Did you see the odious Wm Safire column on Edwards?

[LittleApple81]

He repeats the FACT that McCain (and Biden, just in case) got offers from Kerry before Edwards. This guy must be getting soft in the brain...

July 7, 2004
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Body Politic Will Reject 'Charisma Transplant'
By WILLIAM SAFIRE

ASHINGTON — Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Senator John Edwards, a North Carolina Democrat, were born in the same hospital in the small town of Seneca, S.C., within two years of each other. It occurred to me that Graham would have a good feel for the impact that John Kerry's selection of Edwards as his running mate might have on voters in the South and in small towns.

snip...

What about Louisiana, which went for Bush in 2000 but for a Democrat, Bill Clinton, before that? "John Kerry is no Clinton. John Edwards doesn't repair the damage of having the most liberal senator, and from Massachusetts, the presidential nominee."

Forget about delivering a swing state; what of Edwards's delivering a shot in the arm to a currently lifeless Kerry campaign? "If Edwards gets their base excited, the theory is that he will help in terms of energy," allows Graham. "But this is not a pick of confidence. Edwards was chosen to fill the gap. Kerry's campaigning gap is that he has no charisma, that he doesn't relate well to average people.

snip...
Consider Kerry's choices for a running mate. John McCain turned it down both privately and publicly, and Joe Biden didn't want the job enough. Bob Graham might have helped in Florida, but his diary obsession would have generated sustained media derision. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack would have triggered a nationwide "Who?"

The serious alternative was Representative Dick Gephardt. The Missourian abandoned by union labor in the primaries is solid and experienced in both domestic and foreign affairs, and might even have delivered Missouri, but he is the Man from Dullsville. He would have been Kerry's Cheney — the pick of confidence.

more at link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/opinion/07SAFI.html?pagewanted=print&position=

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. The Neocon mind at work

Wishes and dreams become a reality. Shameful.

[Fenris]

2. Here's the scoop on Safire: whatever he says

believe the opposite.

[AP]

3. David Brooks was also obsessed with Gep, and Murdoch ordered the post

to put him on the cover of his paper.

What's the RW's obsession with Gephardt?

[LittleApple81]

4. Because they would have TWO BLAND LIBERAL men....perfect

combination for the repugs...

[AP]

5. But what do they think they're gaining by still pushing it? I suspect...

...they're trying to piss off union members.

Democrats most loyal voters are African Americans (1st) and union members (2d). They're probably trying to make union members upset.

[LittleApple81]

6. You might have a point there. Nothing like creating bile in the "enemy

camp"

[MajorFlaw]

7. The funny thing is that the Times ran an editorial right above

Safire's column stating that Kerry showed his courage by choosing Edwards. Something about not being afraid of being upstaged by his VP. Safire has been tone deaf since the '70s.