John Edwards Drops Out
[Guest post by DRJ]
John Edwards ended his bid for the White House today, leaving Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to contend for the Democratic nomination:
“He made the announcement with his wife and three children at his side. Then he was expected to work with Habitat for Humanity at the volunteer-fueled rebuilding project Musicians’ Village, an adviser said. With that, Edwards’ campaign will end the way it began 13 months ago — with the candidate pitching in to rebuild lives in a city still ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Edwards embraced New Orleans as a glaring symbol of what he described as a Washington that didn’t hear the cries of the downtrodden.
Edwards realized he had “no real path to the nomination and it was time to step aside,” spokesman Mark Kornblau said, adding that the decision was made within the last 48 hours.
He will not “endorse anyone at the moment,” aides told FOX News.”
— DRJ
Quitter.
daleyrocks (906622) — 1/30/2008 @ 12:07 pmFixed it.
Cicero (8db983) — 1/30/2008 @ 12:08 pmI would be curious to know if he was bought off or pushed out by the DNC, Hill/Bill, or Barry Obama.
JD (75f5c3) — 1/30/2008 @ 12:14 pmWhat happened to his love child?
mantis (2a8465) — 1/30/2008 @ 12:22 pmI suspect he had fulfilled his role of splitting the anti-Hillary vote and will be rewarded with a VP nomination if she wins and cannot bridge the gap Bill has opened with Obama. Otherwise, he gets AG in Clinton #3.
Mike K (6d4fc3) — 1/30/2008 @ 12:38 pmI am almost in tears to know that the only candidate I could vote for has had to withdraw. Corporate American and the media did a good hatchet job on him. While they were giving both Hillary and Barack free air time, John Edwards had to be satisfied with an occassional sound bite. How on earth could the citizens of this nation get to know the type of man he is if he is not given the opportunity to let them know.
Sammye Heald (7e8eba) — 1/30/2008 @ 12:50 pmIt is a crying shame and everyone will feel the loss.
Our only hope is that he will be the vice presidental nominee no matter who heads the ticket.
Edwards….Edwards….Edwards….I’m sorry that’s just not ringing any bells….Oh, You mean the guy that paid $400 dollars for a hair cut, but is “in it” for the poor? Ohh that guy, now I remem…. No not really…
Keith (0f08fa) — 1/30/2008 @ 12:57 pm*tear*
In other news…..
What happened to his love child?
Any day now.
tired (6ae407) — 1/30/2008 @ 1:17 pm#5: why would he get the VP slot when he was so ineffectual at pulling in votes in 2004 and even more so in 2008?
#6: you have it exactly backwards, the more I knew of him, the less I liked him, and I suspect the same held true for millions of others. Heck, what’s not to like about him, a science-distorting plaintiff’s attorney, fake populist, hedge fund profiteering (not that there’s anything wrong with hedge fund profiteer) phony, who used his wife’s illness to garner sympathy?
stevesturm (8caabf) — 1/30/2008 @ 1:28 pmIt was always troubling to me that a man whose wife is terminally ill believed the country just couldn’t do without him – but his wife apparently could. The POTUS job is not a typical 8-5er, weekends off, don’t bring your work home, gig.
His decision appeared selfish and self-serving while ringing with false humility and earnestness.
Nobody is that indespensable. But now he can be where he is definitely needed the most.
Dana (b4a26c) — 1/30/2008 @ 1:30 pmEdwards embraced New Orleans as a glaring symbol of what he described as a Washington that didn’t hear the cries of the downtrodden.
I live in Metro New Orleans (full disclosure: My home was not damaged, and my insurance reimbursed me $1400 for total damages from the storm) but I’m wondering if $54 BILLION represents a Washington that “didn’t hear the cries of the downtrodden.”
reff (99666d) — 1/30/2008 @ 2:11 pmConsidering the Vietnamese community in NOLA is at almost 100% with very little funding from the govt, I can only wonder if NOLA still lags behind because the people being handed money are just too damned lazy to do the work…
Scott Jacobs (a1de9d) — 1/30/2008 @ 2:48 pmJD, Hillary should have wanted Edwards staying in the race, he was no threat to her but he did split the anti-Hillary votes between him and Obama. This will, I predict, increase Obama’s chances at the nomination.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/30/2008 @ 2:48 pmSo much for Huey Long Lite. Hopefully, William Jennings Bryan Lite (Huckabee) will join him in political oblivion soon.
M. Scott Eiland (b66190) — 1/30/2008 @ 3:33 pmThis had to be a parody. It just had to be.
JD (fc7319) — 1/30/2008 @ 3:38 pmEdwards did not abandon his wife. She wanted him to run. She’s a human being with her own ideas, including the desire to see her husband win, and possibly wanting to be part of the election herself. I strongly doubt that John Edwards pressured his wife into supporting his run.
Daryl Herbert (4ecd4c) — 1/30/2008 @ 3:40 pmThis had to be a parody. It just had to be.
Unfortunately, JD, it probably isn’t. I am astounded at the number of people I hear that truly believe that John Edwards is some sort of combination of Jesus chasing the money changers from the temple, St. Francis meeting with the Sultan to convince him that the Christian and Muslim gods are one and the same, and Ralph Nader fighting the corporations on behalf of the little guy. Of course, so many of us see him as just a slick ambulance chaser with a big pile of hair who doesn’t believe a word of his own patter but dutifully reads it because he figures the ignorant boobs will fall for it. How I wish that H.L. Mencken could come back for one day just to write about John Edwards.
Seriously, can you imagine any right-winger being “almost in tears” just because our candidate was forced to drop out? It seems the left mostly wants a Savior while the right just wants someone to sign the paperwork, fight the enemy, and keep Congress from running amuck.
JVW (0f8b01) — 1/30/2008 @ 4:39 pmThe decision was taken within the last 48 hours, huh? Gretchen, one of my commenters, noted:
You’ve just gotta love a candidate who knows that he’s going to withdraw going ahead to collect just a little more dough!
Dana (c36902) — 1/30/2008 @ 5:27 pmWhat does it take for the American people to see John Edwards as the over-energy consuming ambulance chaser that he is?
If he wants to find the real villains of the New Orleans/Katrina disaster, all he has to do is look at the grim reapers of his own party — New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and the now ex Louisiana governor Blanco. Add to that the corrupt Louisiana Lt. Governor Landrieu and the equally corrupt Louisiana senator Landrieu and we have a real house of villans. Don’t count on the mainstream media to figure out this fundamental truth any time soon!!
Mescalero (c44510) — 1/30/2008 @ 9:08 pm“I can only wonder if NOLA still lags behind because the people being handed money are just too damned lazy to do the work…”
– Scott Jacobs
You could also wonder whether or not “the people being handed money” are actually being handed money.
You could also wonder whether the fact that 2.8% of New Orleans’ population is of any sort of Asian ancestry has any effect on the significance of your little anecdote.
Don’t beat around the bush, Scott; say what you mean.
Yikes.
Leviticus (68e8c2) — 1/31/2008 @ 9:44 am