John Edwards stood up to FoxNews once again on Friday by refusing to attend the CBC FoxNews debate. Well, it has not taken long for the Right Wing smear machine to start retaliating.
In the Washington Times today, an editorial repeated two of the right wing's favorite themes: (1) Edwards is effeminate (pretty) and may be gay (Coulter/Limbaugh): and (2) Edwards is a hypocrite in working to address global warming because he now lives in a big house. Neither attack deals with any issues, of course.
Make no mistake: The one candidate the Rs most fear is John Edwards, because he can win and he will make change. Come on around after the fold to check out these bozos.
You all remember Coulter calling John Edwards a "faggot."
Columnist Ann Coulter recently used a school-yard epithet to suggest that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards was a homosexual.
"Breck Girl" was how radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh described Edwards recently. The New York Post, a newspaper owned by conservative British media baron Rupert Murdoch, recently ran this headline: "Could Edwards Become First Woman President?"
New Observer article in March
The meme was pushed further by Jonah Goldberg, and, inexplicably, Barack Obama:
Breck Girl Boycotts
Fox, John Edwards, and the Two Americas.
By Jonah Goldberg
"I want to wait and hear what John Edwards has to say, he’s kind of good-looking." That’s how a sarcastic Barack Obama imagined Iowa caucus-goers might anticipate a talk by John Edwards.
snip
And yet the supposed Breck girl of the Democratic Party did something very shrewd this month when he pulled out of a debate co-sponsored by the Nevada Democratic party and Fox News.
Jonah Golberg - National Review
I want to wait and hear what John Edwards has to say, he’s kind of good-looking," Obama envisioned Iowa caucus-goers from the small town of Clinton telling themselves. During an appearance in West Burlington, Iowa, the phrase appeared again, this time with Edwards as "kind of cute."
The Hill
Obama perhaps was duped into repeating the theme. In any event, it clearly is the right wing plan to "tag" Edwards with this theme. Coulter comes out into the open and calls him a "faggot," while the others use code words. Then they repeat it over and over.
Having spoken the truth about FoxNews and followed up with action of refusing to legitimize it by appearing at two debates, the right wingers are now pushing their theme.
A Washington Times editorial today began as follows:
Edwards on conserving energy, seriously
TODAY'S EDITORIAL
April 8, 2007
If you want to know whether John Edwards is vain, go to YouTube, search for "pretty edwards" and then sit back and enjoy
The editorial continues:
On the other hand, if you want to see how hypocritical he is, then go to C-SPAN's Web site (c-span.org), select the priceless Campaign Network on the menu at the left and click on the April 3 John and Elizabeth Edwards town hall meeting in New Hampshire. You're on your own with YouTube, but we can help with the policy-oriented town hall meeting.
snip
Mr. Edwards did assure his New Hampshire audience that "we have solar which provides some of the power for the house. And we have passive solar on top of that." The Edwardses, the former senator repeated, are "carbon neutral." That is achieved through "carbon offsets," which people claim to purchase to alleviate the environmental effect of building, heating cooling and operating their own 28,200 square-foot manses.
snip
(Stop laughing.)
Washington Times
They deny global warming exists for twenty years, but now they claim that one is a hypocrite if one talks about solving it and lives in a big house. The same attack was used against Al Gore. Do you think the editorial writer drives a Prius? I doubt it.
This is all they have. The science shows climate change is here. Their denials have fallen just as Antarctic icebergs falling into the sea. So, now, they fall back to charges of hypocrisy, as they do the oil companies' bidding. Don't buy it.
Ridicule is their tool, because of the utter bankruptcy of their ideas. They have lost the battle of ideas. America is rejecting the conservative agenda, BECAUSE IT DOES NOT WORK.
I expect more attacks on John Edwards because he stood up to the "great right wing conspiracy," as Hilary Clinton put it back when she was still a liberal.
Will John Edwards stand alone in fighting against FoxNews? No. Many of us here on the netroots will stand with him. I hope other Democratic presidential candidates will. Based on past actions, however, I see no leadership there. Some may even show up at the FoxNews debate.
Make no mistake, this election is a struggle for the future of our nation. John Edwards is leading a movement for change. It will not be easy to defeat all whom are lined up against us, but nothing of value that ever is accomplished is easy.