By Ben Cohen
'West Wing' Executive Producer Lawrence O'Donnells wrote an obnoxious piece in the Huffington Post on why John Edwards is supposedly 'A Loser' (apparently because he hasn't become president yet), highlighting the fact that John Edwards is getting royally screwed by the liberal press.
With plummeting poll numbers, the Senator from North Carolina cannot compete with the enormous dollars rolling in to media darling Barack Obama's campaign, or that of the name established Hillary Clinton. This, according to Donnell and much of the liberal establishment, proves Edwards is no good as a politician, or even as a man.
Read Johann Hari's excellent piece in the Independent countering this appalling trend, and explaining why Edwards is still the best candidate left:
"The world is gaping with awe – and disbelief – at the prospect of a black or female President of the United States. If George Bush symbolises everything we hate about the United States, Barack Obama seems to symbolise everything we love about the country: its warm openness to immigrants, its shimmering civil rights movements, its idealism. So it feels strange to say it, but reader, it's time to look away from the woman and the black guy towards the white man from the Deep South – because he is more left-wing, and more electable, than either of them.
You might remember John Edwards as the plastic vice-presidential candidate standing at John Kerry's wooden side in 2004. Back then, he offered anodyne Clintonian soundbites and centrist platitudes – but losing to Bush yet again did something strange to him. It turned him into an angry whistle-blower, exposing the corruption consuming both of Washington's parties.
He explained: "I have seen the seamy underbelly of what happens in Washington every day. If you're Exxon Mobil and you want to influence what's happening with the government, you go and hire one of these big lobbying firms. This is what you find. About half the lobbyists are Republicans, and about half the lobbyists are Democrats. If the Republicans are in power, the Republican lobbyists take the lead, passing the money around. If the Democrats are in power, the Democratic lobbyists take the lead. They're pushing the same agenda for the same companies. There's no difference."
He announced that "the system in Washington is rigged and our government is broken". The failures of US politics – not just under Bush, but under Bill Clinton too – can only be understood as a result of this endemic corruption. Global warming? It will never be dealt with while presidents and senators have to suck at the oil pump for campaign contributions. Forty-seven million Americans without health insurance? Thank the lavish campaign contributions of the drug and medical companies. Iraq? Look again to the oil donors, the defence donors, the "private military contractor" donors. And on, and on. Edwards adds, "This is personal for me. When I see the lobbyists all over Washington taking our politicians to cocktail parties, the picture I get in my head is of my father and my grandmother going to a mill in South Carolina every day. Where is their voice in this democracy?"
