# John Edwards is a very impressive Presidential candidate **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 6, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017 "2007-02-06T00:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/181 "2007-02-08T18:19:25Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] And, of course, chances of them even knowing about the posts is very slim unless they are reading right wing blogs in the first place. [/QUOTE] Well, I’d guess a fair number of Democrats read the Washington Post. And Howard Kurtz there has been accurately reporting this little controversy for some days now. There is no vacuum, not anymore. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/182 "2007-02-08T18:21:18Z")
Now that that’s settled, maybe it’s time now to hold [John McCain’s campaign blogger, Patrick Hynes](http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2007/02/look-at-john-mccains-blogger.html), up to similar scrutiny. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/183 "2007-02-08T18:26:49Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Now that that’s settled, maybe it’s time now to hold [John McCain’s campaign blogger, Patrick Hynes](http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2007/02/look-at-john-mccains-blogger.html), up to similar scrutiny. [/QUOTE] I’m sure the biased left wing media will be all over this. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/184 "2007-02-08T18:31:23Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Well, I’d guess a fair number of Democrats read the Washington Post. And Howard Kurtz there has been accurately reporting this little controversy for some days now. There is no vacuum, not anymore. [/QUOTE] Well, yes and no. Nothing is immune from scrutiny anymore. But still, there are only so many matters that can be brought to the attention of tens of millions of people. And the Right (a) has a much better infrastructure for bringing up stuff like this, and (b) has more interest in doing so to begin with, because the left is more interested in global warming, universal health care, and the like. We believe we can win on the issues. Y’all are the ones who need gay marriage referenda, flag-burning amendments, Swiftboating, and other distractions (like this current tempest in a teapot). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/185 "2007-02-08T18:40:49Z")
Sure. I’m all over it. Full scrutiny of the press on all, if these people are to have an impact on politics. And while we’re at it, I’m sure right-wingers and left-wingers alike would love for Kos to disclose his client list for his consultant practice, so that donors to candidates touted on DailyKos know whether Kos has a financial interest in them. [Link.](http://slate.com/id/2112314) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/186 "2007-02-08T19:24:37Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Sure. I’m all over it. Full scrutiny of the press on all, if these people are to have an impact on politics. And while we’re at it, I’m sure right-wingers and left-wingers alike would love for Kos to disclose his client list for his consultant practice, so that donors to candidates touted on DailyKos know whether Kos has a financial interest in them. [Link.](http://slate.com/id/2112314) [/QUOTE] Why, is there a problem? As your own two year old link says: > [@](#): > > Armstrong quit blogging for the half-year that Armstrong Zuniga, the two men’s political consulting firm, was on the Dean payroll, and Moulitsas posted a somewhat grumpy disclosure on his site’s front page during the same period. The disclosure was dated June 9, 2003. You have anything on him after that, or are you just throwing the illusion of mud around, hoping people will imagine that some of it is on Markos Moulitas’ face? I’d like to know the financial and familial political connections of persons whose names appear on op-ed pages, and whose faces appear on news and political talk shows. Just as one minor for-instance, it would be nice to know that [ABC “reporter” Terry Moran’s](http://blogs.abcnews.com/terrymoran/2007/02/does_john_edwar.html) brother is [blogger Rick Moran of "Right Wing NutHouse](http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2007/02/look-at-john-mccains-blogger.html#postid-updateV3)" without having to have a blogger clue me in. And of course we know now how many reporters and commentators spoke about the Plame affair without mentioning their or their organizations’ involvement. I think any media ethics standards should apply across the different media, platforms, etc., however. Newspapers, magazines, broadcast and cable television, talk radio, news and commentary websites of all sorts. When a letter to the editor from the head of the Competitive Enterprise Institute appears in the Washington Post, let’s see whose money supports them. But anyone can start a blog. I’ve started two, neither of which are currently active. Should I list my employer and any other relevant connections when I resume posting? Should each of us do so _here??_ What exactly are the appropriate rules for a medium where anyone can post anything at any time, with access to the world but no guarantee of an audience? This discussion certainly deserves a thread of its own, but I should get some work done and I’ve got a busy weekend coming up, so I don’t think I’ll start it. But if anyone else has the urge, go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/187 "2007-02-08T19:30:30Z")
Again, I’m just super thrilled that you’ve taken a hiatus to get over the hardened partisan nonsense you found so problematic, **Mr. Moto.** Now let’s go out and get Kos! Next, we’ll take out Joshua Micah Marshall. Then that Kevin Drum will get what’s coming to him. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/188 "2007-02-08T19:43:01Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Bill Donohue of the Catholic League is calling for their firing because of a perceived anti-religious bias. [/QUOTE] To paraphrase the Master, Bill Donohue could perceive anti-religious bias in a dial tone. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/189 "2007-02-08T19:45:27Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Here is a sample of Marcotte’s writing, from a Google cache. She’s trying to sanitize her blog right now: > [@](#): > > As I’m sure y’all already know, a lot of young women don’t have hymens the first time they have sexual intercourse—generally because they were active kids, big on bicycles and just general physical activity. Generally speaking, I’ve always thought it a good thing for women not to have one, because my friends who did have one when they first had sex report it being both messy and unpleasant. Of course, if you’re a perverted religious nut, the blood and the pain of “cherry”-breaking is probably a de riguer part of a woman’s life, both to give the man a cheap thrill of actual blood while enacting the sex-as-violent-possession construction that is part of virginity fetishization and to remind the woman of her religious teaching that womanhood is suffering (see: Genesis). [/QUOTE] Hokay. I’m still waiting for something that supports the claim of anti-Christian or anti-Catholic bias. (Surely you aren’t suggesting that “Christian” or “Catholic” are synonymns for “perverted religious nut”…?) