Did anyone catch the hit piece on edwards

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

Uggg I was flipping around yesterday (or maybe it was Saturday hard to tell with the long weekend) and Lord help me I landed on Fox News... Hannity has his own show now? There was some hit piece on John Edwards which really got my blood boiling..

Basically he was invested in some companies (or had worked in the past with them) who were foreclosing on homes in NO.

1) Quoting a man who said Edwards didn't know poverty (despite the fact Edwards grew up in it)
2) Quoting a family who said despite Edwards promise to help any families affected 'they had not heard from him' without asking have you called or written his office?

Edwards more than anoyone in this race understands both Americas and though Im not 100% behind any of the pack yet Edwards and Obama are quickly rising to the top. What a shameful hit piece be ready for more folks at work crying about the size of Edwards home and 'you know which America he lives in'

[Beaverhausen]

1. I'm surprised Fox News even knows there is another candidate besides Hillary

Keep in mind, Hannity still tells his viewers that there were WMD in Iraq and Valerie Plame was not covert. Why take anything he says seriously?

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

4. I dont

But I know many people who do... sigh..

[Beaverhausen]

5. I know some too - and there's really no hope for them

They exist in their own little world.

Hannity makes me sick. I can't change the channel fast enough if I surf through Fox and he is on. :puke:

[Hieronymus]

16. Fox is scared of Edwards .. they need to run against Hillary.

[cali]

2. Edwards did not grow up in poverty

or even close to it. His father was in management at the Mill. His mother had her own small business refinishing furniture, and later worked for the Post Office. Edwards grew up in a secure middle class home. Kucinich grew up in poverty.

I'm sure it was a hit piece as it was Fox, but Edwards did work for a hedge fund, and it did foreclose on home in NOLA.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

7. wrong..

Edwards father worked to the level of manager but was for a very long time a floor worker. Edwards family moved up but started low and he knows where he came from. And his mothers business was a road side stand hardly the things of secure middle class life.

As to the 'he worked for a hedge fund that did blady blah' so what? He has offered to help anyone hurt by the fund. Everyone in the race has worked for / profited from a company that hurt someone (walmart anybody).

[cali]

11. sad that you don't know the difference between poverty

and working/middle class. Clue: poor people generally do not own their own homes.

As for his profiting from a hedge fund; that's a legitimate topic of discussion.

[zalinda]

12. You are wrong

Poor people can and do own their own home, it all depends on where you live. I guess you have never gone into the poor sections of town. My house cost me $23,000 in 2001, it was a HUD house. Just because you are working doesn't mean that you are middle class. Would $30,000 a year be called middle class? No way. It is lower middle class, and could be poor depending on how many children you have.

So, he didn't live in a car like your saint, but open your damn eyes. My parents both worked, and we were considered lower-middle class, which is nothing like middle class. We watched every penny, and couldn't save much of anything.

Yes, his father worked in a mill, and even if he was a manager, mills were not known for paying high wages. His mother had to give up her road side business, and go to work for the post office.
If his father was making so much money, how come his mother had to give up her dream.

Zalinda

[surfermaw]

28. Edwards father was a supervison then a Time man they were called

Started out an average guy, then a supeervisor, who worked for a little more than and average guy, mostly the pay a supervisor got was prestiege. then to a time man, when they were trying to raise production in all textile plants, then at that very little raise in pay.. he did grow up in povety, worked loading trucks to get through a North Carolina School. If he wasn't raised in povety why would he have gone to a school at that time would have probably cost about 5 thousand dollars a year and work loading trucks, today you can enjoy a year at NC. State for about 15,thousand.

[Adelante]

3. The story sounds like what's been in the press on and off

Since the spring, but I didn't see it on Fox. For the sake of accuracy, FYI, John Edwards did not grow up in poverty. He was born to a working class family which moved into the middle class, a most common story for American families of that era.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

8. I was associating working class with poverty

But I guess thats only true today... Thanks for clarifying..

[underpants]

6. I noticed this weekend that all my folks wanted to talk about was...

what was WRONG with each of the Democrats. See they are just running another negative campaign and this one is geared at everybody not Republican.

[jillan]

9. Google Fortress Funds.

It's the truth.

