« Season’s OverInspecting Lugar »

Elizabeth Edwards for Also-Ran

I’m starting to enjoy Elizabeth Edwards’ stab at shock pol tactics, though I don’t think she’s all the way there yet.  

Gets cancer, says screw it and that family thing, takes the cancer and the kids on the road, stays out there for John, who apparently we need running our country that bad. He’s trying to play both sides saying he’s for civil unions but against gay marriage, and she comes out for gay marriage at San Francisco’s gay parade. It’s meant to be a wink and a nod, I suppose, either that or she’s the trial balloon, but it just makes him look lame. Now she’s duking it out with Ann Coulter, who said the other day if she is going to say anything about John Edwards in future, “I’ll just wish he was killed in a terrorist assassination plot.” She also famously called Elizabeth Edward’s husband a “faggot.” This turned out to be highly divisive language, as of course it was intended to be. John Edwards is, however, indisputably a wienie, and hardly likely to be a terrorism target.  He’d be too valuable to them in the off chance he actually became president. But when’s he just going to get out of the way and let the wife be the failed 2008 candidate? 

Elizabeth calls in on MSNBC, wants Coulter to stop the personal attacks. It’s an OK move.  As I recall, her husband got a lot of headlines and sent out a fundraising letter off that attack.  This one, too. Look for a fundraising letter that cites the mental trauma Elizabeth endured bickering with Coulter shortly.  But I’d like to see her cut loose.  A little more bombastic, self-righteous. Loose the self pity. A little more, I don’t know,  Coulter. Crank it up, Liz, and let’s have a show. 

On that son thing, by the way, Coulter might have more sensitively joked about a bumpersticker that said, “Ask me about the  52-foot-long memorial at the high school, the 10-foot statue and the computer education center in memory of my son.” I’ve always wondered how the poor people with dead kids in Raleigh feel about all of that. Good column about pols exploiting family tragedies she wrote in 2003, by the way, basically how family tragedy is the log cabin into which leftie pols of our day are required to have been born. Nails Edwards:

 At least when Gephardt exploits a family tragedy, he doesn’t expect praise for not exploiting a family tragedy. John Edwards injects his son’s fatal car accident into his campaign by demanding that everyone notice how he refuses to inject his son’s fatal car accident into his campaign.

Jeff at Protein Wisdom:  ”Hey, Evil Wingnuts! Yeah, You. Look Over Here. WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE?”

Jon Swift weighs in with a highly nuanced shotgun blast. Everybody gets some, including me. I think. Be sure to follow Jon’s link to the inspired TBogg, whose idea of commentary is all about nose-picking, who’s effing who, genitals, etc., in the finest liberal tradition of that dead fat guy.    What is it with those people and bodily parts/functions? A tad obsessive. When they aren’t dreaming of other people’s, they’re putting their own on display. (follow links to enjoy Taylor Marsh in various states of undress, also her indignation upon being admired thusly.)

Welcome Salon readers, etal.  If you found this reprehensible, you’ll find plenty to get apoplectic about here.  Meanwhile, some important context on this Edwards-Coulter business here: Hillary for Edwards.

Topics: pols

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:42 pm on Tuesday, June 26, 2007

39 Responses to “Elizabeth Edwards for Also-Ran”

1. saltydog Says:
   June 27th, 2007 at 3:20 am

   At least elections do offer us some comedy relief. As long as we are never again in danger of his being a heartbeat away from the presidency, I find Mr. Edwards quite a study. Others may tsk tsk at his “two Americas” formulation, but I think he exemplifies an America that is very different from that which I claim. To be fair, I’m sure his definition of the division is quite different from mine. Neither do I think my division is peculiar to America; the clueless may be found anywhere on earth.

2. Peanutcat Says:
   June 27th, 2007 at 9:18 am

   Wow, calling you pathetic isn’t doing you justice.

3. El Cid Says:
   June 27th, 2007 at 9:41 am

   Wow, calling you pathetic isn’t doing you justice.

   corndog, did you switch, animals?

4. The Heretik : Sold Out Says:
   June 27th, 2007 at 9:55 am

   [...] The Huffington Post, MSNBC, State of the Day, No More Mister Nice Blog, The American Mind, Jules Crittenden, AMERICAblog, News Bloggers Blog, Election Central, CNN Political Ticker, The Gun Toting [...]

5. El Cid Says:
   June 27th, 2007 at 9:59 am

   Christ Jules. Does the guy in the NORELCO AD, have big balls, or what?

