards?

|6.18.09 @ 7:49AM|#

Not to pile on, but I was always amazed at how John Edwards seemed (to me) disingenuous even for a politician/trial lawyer. Lionel Hutz, that's what he reminds me of.

mark|6.18.09 @ 1:04PM|#

The laborers who work as little as they can for their pay or the executives who take as much pay as they can for their work?

Well when either group uses force to accomplish those goals...