John Edwards... the REST of the story

[karynnj]

4. Edwards is not on trial because he was not accepted by the establishment

or because he was unfaithful. He is on trial because Hunter was being hidden in grand style paid for by two supporters of Edwards.

The trial hinges on whether it is acceptable for wealthy people to give large sums of money as gifts to a candidate (or to help him) At the time there was a limit on what you could contribute to a campaign. That Edwards knew this could be seen in the fact that his campaign was among those and the media that loudly argued that even Teresa Heinz Kerry could not give more than the maximum amount to her husband's campaign - and it was pretty clear that that included not giving John several million as a personal gift. Now, that was an extreme - the McCains and Clintons were not treated that way, but it does make clear that the media's and the campaigns' interpretation was that no large gifts were allowed no matter how close the relationship. There was also an issue in NY that Spritzer's father likely gave him much of the money that he used in an early campaign. Bunny was not really a friend of Edwards - just a supporter (or patron) - and she presumably did not even know Hunter and was not a friend of Young.

Allowing unlimited gifts from new BFFs of candidates would completely gut McCain/Feingold, which in 2008 did have real limits. (One odd thing in having the trial now is that Citizens United changed a lot of that.) You might notice that some voices saying that there was no crime are from the right - National Review had an opinion piece. Their motivation is that they have been against limits on financing campaigns from the beginning. But the fact remains that there were campaign finance laws on the books in 2008.

Now, as to John Edwards not being accepted by the party. In 2004, Edwards was a party and media favorite. There was intense pressure on Kerry to pick him for VP - both Kennedy and Clinton were supposed to have weighted in. The media was printing stories essentially say that if Kerry did not pick him, it would show that Kerry was afraid Edwards would out shine him - in spite of Kerry killing Edwards in nearly every primary state. He was a golden haired boy - referred to as "Clinton without the bimbo eruptions." In fact, even covering this trial, The WP's The Fix's Chris Cinzilla STILL said he was the "buzz" candidate in 2004 and that he was the most naturally talented politician since Clinton!

Not to mention, Edwards had a Senate record that looked like Even Bayh's. So, only if you want to tell me that Evan Bayh was a progressive hero do I want to hear that Edwards was.

So, stop with the everybody picked on Edwards because he was some progressive hero.