6. Jon Swift Says:
   June 27th, 2007 at 10:08 am

   Elizabeth Edwards Viciously Attacks Ann Coulter

   It’s really sad the way Elizabeth Edwards has debased our political dialogue by confronting pundits with their own words.

7. jay k. Says:
   June 27th, 2007 at 10:32 am

   the only thing better than the edwards/coulter smack-down is o’reilly on faux news calling a 16 year old a pin-head for having the nerve to point out o’really’s hypocrisy.

   http://theobfuscationreport.blogspot.com/2007/06/bill-oreilley-calls-16-year-old-pinhead.html

8. tanstaafl Says:
   June 27th, 2007 at 10:34 am

   Ann Coulter goes deep (whether it’s Jersey Girls or observing how Edwards…” injects his son’s fatal car accident into his campaign by demanding that everyone notice how he refuses to inject his son’s fatal car accident into his campaign.”)

   It’s difficult to see Edwards in the context of anything but a constant performance before a jury.

   Ann merely observes and remarks on ironies that (apparently) escape most peoples’ cognizance. She is not mean spirited, just honest.

9. SFBert Says:
   June 27th, 2007 at 11:14 am

   Honest?
   Ann Coulter?
   Read her books. The (oh so liberal) NY Times says they are very well cited. Read the footnotes. They are all made up.

   Ann plays a major role for the GOP. She says what other Conservatives believe and can’t say (be it racist, misogynist, xenophobic, etc), because if they did they’d be cast from the public square of discussion as the racists, misogynists, xenophobes, etc that they are. Instead they claim to be compassionate conservatives.

   She’s a hack. Confront her, and she says she’s a comedian.

   Honest?
   Who are you? The world’s biggest rube?

10. tanstaafl Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 11:38 am

    Ann’s words and her thinking deserve more than just the same ‘o same ‘o tossing of the racist, misogynist (a girl misogynist ?), xenophobic labels.

    And you have to imagine that her tongue is very frequently in her cheek when she’s jousting with the (so called) politically correct.

    You either get it or you don’t.

11. SFBert Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 12:01 pm

    So if her tongue is in her cheek, what is her value to the discussion?
    When is she bringing value to the discussion, and when is her tongue in her cheek?

    YOU don’t get the point.
    She plays a major role for the GOP, by saying things GOP leaders can’t say (but do think).
    The GOP has been courting the LCD of America for 40 years.
    Coulter helps them do so by saying the most outrageous stuff. That the LCD (you?, I’m just asking) walks away and says, “there’s some truth in what she says”.

    We’ll leave ouit the fact her gender is still “up for debate”, and say yes, a girl can be misogynist. Especially when the “girl” is carrying water for those in power.

    Not to mention she’s as funny as terminal cancer.

12. El Cid Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

    Not to mention she’s as funny as terminal cancer.

    Damn, I told Ann NOT to hang around with that slime bag of bones Bill Maher. She just would not listen, they are best of friends….see what you get, Ann.

13. SFBert Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

    tanstaafl,

    She also says there is no doubt Saddam was plotting with al-quaeda.

    Checkmate!!

14. Don Surber » Blog Archive » Good night, Elizabeth Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

    [...] cohort in the VRWC, Dead Tree Media Division, Jules Crittenden, has a different take. I think he’s in love with [...]

15. El Cid Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 2:13 pm

    Ummmm, that’s al-Qaeda, please…or if you prefer al-Qaida.

16. The_Real_JeffS Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 6:45 pm

    Me, I have to wonder about a wife who campaigns for a husband who has better styled hair than she does.

17. Ann Coulter gets served. « Teahouse of the Furious Buddha Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 7:31 pm

    [...] audience. Say what you will, Ann Coulter has mastered Doublethink. Of course, she does have her defenders, who aren’t smart enough to need Doublethink to get by. Posted by winstondelgado Filed in [...]

18. pswiderski Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

    Mrs. Edwards handled it beautifully. Coulter came off looking like a complete idiot, pathetic, really. All Edwards said, simply, was knock off the nastiness (which, of course, Coulter can’t do because that is the ONLY shtick she has). And Coulter knows it, which is why she says she is being asked not to write books, which Mrs. Edwards never explicitly said. Because without the nastiness, the bile, she is nothing. It was an ambush of the highest order, and Ann had it coming. Why anyone gives that bile-spouting nasty a platform at all is beyond me, but there you go. And she has her defenders, too, including on this board. But hopefully even her defenders would never joke about someone’s dead son. Hopefully. Leave that to Ann. That’s how low she gets.

19. Dave Surls Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 12:44 am

    If you want to attack Edwards, then attack him for the lying hogwash he spews…

    “America’s leadership role in the world has grown out of our compassion and moral strength, as well as our unparalleled economic and military strength. We can be proud of our long history of using our strength to fight for the freedom of others, but our standing in the world has been badly tarnished.”

