Reply #150: I asked specifically because they were in Europe [View All]

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But since you jumped in, why "had you suspected this all along"?

That meme was first pushed by the Jesse Helms machine in NC ten years ago when Edwards beat their incumbent. They didn't stop attacking him after that election, they keep repeating and repeating because the next campaign starts immediately. A longer version of this is "Edwards is nothing more than a smooth-talking pretty-boy trial lawyer who will say and do anything to win frivolous lawsuits against your doctors, making hard-working people like you pay more when you get sick. What a phony!"

Let me translate this into NC politics:
"smooth-talking" trying to take advantage of you, untrustworthy, better educated than you
"pretty-boy" effeminate, weak, maybe gay (note each word alone is a put-down)
"trial lawyer" a group the Repubs attack regularly for causing all types of evil
"frivolous" unjustified, undeserving, something for nothing from those who earned it
"people like you" white

There are related attacks about driving up malpractice insurance causing a doctor shortage (caused more by problems attracting doctors to poor rural counties), Edwards preying on his clients, various racist code words to describe them as almost welfare queens, the nouveau riche Edwardses being bad neighbors, portraying Elizabeth as rude, unfriendly snob, unwilling to even speak to them (even the NYTs failed trying to push this one). BTW did you here about that mansion of theirs?

Now why should you believe him and why do I? First, I share much of the cultural, educational, and moral background and tradition with him, I know various people in NC very familiar with his life and practice, and there is incredible consistency and detail whether debate, speech, position papers, or web site. When he says all troops out of Iraq except 2-3k guarding embassy, then that is it. You have to listen closely and question more closely Obama and Clinton before you can discover that they leave significant numbers of troops and continue combat operations in the name of "anti-terrorism".

John and Elizabeth Edwards are in tradition of alumni of The University of North Carolina, including Frank Porter Graham, Paul Wellstone, Bill Fridya, Terry Sanford. (If you never heard of them, you really should Google them.) We also produce people like my classmate Lewis Black who are even more direct when sharing their opinions.

The motto of the State of NC is "Esse quam videri" (to be, rather than to seem). "Phony" is a terrible slur. Finally, in the offical toast of the State are the following line:

"Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great"

That really is our goal. Would you believe Edwards on education if you knew that the UNC Alumni with the Carolina Covenant makes it possible for students from low income (3 x poverty) will not have any student loans when they graduate?