WHAT EDWARDS SHOULD HAVE SAID: I agree with Ezra that Edwards could have responded more aggressively to Giuliani's comments. But rather than personalizing it as Ezra suggests ("we're not going to take counsel on health care and poverty from someone who hasn't even seen fit to include them on his issues page?") I'd make a larger critique. If you go after Giuliani for not having policy specifics it's certainly stronger than some pabulum about "not dividing the country." But the campaign just started. When Giuliani does come out with specifics that critique is going to lose all its reasonance. Instead, Edwards--and all Democrats--should go after any Republican with a larger critique of their party's record. In other words, if I were an Edwards flack I would have said, "we're not going to take counsel on health care and poverty from someone whose party has presided over an increase in the number of Americans living in poverty and without health insurance." --Ben Adler