    Crap. We’re a world power because you liberal Democrats created a gigantic standing military and then used it to fight war after war in Europe and Asia, and then stationed our troops all over the world once you were done using said military to kill millions of our enemies.

    The truth is is that our world leadership grew out of the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after you oh so moral Democrats ruthlessly fired off a couple of atomic bombs killing a 150,000 or so Nip civilians in order to force our enemies to their knees. And, we weren’t fighting for the “freedom of others”, we were fighting because the Nips attacked our imperial possessions in Hawaii, the Philippines, etc.

    Power and the liberal Democrats’ ruthless will to use it is what made us world leaders.

    Morals and compassion had nothing to do with it.

    So, spare me the fairy tales.

20. Dave Surls Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 1:23 am

    “our standing in the world has been badly tarnished.”

    More crap. The only reason our good, true and trusty allies in Europe (as an example) don’t love us anymore is because they don’t need us to protect them from the threat of the Nazis, fascists, or communists.

    And, no amount of sucking up by guys like you is going to change that fact.

21. Dave Surls Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 1:42 am

    “It was an ambush of the highest order…”

    True story.

    Sneak attacks are a liberal Democrat speciality…and they’ll often spring them even as they’re claiming moral superiority, and moaning and bitching about how unfairly they’re being treated.

    As Ms. Edwards just demonstrated.

22. Dave Surls Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 2:29 am

    “Elizabeth calls in on MSNBC, wants Coulter to stop the personal attacks. It’s an OK move.”

    Sure, it’s a great move. Mr. Matthews and Ms. Edwards prepare a little surprise debate (well, surprising for one of the debators, anyway) where Ms. Edwards has had a chance to prepare and think about what she’s going to say, and Ms. Coulter has not, or as one of our fine posters here put it, they sprung an ambush…a sneak attack in the finest liberal Democrat tradition.

    The subject of the debate and the gist of Ms. Edwards’ complaint is that Ms. Coulter isn’t treating Mr. and Ms. Edwards fairly.

    If that doesn’t impress the kind of rubes who vote Democrat, nothing will.

23. tanstaafl Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 10:20 am

    Ann Coulter isn’t (wasn’t) ambushed.

    She’s fully capable of fielding a holier than thou phone call in the presence of a guy (Matthews) who used to be more interesting than he is now.

    The entire point of anything she says to or about John Edwards (even parroting Bill Maher’s rather nasty observation on Dick Cheney) isn’t malicious.

    It is pointing to Edwards’ enormous shallowness and hypocrisy.

    As for Mrs. Edwards, she’d be more credible mending fences with those rather critical neighbors in South Carolina who have property adjacent to the Edwards’ sprawling manse.

    You know, all those unfortunate folks from the second of Two Americas.

24. tanstaafl Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 10:35 am

    The Edwards would do better fielding criticisms from longstanding property owners around their sprawling 10,000+ square foot house in the middle of 100+ acres in South Carolina.

    You know, some folks possibly from “the other” of Two Americas who haven’t exactly taken a shine to their new neighbors.

    At least one of the adjacent property owners (Elizabeth said she wouldn’t want her children in any contact) is selling out.

25. SFBert Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 2:41 pm

    You got it Surls.
    See what happens when the Dems take off the gloves?

    The Republicans wet their pants and whine about ambushes.
    And these are the guys that are going to protect us from terrorists? Ha-F’n-Ha.

    The fact that American citizens believe it is ridiculous. Of course, Americans also believe saddam planned 9/11.

    You want truth?
    How about replacing “In God We Trust” with “Slow on the Uptake” on our money?

    tanstfaal,
    Thanks for making it clear that the rich don’t care about the rights of the poor.
    This is what happened in Massachusetts last week. Despite all the crying about “radical judges” regarding same sex marriage, the truth is we can’t trust the majority to care about the rights of minorities.

    Point taken.

26. SFBert Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 3:06 pm

    Surls,
    Coulter never should have been ambushed on National Television.
    In fact, there is no need to put that evil POS on TV ever.

27. SFBert Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 3:19 pm

    John Edwards himself ought to go slap the living shit out of Coulter and squeeze her Adams apple ’til she tastes cider.

    Then the entire Right-wing (who thinks he’s effeminate) can whine and cry (like Surls did above about the ambush by Mrs. Edwards.

    These people (Right-wingers) are the toughest people in the history of mankind. They’ll show the terrorists who is tough.
    Except when they cry about how mean the big bad Dems are. or about a bad joke John Kerry made.
    Take away the mob and right-wingers run for 5 deferrments so they won’t get beat up by my niece.

