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TODAYS MUST NOT READ. South Carolina's The State today published what has to be he single worst piece of political coverage I've ever read. Really. It's that bad. It's the most ineffective hit piece I've ever seen. Basically, the author, editorial page editor Brad Warthen, doesn't like John Edwards -- for no particular reason. So he lists three utterly trivial incidents as "evidence" that Edwards is "phony." See if you can grasp this logic, because I sure can't:
It's not so much that he's lying when he says he wants to help One America -- the Deserving Poor, whom he wants to vote for him -- get what it has coming to it from the Other America (that of the Really Rich, to which he disarmingly admits he belongs). I think he believes it. But I don't.
Whaaa? What does that even mean? Edwards believes he wants to help poor people, but somehow doesn't? Does Warthen think he'll intend to promote legislation for the poor and then actually cut taxes on the rich while sleepwalking? Warthen's evidence is equally bafflingly:
- Edwards was unenthusiastic at a speech until he went on stage, at which point he started smiling and behaving animatedly
- Edwards was not friendly towards people in the office of the newspaper besides the editorial board
- Edwards went jogging after the start of an event he was supposed to headline, resulting in a significant delay
Really. That's it. That's the evidence that "reinforced with steel girders" his belief that Edwards is a "phony." I've been told that the media doesn't like Edwards but this is just ridiculous. Warthen looks like an idiot and it's hard to see how anyone is going to take his editorial page very seriously after this.
--Sam Boyd
