New Elizabeth Edwards book is a veiled hit piece of the Kerrys [View All]

[beachmom]

Today I had some time, and saw EE's new book, so I grabbed it, and paged through it to get an idea whether recent remarks Elizabeth had made in Time magazine were unfairly taken out of context. They were not. The entire book as it related to the campaign and the Kerrys were all about how the Edwards were "regular people" and how THK and JK were not. The book also is a foundation of the campaign Edwards will run on to discredit Kerry in '08. I urge everyone to take a look at it.

(The ONLY nice thing she said about Teresa was that she played with EE's kids, and it was no big deal when she pulled Jack's thumb out of his mouth. It goes down hill from there.)

Here are some key points in the book to back up my thesis:

1. She quotes Howard Dean, who when it was obvious he was going to lose (by Wisconsin) wanted Edwards over Kerry. Quote from Howard to JE: "The shop foreman in Ohio, those people will vote for you. They will not vote for Kerry."

2. After Kerry won Iowa, EE claims the trends had been going her husband's way. She claims that someone connected with the JK campaign said if it had been three weeks later, JE would have won. Well, look, lady, if the presidential election was held the week after Katrina, JK would have won. Your point is?

3. When she goes to Teresa's Pittsburgh home after JE is named VP, she can't help but throw in that "this isn't the Pittsburgh I know -- working class".

4. The Kerrys go to Raleigh and are planning to come to the Edwards' home. EE calls it a "modest" home (worth $1 million as we all know), and that her guest room is "not good enough" for the Kerrys, so they remodel Cate's room (totally weird, if you ask me) for the Kerrys' visit. At first she buys very nice linens but then returns it because it's too "expensive" (she names the store -- never heard of it, and frankly I don't care). The Kerrys end up not staying there, and just get changed before they have to leave again, so all of this effort was for nothing (a scheduling thing).

5. Criticizes Kerry for not having any real policies or bills that help the African American community.

6. Tells the story of how they all go to Wendy's. THK had chile, JK a hamburger, and Elizabeth and Edward have their "usual #1 combo" (barf!). Then she claims that gourmet meals were sent to the bus for the Kerrys, who "had never been to Wendys" and were afraid they wouldn't like it. I have no idea about Teresa, but I'd say we know for a fact that Kerry has been known to frequent fast food joints on occasion. Even if this story is true, sounds to me like the Kerrys are sensible enough to want to eat a GOOD DIET instead of the junk (that's killing America, I may add) at Wendy's. Still, this story sounds gossipy and ridiculous.

7. We all know of the vague notion that Edwards "wanted to fight" and not concede the election; she gives very little details as to who he told and what reaction he got. Then JE gives that ridiculous "concession" speech which doesn't concede, and then John Kerry gives his speech. He says what her husband "wouldn't say". WTF? So our VP candidate didn't concede? How embarassing!!

8. Elizabeth, who had not told anyone but John, about her breast cancer, but talks about how Teresa is talking about her sprained ankle prior to the concession speech. She says it's great to focus on something that trivial instead of the election loss or her cancer (which Teresa had NO idea about), but you can hear snark in those sentences, too.

9. The excerpts printed in the Pittsburgh paper that we read about Teresa giving advice about which doctors were the best were accurate and not taken out of context. Teresa was trying to help out but she was "wrong" and threw EE into a depression.

This book makes me not like this woman one bit. Even as she tries to paint the Kerrys as uppity rich folks, she herself ends up coming across as snooty and condescending. Dare I say, it's not that Elizabeth is not high class enough, it's that she has NO class or inner poise (ah, new money -- no sized bank account can buy one class -- either you have it or you don't). In the end, she seems to have very low self esteem if she felt she would need to "impress" the Kerrys. John Kerry went to fricking Vietnam -- don't you think, Elizabeth, that he could handle staying in a small guest room for one night? Teresa traveled for months in Iowa, not staying in fancy smancy hotels (the campaign could not afford that early in the primaries) -- I think she could have handled it as well.

Who knows, maybe Elizabeth IS a nice person if the politics hadn't gotten in the way. For this book is hardly personal -- it's all about positioning her husband. Here is Edwards' campaign against Kerry in a nutshell (something I EASILY ascertained from the book, which supposedly is personal):

-- too rich to connect with regular people
-- conceding election without fighting
-- has done nothing for African Americans


Kerry is going to have to go after him at some point, because these notions are PREPOSTEROUS! Here's what I have in mind:

-- Edwards does not have the gravitas to fight the GOP on security, as shown with his mediocre performance debating Dick Cheney.
-- Only 4 years experince in public life, which happens to be the SAME amount of time he's spent running for president.
-- They're phonies, acting like they're "regular people" (by eating junk food) when they're worth millions. This is disrespectful to people and utterly shallow. What's better? Talking about being "working class" or actually HELPING the working class?
-- I think a second look into JE's voting record in the Senate is warranted -- any votes showing him voting for corporations over people?

Anyone else look at the book?