Bob Herbert on Edwards' substance

NY Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert writes today about turning the campaign silly season toward substance. In the process, he identifies Edwards as the straightest talking of the bunch.

Whatever you think of their politics, John and Elizabeth Edwards are giving the country a world-class lesson in courage and candor.

More over the fold.

You want straight talk? "I was wrong." That’s what John Edwards said about his vote to authorize the president to go to war in Iraq. "The world desperately needs moral leadership from America," he said, as he acknowledged his contribution to the debacle, "and the foundation for moral leadership is telling the truth."

Herbert hasn't endorsed anyone, but it's clear he's not shilling for Hillary the way I often suspect the Times editors do. As always, Herbert is going to call our attention to whatever merits it most.

Too bad the whole article is behind a firewall. The Times never did a more stupid, self-limiting thing to themselves than when they hid their own op-ed columnists away from the world.

•  I read summaries of articles but

  I've been thinking of subscribing to Times Select because it always struck me as odd that they don't charge anything to read the paper online, at least lots of the paper online.

  by LNK on Mon Mar 26, 2007 at 10:48:11 AM PDT

•  You can get all the columns for free ...

  If you have an account with your library, you can logon and access these columns for free.

  Even if you don't have an account with any library, you can logon to the New York Public library and enter "NYPL" for the user name and password.

  I don't have the link handy right now, but if anyone expresses interest, I'll search for the link tonight and post it.

  But I don't read the articles very much anymore, though I like Krugman and Herbert.  I guess it's just a little extra effort to get to the articles and you can't link to them anymore. So, I just don't bother.

  Good diary. I agree that Edwards is the most authentic of the 3 front-runners. By the way, you should include an "other" in your poll, because my situation doesn't really fit in any of the options.

  by Quequeg on Mon Mar 26, 2007 at 11:00:28 AM PDT

  •  Also,

    University students can get free TimeSelect (w/ a school email address) and discounted paper subscription.

    by Drojer on Mon Mar 26, 2007 at 11:49:23 AM PDT

  •  Use this link to get the columns for free:

    http://infotrac.galegroup.com/...

    Enter "nypl" at the prompt, then click "Proceed".

    In the "Basic Search", there is "Find" text box.  Enter "Bob Herbert".

    This will show Herbert's recent columns (but usually there's a delay of a few days.)

    by Quequeg on Mon Mar 26, 2007 at 11:58:42 PM PDT

•  I'll read this at home tonight.

  I get the national edition here in the midewest.  Sounds like a great column.  

  by TomP on Mon Mar 26, 2007 at 11:08:36 AM PDT