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/190 "2007-02-08T19:53:58Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Why, is there a problem? As your own two year old link says: The disclosure was dated June 9, 2003. You have anything on him after that, or are you just throwing the illusion of mud around, hoping people will imagine that some of it is on Markos Moulitas’ face? [/QUOTE] Since you obviously don’t read my links, I’ll save you the trouble: > [@](#): > > Moulitsas’ crime isn’t taking money from Howard Dean. He, too, can get away with a suspended sentence for insufficiently disclosing his role in the Dean campaign once he was off the payroll. The hanging offense is that Moulitsas took money from other, undisclosed, political clients. And while he may have disclosed—in 2003—that he wouldn’t disclose them, that’s not good enough. DailyKos raised money for a dozen congressional candidates this past election. Which, if any, of them paid Moulitsas for the honor of directing his grassroots minions to part with their wallets? If you gave one of Moulitsas’ preferred candidates money, wouldn’t you like to know if Moulitsas’ endorsement was purchased? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/191 "2007-02-08T20:01:03Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] Hokay. I’m still waiting for something that supports the claim of anti-Christian or anti-Catholic bias. (Surely you aren’t suggesting that “Christian” or “Catholic” are synonymns for “perverted religious nut”…?) [/QUOTE] How’s about this one, by now often-quoted: > [@](#): > > Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit? > > A: You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology. > **[Business Magazine | Leading Global | Brainz Magazine](https://www.brainzmagazine.com/)** > > Brainz Magazine is a leading global business magazine focusing on SME's, leadership, mindset, diversity & sustainability. Join our 70.000+ community. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/192 "2007-02-08T20:03:14Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Since you obviously don’t read my links, I’ll save you the trouble: [/QUOTE] You know, if you’re going to provide a link that’s of any length, _you need to quote or otherwise point to the relevant parts_. Just because you include a damned link, doesn’t mean you can expect anyone to read the whole thing, decide which bits best support your argument, _then form **and** rebut that argument_. Here’s how it works: you make a case here, you quote the relevant parts of the supporting references, and you provide a link to them so that other people can see you’ve used your source accurately. BTW, in this case you haven’t. Here’s part of your quote: > [@](#): > > DailyKos raised money for a dozen congressional candidates this past election. Which, if any, of them paid Moulitsas for the honor of directing his grassroots minions to part with their wallets? This past election? That’s a misrepresentation - yours, not your source’s. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/193 "2007-02-08T20:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Should I list my employer and any other relevant connections when I resume posting? Should each of us do so _here??_ What exactly are the appropriate rules for a medium where anyone can post anything at any time, with access to the world but no guarantee of an audience? This discussion certainly deserves a thread of its own, but I should get some work done and I’ve got a busy weekend coming up, so I don’t think I’ll start it. But if anyone else has the urge, go for it. [/QUOTE] Just a quick answer - I think if your post relates to your employer, organizations you belong to or hold leadership positions in, or concerns where you have a financial interest, those should be disclosed, and the post ought to be clear whether this opinion is an institutional or a personal opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/194 "2007-02-08T20:12:01Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] This past election? That’s a misrepresentation - yours, not your source’s. [/QUOTE] Oh, my mistake. I should have included a parenthetical to show that by “last election” the source material meant 2004. Not a misrepresentation, as an examination of the source will show. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/195 "2007-02-08T20:16:40Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] To paraphrase the Master, Bill Donohue could perceive anti-religious bias in a dial tone. [/QUOTE] He’s on to a new target, Barbra Walters [http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=34&idsub=172&id=7767&t=Barbara+Walters%3A+House+mom+to+bigots](http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=34&idsub=172&id=7767&t=Barbara+Walters%3A+House+mom+to+bigots) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/196 "2007-02-08T20:33:23Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Just a quick answer - I think if your post relates to your employer, organizations you belong to or hold leadership positions in, or concerns where you have a financial interest, those should be disclosed, and the post ought to be clear whether this opinion is an institutional or a personal opinion. [/QUOTE] Any evidence that Markos Moulitsas violated that standard? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/197 "2007-02-08T20:34:37Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] Oh, my mistake. I should have included a parenthetical to show that by “last election” the source material meant 2004. Not a misrepresentation, as an examination of the source will show. [/QUOTE] How would an examination of the source show that, given that it wasn’t _their_ misrepresentation? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/198 "2007-02-08T20:38:45Z")
Because, while the quoted material says “last election”, the quoted material is from 2005. Therefore, “last election” means 2004. I simple erred by not inserting a parenthetical to make that point clearer to the reader, which was entirely my fault, but not a willful misrepresentation. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/199 "2007-02-08T20:40:55Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Any evidence that Markos Moulitsas violated that standard? [/QUOTE] Yes, since Moulitsas will not disclose his clients, and has stated that he will not do so. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017/200 "2007-02-08T20:51:45Z")
Keep in mind, whenever I post here about Democrats, I have my folks and my brothers in mind. And my mom goes to mass twice a week, minimum. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-edwards-is-a-very-impressive-presidential-candidate/391017.md?page=11)