[depakid]

20. The thing got me was the timing

He goes to work for Fortress in September, 2006- and one week later, announces a "two Americas" tour.....

:shrug:

[jillan]

23. I was really warming up to Edwards - then this came out.

:(

[asdjrocky]

10. Don't worry...

If Faux News does hit pieces on you... you must be doing something right.

[colonel odis]

14. my sentiment exactly

the degree to which the republicans fear a candidate is directly proportionate to the number and intensity of the smear pieces on fox.

i believe that's the Odis Theorem of Right Wing Press Coverage.

[AlertLurker]

13. Not just Fox. WSJ, WaPo, HuffPo and others, too.

Short summary of the avilable info at:
http://busmovie.typepad.com/ideoblog/2007/08/john-edwards-co.html

Other links:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118728685546999884.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051002277.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118728685546999884.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/27/subprime-lenders-linked-t_n_66115.html

The most specific info is available at the WaPo link.


They allege:

-Half of Edwards' net worth ($16 million) is tied up in sub-prime lenders and hedge funds.
-That some of the lenders are foreclosing on 107 homes in Iowa and 34 homes in NO
-That Edwards received $479,000 (he worked for them) from one of the lenders (Fortress Investments) and that individuals from Fortress have donated over $150,000 to his campaign.

Does anyone know who Ariana Huffington supports? I'm pretty sure I know who the WSJ and WaPo are backing...

Incredibly coincidental that this (107 homes forclosed in Iowa) comes out right now - The polls are incredibly tight...in Iowa. Sophisticated hatchet job?

I have no friggin' idea. I have had this explained to me twice by Edwards' supporters at DU, but it just isn't sinking in...

[Adelante]

15. The Iowa story came out in August or September, along with SC

The New Orleans part had been out since May.

This is not accurate, by the way:

"Half of Edwards' net worth ($16 million) is tied up in sub-prime lenders and hedge funds."

$16M of Edwards' worth is invested in Fortress, a hedge fund. Funds that had been invested through Fortress in sub-prime lenders have been redirected by Edwards away from sub-prime since September, I believe.

The rest of it sounds about right.

[AlertLurker]

17. No mention of him redirecting any of it, go figure...

There Was a pseudo-caveat at:
http://busmovie.typepad.com/ideoblog/2007/08/john-edwards-co.html

"How close are Edwards’ ties to Fortress?

$479,512 in 2006 for part-time work
About half of his net worth <$16 million> in Fortress funds
Fortress employees are the largest class of contributors to Edwards' presidential campaign -- more than $150,000 in the first six months of this year.

But

The candidate has said he had no involvement in Fortress units' subprime lending when he worked for the private-equity firm and wasn't aware of it at the time. He has said his job at Fortress was to provide information about what he saw happening economically in the U.S. and overseas. He has also said he was there "primarily to learn" about finance. In the interview yesterday, Mr. Edwards said that when he first joined Fortress, "I made clear that I didn't want to have anything I was investing in to be antilabor or involved in predatory lending practices." But he added that he didn't fully understand the firm's complex operations, saying: "They're diverse. They're very diverse."


I can understand John Q. Public not knowing where the money was invested, But John Edwards? In the light of his candidacy, and his current views on poverty reduction in general and the sub-prime lending market in particular, it just seems entirely too sloppy. SOMEBODY in his campaign should have known how damaging this could be...

Where can I find the info on him redirecting his $$$ away from Fortress? Every little bit helps.

[cali]

18. good information.

I find it disturbing that the Edwardians give him a complete pass.

[Beaverhausen]

19. some blog post from August?

nice source. :eyes:

Try this one:

http://www.miamiherald.com/692/story/317530.html

Edwards instructed officials at Fortress to redirect his investments away from subprime lenders, an effort to repair damage from the story. He also pledged a donation to aid those in Louisiana who were at risk of losing their homes.

He committed $100,000 in seed money - an undisclosed amount of it from his own pocket - to a fund that ACORN Housing set up to assist homeowners who are trying to work out payment plans with lenders.

[AlertLurker]

24. I posted four other links, as well.

I posted the blog because it was a brief summary and the only one that was even remotely sympathetic to Edwards.