28. Bandit Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 3:29 pm

    Ms. Coulter is laughing all the way to bank.

    John Edwards himself ought to go slap the living shit out of Coulter and squeeze her Adams apple ’til she tastes cider.

    He would but he might break a nail

29. SFBert Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

    Bandit,
    There’s lots of money to be made playing up to the least common denominator (A.K.A. Republicans).

    Democrats aren’t as manly as Republicans, anyway.
    Remember when Republicans wet their pants because Kerry made a bad joke last year?
    Thta’s OK. Republicans are going to protect us from terrorists. (LOL)

30. pswiderski Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 3:37 pm

    And Ann’s meltdown today was precious. She dishes out insults to a braod range of people over the years, but the moment she is called on it, BOO HOO, she’s So Sick of It! They’re picking on her! She’s a woman FULL OF IDEAS! And people don’t want to debate her so intelligently posed ideas! That column that said Edwards should have a bumper sticker “Ask me about my dead child” was one of the “best ever written”!!! Good lord, she is so deluded about the value of her thoughts and her own intelligence, it is truly sad.

    She’s actually called on the proverbial carpet by one of her aggrieved parties, and she freaks out. Pathetic. These are your thought leaders? These are good people? Yikes.

31. SFBert Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 4:02 pm

    pswiderski,

    This is who Republicans are.
    Take away their mob and the cry and cry and cry.
    They’re the toughest people in the history of sending others to die in their wars.

32. Bandit Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    They’re the toughest people in the history of sending others to die in their wars.

    I know it’s hard for both your brain cells to handle but in every war of the 20th C it was Dem presidents who engaged the US

    If Edwards is ever elected maybe he can get his wife to fight his battles -

    Please call more people names - it makes your half witted comments much more convincing

33. SFBert Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 5:55 pm

    Bandit,

    So can Dems be the only party we can trust to win a war?

34. tanstaafl Says:
    June 28th, 2007 at 9:54 pm

    “And people don’t want to debate her so intelligently posed ideas!”

    She’s not freaking out or running for cover.

    She’s bored with the dialogue.

    Can’t say as I blame her.

35. OldManTyme Says:
    June 29th, 2007 at 9:49 am

    “So can Dems be the only party we can trust to win a war?”

    Since the 20th century wars that Democrats engaged us in only a 50% success rate, off hand I’d say no.

    By the way, SFBert, you seem to have a thing about pants wetting and crying in the face of confrontation. Tough childhood?

36. tanstaafl Says:
    June 29th, 2007 at 10:32 am

    Some seem to have been conditioned to believe they are owed a free lunch, or something. And that it is the responsibility of “someone out there” to care about and take care of them.

    This is very very far from my construction of “why” we have government.

    “promote the general welfare” to me means stay out of my way. Dependency on big amorphous gov’t being tantamount to death or jail.

    Some current democrats who profess caring and concern are individuals you would never want to have your back, John Kerry, Hillary, Harry Reid, Teddy Kennedy spring most immediately to mind.

    I can’t actually believe the number of years that Ted Kennedy (aka “the swimmer”) has trotted out the poverty shtick. Now John Edwards (”This issue of poverty is the cause of my life”) appears to be trying to own that territory.

    It’s enough to gag a maggot.

    (BTW, I guess that’s North Carolina for the Edwards. And writing SC was incorrect.)

37. Dave Surls Says:
    June 30th, 2007 at 12:37 am

    “Then the entire Right-wing (who thinks he’s effeminate) can whine and cry (like Surls did above about the ambush by Mrs. Edwards.”

    Crying? I’m just pointing out the hypocrisy of the Dems.

38. Dave Surls Says:
    June 30th, 2007 at 12:44 am

    “I know it’s hard for both your brain cells to handle but in every war of the 20th C it was Dem presidents who engaged the US”

    Can you believe these idiots? Over the last 100 years we’ve fought four serious wars, and the Democrats got us into all four (thats 100% for you lefty types), and they drafted, literally millions of guys and FORCED them to fight those wars (at a cost of over American 500,000 dead).

    And these idiots say crap like: “They’re the toughest people in the history of sending others to die in their wars.” about the Republicans!

    It boggles the mind.

39. Jules Crittenden » Hair Mussed Says:
    January 30th, 2008 at 11:00 am

    [...] it’s a speech about the bankruptcy of his progressive ideals? I’ll miss the wife. Meanwhile, preening past the bitter end: Edwards planned to announce his campaign was ending with [...]

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.