So I've been reading a lot of gossip about John Edwards endorsing Hillary.
Specifically, Richard Stengel of Time, while on Tweety's show, told a story about a scoop by Mark Halperin:
John Edwards. Senator John Edwards -- remember him? -- who's been conspicuously silent since he dropped out of the race, will endorse a Democratic candidate probably before North Carolina, certainly before North Carolina, possible before Pennsylvania. And our own Mark Halpern [sic] on the page [sic] says it's going to be Senator Hillary Clinton.
I keep hearing this over and over. I don't buy it.
The evidence, from John Edwards own statements, is that the horse left the barn a long time ago in terms of Edwards' support of Hillary.
And frankly, I believe Edwards has far too much integrity to pull a complete 180° on this.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a strong Obama supporter these days.
Back in the day, just as all of the candidates were announcing in January and February 2007, I did like Obama as a potential candidate, but I was holding out for Al Gore. It remained that way for quite a while, and I don't really think I stopped being a Gore supporter until it became painfully obvious to me he wasn't going to run.
Of the announced candidates, I found Obama to be the most appealing, largely because he was what I perceived to be the most viable candidate who was against Bush's invasion of Iraq from the beginning.
I was never really sure who was my "second" (really, my third) choice, although John Edwards' progressive populism and his frank acknowledgment that he had erred on the Iraq War vote was very appealing to me. I fully understand the passion and enthusiasm he inspired among stalwart supporters such as TomP, JedReport, MBNYC, Miss Blue, LynneK, and sarahlane.
It became more than obvious that during this campaign, John Edwards was a man who said what he meant, and who didn't mince words. Obama and Clinton supporters may have poked fun at the couple of times he said he "regretted" voting for this or that piece of legislation, but to me, that was a huge positive, and was something that made me feel good about the possibility of casting a vote for him had he been the nominee. I mean really, how many more years of a President unwilling to re-examine beliefs or admit mistakes do we need? Blech.
Anyway, to get to the point, it's my opinion that these reports about Edwards endorsing Hillary are nothing more than D.C. gossip. I mean seriously, why the hell would Edwards endorse Hillary after giving these opinions about Hillary's campaign?:
I. Hillary's campaign "doesn't seem to have a conscience"
When Nataline Sarkisyan's family decided to campaign for John Edwards, Clinton's traveling press secretary Jay Carson told reporters, "in order to be President, you need to do more than read articles about people who need help and talk about them." Senator Clinton is "somebody who's actually going to help people and not use them as talking points."
Edwards responded to this digusting slam by saying Hillary's campaign "doesn't seem to have a conscience":
II. Hillary represents the "forces of status quo"
After Hillary attacked Edwards and Obama, claiming they wouldn't bring about change (too funny coming from her), Edwards responded clearly and forcefully, indicating that Hillary represents the "forces of status quo":
III. Hillary defends the "corrupt system" and votes with Bush and Cheney
Just before Hillary started gearing up her "woe is me, any criticism is an unfair attack" campaign strategy, Edwards raised very fair questions about Hillary, including questions about Iraq, about why she "voted with Bush and Cheney" on Iran, and why she defends the "corrupt system" in D.C.:
IV. On lobbyists' money, Hillary says "yes, I will"
At Yearly Kos, Edwards spoke passionately about not taking lobbyist money. By contrast, Hillary said (after trying to change the subject), "yes, I will" take money from lobbyists:
(OK, so I can't get this youtube to embed for some reason, but the link is right here)
And here Edwards is at the Yearly Kos breakout session again talking about not taking lobbyist money:
V. Edwards Campaign Commercial Shows Hillary's Double Talk
This Edwards Campaign video speaks for itself:
I know the rumor is out there - Edwards will endorse Hillary. I just don't see how that's possible after everything he has said about her.
I also just can't imagine that Elizabeth Edwards would stand for it. She and John have done so much to build a relationship with the netroots, calling on us to work together for the kinds of progressive policy we all need. They have too much integrity to throw that all away over the ups and downs of one nomination campaign.
So I am not going to get too worked up over the Clinton campaign's transparent effort to show they are still relevant. I won't be the one to doubt John Edwards - I'm sure he'll stick to his guns and do the right thing. You all shouldn't doubt him either.