Edwards Drops Out

Reuters:

Democratic candidate John Edwards abandoned his presidential bid on Wednesday, while among Republicans challenger Mitt Romney vowed to keep up his struggle to overtake newly-crowned front-runner John McCain.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who was his party's vice presidential nominee four years ago, never managed to match the superior firepower of the two heavyweights in the Democratic race -- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

His decision leaves effectively narrows both the Democratic and Republican field to two realistic candidates apiece ahead of next week's "Super Tuesday" contests when 24 states hold nominating contests for one or both parties.

Edwards was to formally announce his withdrawal at 1 p.m. EST in New Orleans, a campaign official said.

Edwards was a good candidate who held the others' feet to the fire when it mattered. I think he'd make a good President, but I think his solely populist message didn't resonate well with most voters - it was all anger without something to feel good about accomplishing.

It remains to be seen where to which candidates his supporters will split. I'm probably stating the obvious, but I'd think the more white-collar ones will go to Obama while the blue-collar ones will go to Clinton. However, I don't know the breakdown of his constituencies. Edwards could also endorse Obama - more likely than for him to endorse Clinton - so that could also make a big difference.

Fun times!

Murdoch Goes to Work

WSJ (subscription required):

As a presidential candidate, Democrat John Edwards has regularly attacked subprime lenders, particularly those that have filed foreclosure suits against victims of Hurricane Katrina. But as an investor, Mr. Edwards has ties to lenders foreclosing on Katrina victims.

The Wall Street Journal has identified 34 New Orleans homes whose owners have faced foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Edwards has about $16 million invested in Fortress funds, according to a campaign aide who confirmed a more general Federal Election Commission report. Mr. Edwards worked for Fortress, a publicly held private-equity fund, from late 2005 through 2006.

...

He also promised to cleanse his portfolio of any investments that may be profiting from their losses. "I am going to divest" from any Fortress funds that have a stake in the subprime lenders that filed the foreclosures, he said in a telephone interview. "I will not have my family's money invested in these firms."

Two weeks after News Corp. purchased Dow Jones, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, the Journal runs a front page hit piece on a top tier Democratic presidential candidate.

I discussed this in an earlier post, but to recap, Edwards is getting slammed because he has done something that supposedly runs counter to the media's narratives of Democrats - "weak, effeminate socialists." If a Republican had done it - Hi Bain Capital's Mitt Romney! - the only narrative it would fit is "a rich Republican trying to screw the poor", which is not news and would not get any press - just see Haley Barbour's latest.

Even though this is a hit piece it is clear that there is no evidence of foul play or hypocrisy on Edwards' part. This is character assassination plain and simple, as they are trying to create an image of sleaze to undermine Edwards' trustworthiness and character. Murdoch has showed his hand.

Bush Republicans

Edwards:

"If Mayor Giuliani believes that what President Bush has done is good, and wants
to embrace it and run a campaign for the Presidency saying, 'I will give you
four more years of what this president has given you,' then he’s allowed to do
that. He’ll never be elected President of the United States, but he’s allowed to
do that."

The Republican party - and all Republicans in it - is the party of Bush. Let's not forget it.

Media and Memes

Earlier today someone alerted me to this article about John Edwards' time at Fortress Investment Group.

Democrat John Edwards said Tuesday he worked for a hedge fund between presidential campaigns to learn about financial markets and their relationship to poverty — and to make money, too.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the former North Carolina senator said his yearlong, part-time position with Fortress Investment Group helped his understanding of the connection, but he has more to learn.

While I do not buy Edwards' line about working at a hedge fund to understand poverty - it would have been fine if he said he was doing it to pay the rent - I do not think there is anything immoral or contradictory about working at a financial institution that is not making things worse for people. It is not inherently hypocritical for a Democrat to make money or be pro-business. Many Democrats are for certain regulations and may be skeptical of big business' motives, but I do not know a single one who is anti-business.

But this is besides the point. What strikes me as far more interesting is how the media treats Edwards as well as Democrats more broadly. Since the media paints Democrats as pro-tax/anti-business/blah-blah-blah black & white memes, the media treats anything Democrats do that does not jibe with those memes as hypocrisy. To paraphrase Digby (I cannot find the post right now), a Democrat who makes lots of money at a financial firm? Now that is a story. However, a Republican who works at a financial institution or big business and does not care about poverty? Nothing new to see here folks, move right along. Get it? It is quite a nice gig the Republicans have going, and the media praises Republicans when Republicans say something that makes Republicans look like they care, e.g. "compassionate conservatism." It is the same thing with the haircut. Laura Bush had a $700 haircut, but there was no "gotcha!" press about it. However, John Edwards, who grew up dirt poor, is immediately painted by the media as a hypocrite (and effeminate, but that is a somewhat different issue).

It demonstrates how shallow the press is. Instead of doing actual reporting or adjusting their prior conceptions to provide a more realistic, if nuanced, understanding of how the world and people are, they usually revert to high school clique understandings and he-said-she-said pieces, especially when it comes to those weak, hypocritical Democrats (one of their favorite memes). That is by far the more interesting story here and it speaks volumes about the media that will never cover it.