The WaPo link had more in-depth data. You need a subscription to view the whole WSJ articles, and the HuffPo article seemed to be a hatchet job.

This might sound like bashing - but I really don't know what to think - it just looks bad, to me, that's all.

In the article that you cite, they specifically mention that he redirected it "in an effort to repair damage from the story" - another hatchet job? Doesn't sound that good - though the ACORN donation was a good idea. It would have looked better to have disclosed the personal amount (if significant), though.

No offense meant, but if I invested $16 million - half my entire net worth - into a hedge fund management company, I'd KNOW FOR CERTAIN where and what they have it invested in. I don't have a tewntieth of that invested, and I know exactly where it ALL is and what it is invested in - how the heck could he have not known? He was a Senator, candidate for Vice-President, now making a run for the nomination of the Democratic Party. Did neither he, nor anyone else on his campaign, not think that this might look a wee bit hypocritical?

The same article actually paints him in a more unflattering light with the title: "Edwards a champion of the poor with $6 million house." The conclusion: "But he rarely mentions the so-called three H's: haircuts, houses and hedge funds" pretty much puts the boots to him, as well.

It's a good thing that he had them redirect the funds, but SOMEBODY from his campaign should have been on this, somebody SHOULD have gotten better press than this - especially with the donation - and there really could have been a more believable explanation from Edwards than "I didn't know."

[Adelante]

21. This is just from the other day

Edwards has said he joined Fortress to gain some business experience. The firm paid him $479,512 last year for his advice, according to his disclosure form. Fortress executives are his biggest source of campaign cash from any company or law firm, giving him $190,150.

Two of the firm’s holdings have proved particularly troublesome for Edwards: Nationstar Mortgage of Dallas and Green Tree Servicing of St. Paul, Minn., both sub-prime lenders. The Wall Street Journal in August disclosed links among Edwards, Fortress and the two subprime lenders, which had sought to foreclose on victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Edwards launched his campaign in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, linking the post-Katrina problems to his drive to lift people out of poverty.

Edwards instructed officials at Fortress to redirect his investments away from subprime lenders, an effort to repair damage from the story. He also pledged a donation to aid those in Louisiana who were at risk of losing their homes.

He committed $100,000 in seed money - an undisclosed amount of it from his own pocket - to a fund that ACORN Housing set up to assist homeowners who are trying to work out payment plans with lenders.

http://www.kansascity.com/445/story/372793.html

Running on a platform that emphasizes what the country should do to address the needs of the poor, Edwards had to face up to the fact that a company in which he has invested $16 million and which last year employed him to the tune of $479,512 was linked to the foreclosure of mortgages in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.

Nobody had to paint a picture for the former North Carolina senator as to why this looked bad. In response to disclosures appearing first in The Wall Street Journal, he promised to use his personal funds to help the homeowners who had lost title to their houses in foreclosures pursued by units of private-equity fund Fortress Investment Group LLC. He also said he would strip any investment from his portfolio that stood to profit from the homeowners’ misfortune.

Those are fitting responses — although it’s too bad Edwards didn’t anticipate what problems could arise because of his relationship with Fortress and his evident failure to examine what its subsidiaries — in this case, two subprime mortgage companies — were up to.

The disconnect between his admirable advocacy on behalf of poor Americans and foreclosure actions against victims of Hurricane Katrina is jarring, to say the least. Edwards has used the plight of those very victims to dramatize his campaign themes.

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/story/681952.html


The Washington Post had one of the earlier articles on this in May.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051002277.html

Also, the Wall Street Journal did an in-depth piece around August some time.

The subject has actually been discussed quite a lot here on DU.

[asdjrocky]

22. thank you...

Not that this will do much good. They hate things like proof, and truth.

[asdjrocky]

25. Keeps asking, no matter how many people, how many times it gets explained.

No matter how many times you ask us, we are not going to say Yes.

So transparent.


Ya'all come back now, ya hear?

[AlertLurker]

26. I've just been trying to get a plausible explanation...

I haven't gotten one I can believe yet, but my curiosity (short attention span) has been sated.

Thanks all, for the info & links...

[surfermaw]

27. Any one with normal intelligence listening to Hannity for a few minutes wouldn't believe a work he u