Hannity and Colmes kicked off the second half of their program tonight with Bob "0-8" Shrum who's got a new book out called "No Excuses." Despite the title, a good portion of the book does nothing but make excuses for his pathetic record in running presidential campaigns. ESpecially the sections that deal with Edwards.
Nevertheless, I expected much worse from Shrum. The primary culprit tonight was Mr. Hannity and the Fox producers who clearly invited Shrum onto their show to slander John Edwards. Shrum, however, didn't say anything particularly incriminating against Edwards and it made Hannity and his producers look like slime buckets...
Before I proceed, let me make it clear that I'm an enthusiastic Edwards supporter. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid about my candidate but I've noticed a marked increase in hostility towards Edwards from the right. Anti-Edwards sentiment these days even eclipses the right's hostility towards Hillary. Why? Because they know Edwards is a dream candidate for 2008 who would bulldoze right through any of the top Repiblicans.
Before proceeding to commercial breaks before Shrum's appearence, Fox advertised the segment as nothing but an exposé against Edwards. Hannity gloated that Shrum would "reveal how Edwards' really feels about gays and the war in Iraq." In a classic exhibition of Fox's trademark styled sensationalism, Hannity continued to play the segment up as "scathing."
While Shrum's "No Excuses makes some absurd personal attacks against Edwards, I didn't feel like his comments on Hannity and Colmes reflected the sentiment I've read in excerpts of the book. Shrum's recent article in Time Magazine made him come off as an anti-Edwards hack. His decesion to appear on Fox News of all places initially did nothing but confirm my suspecions that Shrum had it out for Edwards. Shrum, however, barley addressed the most shameful accusation he makes against Edwards. In "No Excuses", Shrum discusses how Edwards, on two seperate occasions, told Kerry about how he decided to dedicate his life to public service following the death of his twenty-two year old son. According to Shrum, Kerry said that Edwards told that story with the same preface: "I've never told anyone this before, but.."
If Edwards was honestly trying to use his son's death for political ends, it would become apparent in his campaigning. Until Shrum's failed attempt to portray Edwards as a creepy opportunist I hadn't heard any such accusations. To Shrum's credit, however, he did not try to incriminate Edwards at the level Hannity desired. His tone was much less accusatory than that of his book and I give him credit for that.
The only political accusation Shrum touched on tonight, however, dealt with Edwards' views on gay rights issues. Shrum is accusing Edwards of proclaiming a sense of discomfort around gay people all the way back in 1998. As a gay adolescent who has grown up in a similarly culturally conservative enviornment as Edwards, I find Edwards' sentiment more than forgivable. Compared to some other feelings people harbor against gays in states like my Oklahoma and Edwards' Carolina, expressing a mere sense of "discomfort" is nothing and understandable. Furthermore, in yesterday's debate he applauded New Hampshire on passing civil unions and sounded no worse nor any better than any of the other primary candidates. More importantly in my estimation, he repudiated "Don't Ask Don't Tell" along with the rest of the field, which was a very pleasant surprise.
All in all, Fox News lost out bigtime by inviting Bob Shrum tonight. Alan Colmes's spent 90% of his time questioning Shrum about his failures in Kerry's campaign and asked one question about his accusations against Edwards. While I detest Shrum as a representative of the corporate, beltway establishment that his new book only confirms, I give him credit for disappointing Fox News tonight.